LSU marched all the way to the 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter to immediately chip back into the 10-point Vanderbilt lead Diego Pavia had just built with his longest run of an overall impressive performance.
The No. 10 Tigers’ lone red zone trip stalled there and settled for a field goal, though, just as most of their previous possessions throughout the day.
A holding penalty and a dropped pass — both on critical third downs — derailed their last two gasps as salvaging the day, and Pavia finally escaped to convert another third down of his own to ice away No. 17 Vanderbilt’s 31-24 victory.
“The offense mustered some things offensively that we had been lacking, but when our defense made a couple of stops, we couldn’t turn those into positive possessions,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “Obviously those two in particular, but more importantly it was cashing in on first-and-goal from the 1. I mean, you’ve gotta score a touchdown there. That to me is — but we jump offside. It is what it is, right? I mean, we could pick a couple of plays, but the bottom line is we didn’t score touchdowns when we kicked field goals and we didn’t play well enough defensively to give ourselves enough possessions to win the game.”
The Tigers (5-2, 2-2) had too few answers Saturday for not only for the Commodores’ escape-artist quarterback, but for the full complement of a much-improved program in Nashville, Tenn.
Pavia finished 14-for-22 (63.6%) for 160 yards and a passing touchdown and rushed 17 times for 86 yards and two scores with many of his biggest plays coming in the most pivotal moments, including a pressure-eluding find of Makhilyn Young to convert a midfield fourth down on Vanderbilt’s final scoring drive late in the third and the eventual 21-yard scamper to paydirt.
The Commodores (6-1, 2-1) scored on five of their first six possessions, cashing four of those in for touchdowns and invariably relying on explosive or timely highlights from Pavia along the way.
Vanderbilt finished 6-for-13 (46.2%) on third downs and 2-for-3 (66.7%) on fourths on its way to 399 yards, including 239 on the ground, and a 13-minute advantage in time of possession.
“When you play an offense like this, it’s the details,” Kelly said. “And being in the right place and having eye discipline and making the plays when they come your way is paramount to slowing them down. And we just didn’t do a good enough job on the details when it came to trying to defend this offense.”
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier provided a memorable performance in his own right, one of the best yet of his injury-hampered season.
He completed 19 of his 28 passes (67.9%) for 225 yards and two touchdowns: a well-drawn and -executed 24-yarder to Trey’Dez Green early in the second quarter and a 62-yard catch-and-run by Zavion Thomas midway through the third.
Green caught five passes for 74 yards, and Thomas had four receptions for 75 yards.
But Commodores defenders consistently blew by or bowled over the Tigers’ beat-up and overmatched offensive line to beat up Nussmeier for four quarters with two sacks and one hard-hitting hurry after another.
Stops behind the line, paired with untimely penalties and even worse drops, forced LSU to settle for four field goals on its first six drives — three of which kicker Damian Ramos cashed in — and squandered its final two opportunities before they could get off the ground.
“A disappointing day, obviously. I just told our team we had opportunities. We didn’t cash in on ’em. From an offensive standpoint, we had three opportunities to score that were field goals. And, look, our guys know we were playing a team that was going to make it very difficult for us to possess the football. We had three possessions in the first half. So it’s like playing the triple-option. And we did not play well enough on either side of the ball to be the better team today.
“And Vanderbilt was the better team today because they executed at a higher level. So when you look at it in its totality: defensively not enough stops, and offensively when we had opportunities to score touchdowns we had to kick field goals. And that was the difference in the game.”
Sophomore running back Caden Durham finished with 59 yards on seven rushes to lead a 100-yard team performance. But 51 yards came on one run early in the fourth quarter that ultimately settled for a field goal after a false start penalty disrupted momentum. Freshman Harlem Berry added 55 yards on 11 carries.
The loss was the Tigers’ first to Vanderbilt since 1990, ending a 10-game winning streak in the series, and a particularly tough-to-swallow second loss of a season that began with a top-10 ranking and notable College Football Playoff goals.
LSU now falls to tied for ninth in the SEC standings with a home game next week against No. 4 Texas A&M (7-0, 4-0) and November road trips to No. 6 Alabama (6-1, 4-0) and No. 14 Oklahoma (6-1, 2-1) highlighting the remaining schedule.
“It’s a competitive group,” Kelly said. “They have a lot of pride. They’re gonna play hard. We just have to play smarter and cleaner. I’m not worried about the guys not wanting to play at their very best. They’re gonna play at their very best. They’re still in it, you know? They’ve got Texas A&M at home, then they get a week off, and then it’s a four-game race to the SEC Championship. And so, yeah, it’s a disappointing loss. There’s no doubt. It’s gonna sting. But they’ve got to bounce back right to reality and know they’ve got to play mistake-free against an outstanding A&M team.”
