PALMER: Bigger test for LSU’s offense or defense as Ole Miss looms?

By Hunt Palmer

I may have made a huge mistake.

Now, that wouldn’t be a first. You can ask my wife. Roughly 80 percent of my thoughts and actions at home are deemed questionable. But I may have gotten this week wrong.

I’ve spent much of my radio air time this week talking about this being the true litmus test for an LSU defense attempting to resurrect itself from 2023’s complete flatline. After all, Ole Miss has risen to the upper echelon of the SEC on the back of Lane Kiffin’s offensive prowess. If LSU is ready to return to relevance, Blake Baker’s defense must meet the Kiffin/Dart challenge, right?

Yes, but that’s just half of the story.

Ole Miss comes to Baton Rouge believing the defense, not the offense, is the backbone of this 2024 team. Ole Miss scored a truckload of point in 2021 and 2023 but didn’t have anything to show for it. Why? When Alabama and Georgia showed up, the “Landshark defense” got mauled.

So, Kiffin dialed up The Grove Collective and bought a defense.

Former five-star and Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolan mans the middle. Florida’s best rusher from a season ago, Princely Umanmielen, now comes off the edge for Ole Miss. Cornerback Trey Amos was recruited to Tuscaloosa by the greatest coach of all time. He’s a Rebel.

Kiffin inked some high schoolers that have developed, as well. JJ Pegues weighs 315lbs, and he’s now taking goal line snaps at quarterback when he’s not making tackles in the backfield. That’s athleticism. Suntarine Perkins was a Top 100 recruit and reminds folks in Oxford of LSU’s Harold (no relation).

Speaking statistically, the transformation has worked.

Ole Miss leads the FBS is rushing defense (63.7 ypg), yards per rush allowed (1.79), sacks (24), tackles for loss (63) and is tied with No. 1 Texas in fewest touchdowns allowed (3).

All the while this Ole Miss offense has been a little…clunky?

Without star wide receiver for the second half last week, Ole Miss only scored three points. A 27-point output at South Carolina was plenty good enough, but that’s because the defense allowed three. Two weeks ago in Oxford, Ole Miss only managed 17 points on Kentucky. They ran for three yards per carry, and Dart completed just 67 percent of his throws. The Rebels were a paltry 1-for-10 on third downs.

It was the defense that kept the Rebels in the game at all.

Is all this a product of a feeble September schedule, or does Ole Miss finally have the defensive personnel to stand up to college football’s elite?

Based on recruiting rankings and NFL mock drafts, it appears that way.

Even if LSU’s defense is improved, it’s unlikely that unit can totally halt Dart and the Ole Miss attack. That means the Tiger offense, which has also been statistically elite, will have to stand up to its toughest test yet, as well.

Maybe, instead of the story being about the defense arriving, this is the game where we find out just how good this LSU offense is.

Southern Cal’s defense is improved from last year. It’s hardly dominant. Nicholls and UCLA don’t have the athletes to compete. South Carolina’s edge rushers will cash NFL checks, but the rest of the unit is rather pedestrian.

LSU’s path to any sort of significant victories this year is competent defense and clinical offense.

At South Carolina, the defense bent a few times. South Carolina, far from the greatest show on turf, nearly cracked 400 yards and scored 33. The Tiger offense produced 417 yards and 36 points. Nussmeier made some huge throws, and Caden Durham broke out for nearly 100 yards and two scores.

Ole Miss is going to score on Saturday night. That’s a given.

Do Will Campbell and Emery Jones keep Perkins, Jared Ivey, Umanmielen and the bloodthirsty Rebels out of the backfield so Nussmeier can operate? Or does Ole Miss add handsomely to its nation-leading sack total?

Does Nussmeier announce his presence on the national scene with his first Top 10 win? Or does he make a costly decisions under duress like he did at South Carolina?

Does any semblance of a running game show up? Or is LSU constantly looking at 3^rd-and-8?

I spent all offseason questioning whether or not the LSU defense was ready for the bigger stage. That question remains.

But is it the right one?