By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – If favored LSU wins Saturday night in Tiger Stadium vs. South Alabama, it will enter its first open date with a 4-1 overall record.
It’s only one win short of most preseason predictions and expectations. The Tigers are currently ranked No. 13 in the AP poll and No. 14 in the coaches poll after starting the season No. 13 in the AP and No. 12 in the coaches.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
Hardly.
LSU has yet to play well for an entire game on both sides. The Tigers have been favored vs. their first four opponents but have trailed in three games because of slow offensive starts and fundamental defensive lapses.
Also, defensive starters linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. (torn ACL) and tackle Jacobian Guillory (torn Achilles) are out for the year as is reserve running back John Emery Jr. (torn ACL).
Nobody will mistake LSU as a College Football playoff contender, but Tigers’ head coach Brian Kelly has been content with his team’s baby steps.
“This has really been about building our team, getting to know our team, know our strengths and our weaknesses, the things that we have to be better at in all phases of the game,” Kelly said at his weekly in-season Monday press conference. “But at the same time, we’re developing some of those younger players so that when we have to call on them, we can get the kind of play necessary to win SEC games.”
Junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and senior defensive end Bradyn Swinson, the Tigers’ most consistent players on both sides of the ball, were named the SEC’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week respectively after they led LSU to a 34-17 victory over UCLA last Saturday.
Nussmeier’s 352 passing yards and three TDs and Swinson’s two sacks and a forced fumble were performances that have been the norm for that duo.
Offensively, the Tigers scored on the first possession against the Bruins but couldn’t maintain its fast start.
Defensively, LSU allowed UCLA to convert 4 of 7 third-down situations, including a third-and-goal game-tying 11-yard TD pass with eight seconds left in the first half.
In the second half, the Tigers’ offense had two 90-yard plus TD drives and the defense held UCLA to 64 yards total offense.
A positive step for new defensive coordinator Blake Baker was not allowing long-distance plays.
Nicholls State’s Collin Guggenheim and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers ran through the heart of LSU’s defense on 67 and 75-yard quarterback keeper TDs on successive weekends and the Gamecocks’ Raheim Sanders scored on a 66-yard run around left end against a misaligned defense.
“The ones that you don’t accept at any level are the big play runs right where you don’t have structure to your defense and you don’t have the levels,” Kelly said. “They can’t happen.”
LSU’s challenge this weekend is making defensive adjustments to replace Perkins, who Kelly said made opposing offenses have to account for his whereabouts.
“You’re playing against a guy (Perkins) that can wreck your day,” Kelly said, “so you lose that piece right away. But there’s 10 other players that make that thing happen, and I think it really helps now that our guys understand all 11 have to work harder and have to work together to be the kind of defense we want to be.”
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
No. 14 LSU (3-1, 1-0 SEC) vs. South Alabama (2-2 1-0 Sun Belt), Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Saturday, 6:45 p.m., SEC Network
Last game for Jaguars: Beat Appalachian State 48-14 last Friday in Boone, N.C. The Jags rushed for 320 yards and scored on their first four of five possessions.
Series record and last meeting: First meeting between the Jaguars and Tigers
South Alabama head coach: Major Applewhite (17-13 overall in 3 seasons, 2-1 in his first season at South Alabama)
THIS AND THAT
Appearance fee paid by LSU to South Alabama per game contract: $1.65 million and 400 complimentary tickets
Early betting line: LSU by 21
Number of Louisiana natives on South Alabama roster: 7
Number of Alabama natives on LSU roster: 0
Number of transfers on South Alabama roster from 4-year schools: 36 players from 29 schools including 17 players from 11 Power 4 Conference schools
SOUTH ALABAMA PLAYERS TO WATCH
QB Gio Lopez (57 of 92 for 843 passing yards, 9 TDs, 0 interceptions, RB Fluff Bothwell (359 rushing yards and 6 TDs on 37 carries, WR Jamaal Pritchett (26 catches for 354 receiving yards, 4 TDs, LB Blayne Myrick (34 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 PBU), CB Amarion Fortenberry (13 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 interception, 3 PBU), PK Laith Marjan (5 of 6 FG, 17 of 18 PAT), P Aleski Pulkkinen (9 for 38 yards per punt, 3 fair catches, 5 inside the 20).
THREE AND OUT
1. Where does South Alabama play its home games?
A. Ladd-Peebles Stadium
B. The Florabama Dome
C. Hancock Whitney Stadium
D. Tommy Hicks Memorial Coliseum
2. How long has South Alabama been an FBS (Division 1-A) football member?
A. Since 2012
B. Since 2016
C. Since 2009
D. Since 2019
3. What Baton Rouge high school did South Alabama head coach Major Applewhite graduate from where he was also a star quarterback?
A. Glen Oaks
B. Catholic
C. Broadmoor
D. Belaire
ANSWERS: 1. C. 2. A 3. B
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com