By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
TAMPA, Fla. – If Garrett Nussmeier wanted to know what it felt like to truly step into the shoes of LSU’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels, he certainly got it Monday on the first day of 2024.
With the Tigers’ defense playing its usual game full of assignment busts and missed tackles, Nussmeier rallied 13th-ranked LSU twice from 14-point deficits for a 35-31 ReliaQuest Bowl victory over unranked Wisconsin before a Raymond James Stadium crowd of 31,424.
LSU (10-3) never led until redshirt sophomore Nussmeier, making his first college start in place of likely NFL first-round draft choice Daniels who opted out of the game, guided his offense on a 98-yard drive for his game-winning 4-yard TD pass to Brian Thomas with just more than 3 minutes left.
“I take pride in always being confident and always being ready,” said Nussmeier, voted the game’s Most Valuable Player after completing 31 of 45 passes for 393 yards, three TDs and one interception. “I hadn’t started a game, but I felt like I knew what the moment was going to be like and I was prepared.”
LSU’s defense, which gave up 506 yards (the fourth time the Tigers allowed 500 or more yards offense this season), thwarted Wisconsin’s final threat. Badgers’ quarterback Tanner Mordecai was sacked three straight plays and his fourth-down fumble was recovered by Tigers’ DeShawn Womack at the LSU 45 with 31 seconds left.
“Our team was down at the half and it was probably one of the lowest points all season,” said LSU second-year coach Brian Kelly, whose team reached its goal of a second-straight 10-win season. “But if you just keep playing, and you just trust your process, then eventually it’s going to come together for you. They didn’t panic. They didn’t get outside the lanes. They just kept playing. They played one play at a time and the tide started turning for them.”
The game followed the script of most of LSU’s 2023 wins.
The Tigers’ defense, ranked No. 101 of the 130 FBS (Division 1-A) teams in yardage allowed per game (409.2), had to overcome a season-high 378 passing yards and 3 TDs from Wisconsin quarterback Tanner Mordecai as well two 100-yard receiving performances from Will Pauling (8 catches for 143 yards, 2 TDs) and Bryson Green (7 for 105, 1 TD).
“Finding a way to finish has been our Achilles heel all year,” said Wisconsin first-year head coach Luke Fickell, whose team finished 7-6 and had LSU on the ropes despite having five starters opt out of the game including its best running back and two of its top three receivers. “You got to give them (LSU) a lot of credit. We haven’t seen that much skill the whole year and it was difficult on us. We couldn’t pressure the quarterback. If you can’t make him throw under duress, it’s really hard to cover those guys.”
Wisconsin twice held two-TD leads, starting with a 14-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter after Mordecai fired scoring strikes of 20 yards to Green and 53 yards to Pauling.
The Badgers also closed the first half and opened the second half with TDs, the latter on a 33-yard run by backup running back Jackson Acker that gave Wisconsin a 28-14 cushion with 12:14 left in the third quarter.
Even with star LSU receiver Malik Nabers sitting out the final two quarters (upon Kelly’s orders) after he became the Tigers’ all-time receiving leader in the first half, LSU scored TDs on second-half drives of 75, 70 and the mammoth 98-yarder.
Wide receivers Thomas (8 catches for 98 yards, 2 TDs), Kyren Lacy (6 for 95) and Chris Hilton Jr. (3 for 56, 1 TD) and tight end Mason Taylor (7 for 88) each stepped into a piece of Nabers’ vacated spotlight.
In the game’s final 27:09, Nussmeier completed 13 of 19 passes for 216 yards, including TD passes of 38 yards to Thomas and 14 yards to Hilton to pull the Tigers into a 28-28 tie with 4:44 left in the third quarter — and the eventual game-winner to Thomas.
“They got us the whole game with big plays,” Wisconsin safety Hunter Wohler said. “We’ve just got to find a way to finish.”
On the other hand, LSU’s defense started making plays in the clutch.
It held Wisconsin to a 21-yard Nathanial Vakos field goal for a 31-28 Badgers’ lead with 1:18 left in the third quarter after Wisconsin had first-and-goal from the LSU 1. Tigers’ safety Major Burns immediately upset UW’s apple cart by tossing Mordecai for a 5-yard loss on first down.
Wisconsin also advanced the ball to its 47 and to the LSU 34 on its first two possessions of the fourth quarter. The Tigers forced punts both times, including a 35-yarder downed at the LSU 2 with 6:10 left.
After two Josh Williams runs pushed the ball to the LSU 13, Nussmeier fired back-to-back completions of 37 yards to Lacy and 43 yards to Hilton.
Two plays later, Nussmeier deftly changed a pass protection call at the line of scrimmage and rocketed a 4-yard TD laser beam to Thomas at the goal line for LSU’s first, only and last lead of the day with 3:08 left.
“You got to do what you got to do to win the football game,” Nussmeier said. “It doesn’t matter if you got to start from the 1 or the 2 or you get the ball at the 30. You just stick to the process. You go play by play, do the right things. Move the chains, move the chains, move the chains and put the ball in the end zone.”
Wisconsin’s Mordecai had some bullets left in the Badgers’ last possession. He completed 4 of 4 for 50 yards and had the Badgers with a second-and-2 at the LSU 19 with less than 90 seconds left.
And then, the Tigers’ defense did something it hadn’t done in 871 previous plays all season.
They recorded three straight sacks as Jordan Jefferson, Mehki Wingo and Greg Penn III sent Mordecai backward for losses of 13, 10 and 3 yards with a fourth-down fumble sealing LSU’s win.
“(This is) a team that’s won 20 games over the last two years, has a good foundational base of what LSU football teams expectations are,” Kelly said. “This is a team that year in and year out should be competing for championships.
“We’ve done a really good job the first two years of stabilizing, put a strong base on it. As we go into 2024, I feel really good that this team is now ready to really ascend as we move forward.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com