One-dimensional offense dooming Tigers

By Hunt Palmer

LSU’s offense has stalled.

What looked like one of the nation’s best offenses in late October has been a shell of itself the last month. Over LSU’s six-game winning streak, the Tigers averaged 36.5 points per game, ranked in the Top 5 in the country in a multitude of passing categories and led the country on third downs.

Since, LSU is averaging a paltry 17.3 points per game and has been beaten by a combined score of 107-52.

So, what happened?

For one, LSU’s offense has morphed into a single dimension—the short passing game. According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, Garrett Nussmeier is averaging 3.3 air yards per completion since the start of the Texas A&M game.

When you consider LSU’s immense run game struggles against Texas A&M and Alabama and then eliminate the deep ball from the passing attack, defenses can key on short routes near the line of scrimmage.

“Teams have decided, here’s how were going to play you,” said LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly. “And we have to be able to push the ball vertically. That’s really what we’re addressing and making sure that we do everything in our practice to connect on those. I think you saw three balls that were thrown down the field (at Florida), and all three we missed on in some fashion. Those balls need to be completed because we have defenders that are sitting on all of our routes.”

Not only does LSU need to complete the long balls, the Tigers have struggled to complete the short ones at the rate they did early in the season.

Over the last three games, Nussmeier has completed just 57 percent of his throws. All of those incompletions paired with the inconsistent run game means a lot of empty downs. According to Connelly, LSU has gained zero or negative yards on 39 percent of their snaps in the three losses.

Here’s a snapshot of Nussmeier pre-Texas A&M and since:

Pre-A&M: 183/283 (65%), 18 TD, 6INT, 317ypg, sacked twice

Since: 79/139 (57%), 4TD, 5 INT. 301ypg, sacked 11 times

Relying on the passing game heavily is no crime. Colorado, Miami, Clemson, Georgia and Oregon all rank in the Top 25 in passing attempts and all are very much alive in the playoff picture. They also do a much better job of creating big plays in the passing game.

Here’s a snapshot of those teams in terms of passing attempts and big plays:

Team            Passing Attempts             Pass Plays of 40+
LSU                     428 (No. 4)                                7 (No. 49)

Colorado            388 (No. 14)                              14 (No. 4)

Miami                 382 (No. 17)                              13 (No. 6)

Clemson             381 (No. 18)                              10 (No. 12)

Georgia              373 (No. 21)                               7 (No. 49)

LSU snapped the ball 93 times at Florida and threw the ball 42 more times in the Alabama game. None went for 30 a gain of 30-plus yards. The long was a 28-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Anderson in Gainesville.

What’s troubling is that no team in the SEC has come close to allowing as many 20-plus yard pass plays as Florida. The Gators have yielded 46 on the season. The league’s second worst unit has only allowed 36. The only positive for LSU is that happens to be Vanderbilt who is next on the schedule.

The Tigers weren’t able to fix this broken offense in time to save season-long goals, but there ae still two weeks to go figure some things out on the field.

Teams can defend one dimension. Something else has to show up.