By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s season ends in less than two weeks. Preseason playoff dreams are dead.
So now what?
In an era that has turned December from bowl season to portal paradise, motivation can be fleeting to a team without clearly defined goals in place. Not a single player in LSU’s program taped a Transperfect Music City Bowl cutout to his locker in August. The Mercari Texas Bowl’s cattle roping challenge doesn’t quite hit like it used to.
Whatever bowl game LSU plays in, the Tigers will do it without a portion of the current roster due to opt outs and transfers. And there’s no telling how seriously the opponent will be taking things.
We all remember LSU’s last trip to Houston.
So, it’s up to the current players and coaches to make the most, or the least, of the next 10 days.
With that in mind, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, running back Josh Williams, linebacker Greg Penn and left tackle Will Campbell assembled the team on Monday.
“We got up and talked in front of the team,” Campbell said. “We talked in front of the offense. We had a unit meeting with the coaches. We’re just talking things out to try to get everyone on the same page, because you’ve got to have all 11 guys clicking as one to make this thing go.”
Mason Taylor sat and listened. While the junior tight end is as productive a player as LSU has, he’s more softly spoken than vocal leaders like Penn and Campbell.
“I think it was good for us to kind of get on the same page and reset,” Taylor said. “Greg did an amazing job talking and getting us on the right page to finish out this season for our fans and for this program. Play for these seniors. Play for these guys who have been putting the work in every single day.”
One of those guys is defensive tackle Gio Paez. Though he’s only been at LSU for a season, Paez feels like he’s got a decent pulse of the room.
“I know everyone here wants to do the right thing,” Paez said. “I don’t think there are people being overly selfish. I think we all want to win. We just have to put all the pieces together to make it happen.”
Campbell was a little blunter is his assessment. The mountain of a man seethed when talking about the missed opportunities in what is very likely his final season in college.
“Not a lot of people pay attention, but we’ve led going into the fourth quarter in three of the four losses,” Campbell said. “We have to finish games. That’s something that we haven’t done, and it’s not a coaching problem. It’s not a scheme. It’s none of that. It’s us. We have to be able to do the little things right. And when you don’t, you don’t deserve to win, quite frankly. I think against Florida we had 13 negative plays whether that’s penalties, missed assignments. Whatever you want to call it. You don’t deserve to win an SEC football game on the road in a hostile environment against a good team with good coaches. That’s just not what it is. This isn’t high school football. So, if we want to win, then we have to do the little things right.”
Paez, in a different tone, reiterated Campbell’s sentiments about the players having to assume responsibility for their effort and executions. And for motivation.
All over the LSU football operations building you can read motivational excerpts and images from championship teams of the past. Paez feels like that should be enough to foster a competitive team.
“(Head Coach Brian Kelly) puts reminders of things on the wall that we should be vigilant of, but at the end of the day, it’s about what’s in you and what you want out of this,” Paez said. “At the end of the day, we are here for a reason. We are here to produce. So, I don’t think it has to be a coach’s job to motivate us. It has to be from within.”
To a man, every player LSU brought out to speak to the media echoed all the right things. However, their demeanor was different than in previous weeks. Hope is a powerful thing, and LSU had it checked and stored on the flight to Gainesville.
Now it’s gone.
What’s left is a group attempting one last time to band together for a week and a half to win a pair of home games.
For Campbell, they’ll probably be his last two. He got a taste of winning a championship as a freshman when the Tigers won the SEC West and played for an SEC title. They’ll watch that game from home in three weeks. But don’t expect him to take a play off Saturday night.
“To people outside the building, if you don’t win a championship here, it’s a failure,” Campbell said. “And I agree with that. But we still have a lot to play for. I mean, 6-6 is a lot worse than 8-4, so we have to go win two more games. Everybody else can doubt us all that, but we know what we have to do to finish this year the right way.”
