Brian Kelly may not have wanted to discuss it immediately following Saturday’s game, but LSU’s offense hasn’t yet been the explosive force most anticipated this season.
The No. 3 Tigers (3-0, 1-0) have averaged just 20 points through three games, which — albeit coming against strong opposing defenses — had only previously occurred since the pandemic during losing stretches in 2020, 2021 and 2024.
A couple days removed from Saturday’s defensive-led 20-10 defeat of Florida (1-2, 0-1), Kelly provided a little context into the unit’s performance thus far, ways it’s being misjudged and factors that may be hamstringing it early on, including an injury star quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has been battling.
“I walked into the postgame locker room with our coaches,” Kelly said Monday. “And you can imagine our defensive coaches were pretty happy. They were pretty happy. Our offensive coaches were really reserved and maybe expecting that they were gonna get the paint pealed off the room. And I said, ‘Listen this how you win games. You have to manage games. And this one we managed.’ Last year the stats were the exact opposite against Florida, and we lost that game. This was about managing a game, and at the end of the day, my job is to win football games for LSU. That’s how we had to win the game.
“And that’s what I was referring to more than anything else is: Yeah, I know it didn’t look the way it wants to be, but trust me that offense is gonna have to score a ton of points at some time during the year, and we’re gonna have to turn that loose because our defense might just not play as well as they have been playing. We have a great defense. And when we get into games like that, I’m gonna make sure that we minimize any of the mistakes that can be made on offense.”
PLAYING TO DEFENSIVE STRENGTH
The coach quickly and increasingly snapped back at a postgame question Saturday asking about an offensive shortcoming and related follow-up attempts.
Kelly emphasized Monday that criticisms may be missing an overall shift in approach and identity from a team in recent years that needed a high-scoring offense to overcome defensive limitations to one this year with a much-improved defense he and the staff feels can be elite nationally.
He pointed to at least three fourth-down occasions against the Gators in which LSU’s analytics suggested to attempt conversions, which the Tigers would have done in 2024 but opted instead Saturday to punt away and play a battle of field position.
Kelly feels that shift may be factoring into what he feels would be misguided frustration with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan.
“I had to answer questions of being critical with (defensive coordinator) Blake (Baker) last year, right?” Kelly said. “I mean, (Sloan) is doing what he’s asked to do to manage the games the way we need to play. We have a top-10 defense, I believe, in the country, and we need to play to that strength. And so sometimes you have to pull back a little bit here and there. He’s been a great coach from that perspective. Because, look, offensive coordinators, they want to score points too. But sometimes I’m tapping the brakes here a little bit in those situations, because that’s gonna be the identity of this football team.”
NUSSMEIER INJURY
Additionally, Kelly shared Monday that Nussmeier has been battling a torso injury since camp that has limited his throwing during the week.
The Tigers haven’t gotten the typical practice reps of their downfield passing game with their starter as a result, but the coach said they started increasing that workload this past week and are confident the issue will be resolved in the coming weeks.
“He’s fighting through it, and he’s getting better,” he said. “He’s not gonna be able to really shut it down until we get to the bye week (Oct. 4). And I’m not saying that that has had any (fault) of his troubles. I think he is a symptom of what I was just saying where we’re not ripping it on fourth down — we’re taking some plays away from him as well.
“And he’s done a really good job. I think he managed the run game as well as he has all year. We’ve got to let him get the ball out to the playmakers. That would be more of what has to happen, and then we’ve got to keep him healthy. That’s the most important thing.”
Nussmeier has averaged 23-for-35.3 (65.1%) passing per contest for 229.7 yards and a touchdown a week.
Comparatively, the Lake Charles native finished 2024, his first season starting, with averages of 25.9 completions on 40.4 attempts (64.2%) for 311.7 yards for 2.2 scores.
Kelly said multiple times that the injury hasn’t changed LSU’s play-calling and that the biggest effect as been practice reps.
But Nussmeier’s average depth of target, percentage of throws 20-plus yards, completion percentage of 20-plus yards and touchdown-to-interception ratio on those deep throws have all — understandably — dipped.
“You’re not working on it as much in practice,” Kelly said. “So, you know, when you get your shots, you want to be able to take ’em, but we’re not doing it a lot in practice. We’re starting to pick up that pace. We started a little bit last week. We’ll continue to pick it up a little bit more this week.”
STRETCHING OPPOSING DEFENSES
Ten different Tigers have caught passes so far this season, a wealth and diversity of weapons with which the coach has been pleased overall.
But Chris Hilton Jr., a former Zachary High track standout considered the group’s top deep threat, has tied for the fewest targets (3) and catches (1) with only one deep shot his direction so far.
“I think if you look at the way we’ve utilized all those receivers, we’re getting them all involved,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve got to get Chris Hilton involve more, right, in the vertical passing game. But I guess what I was trying to say more than anything else is that from an offensive standpoint we know what we have as a team.”
DEVELOPING OFFENSIVE LINE
LSU’s biggest uncertainty entering the season was a new-look offensive line coaches knew had talented pieces, but could take time to effectively develop as a unit and, in some cases in particular, individually.
But Kelly has been proud of the group’s performance thus far in pass protection and saying the Tigers have not felt limited in their ability to test defenses downfield as a result of lack of confidence in their blocking.
“We didn’t give up a sack, and that is a really good (Florida) defense,” he said. “That is a really good defense. So I’m pleased there. I mean, if we need to go out there and throw the ball 50 times, we’re capable of doing that. I’m not sure I want to play that way, you know? Nor do we have to. Now, there’s gonna be some times in the SEC we’re gonna have to score more than 20 points. Let’s get that straight. I think we all know that.
“So this is about continuing to develop the areas that need that work, and it’s our running game. I believe we can throw the football every down if we need to, and I believe that we can protect effectively. So this is really about trying to work on your weaknesses and develop them as we go through this week and moving forward.”
FINDING MORE GROUND CONSISTENCY
Kelly was emphatic Saturday that a late 51-yard run by sophomore back Caden Durham had been enough of the ground to effectively close out the victory.
But he was far more open to questions on that topic Monday.
The Tigers had only managed 51 yard on 21 carries, an average of 2.4 yards per carry, prior to the Durham run.
And LSU has ranked 15th among 16 SEC teams early this season in per-game rushing (110.67 yards), per-rush average (3.69 yards) and rushing touchdowns (2) — only narrowly avoiding last place in each category.
“After watching the film and being able to answer the question from an offensive line standpoint and running the football, where we’ve got to get better is technically,” the coach said. “Our guys are playing hard. They are locked in. We’ve got to be better in terms of technique. This is a big week for us in terms of developing the technique and the experience that we have and still being consistent with running the football.”
SHORT-YARDAGE FOCUS
Kelly has harped on efficiency statistics as much as anything the past couple weeks, emphasizing red zone performance during the week ahead of the Florida matchup and pointing to short-yardage third-down scenarios at multiple times Monday to kick off the week of preparation for Southeastern Louisiana (2-1).
Particularly, the coach said the more conservative decision-making on fourth downs to lean on an improved defense means the Tigers also need to do a better job adjusting their third-down play-calling.
“We had a couple of them where we come up just short right at the sticks,” he said. “I think that’s just continue to have an emphasis in our week of preparation on short-yardage inventory plays, right? Because last year we were going for it on fourth down. That’s my whole point. Last year we were taking the analytics and running that as a third- and a fourth-down play, so if we got to fourth-and-1, we were going. But this year, I’m playing it a little bit different, based on the strength of our defense.
“Last year we needed to score more points. Now as we move forward, we’re gonna need to do both, right? So I think that’s really about how we operate in the week of practice in terms of developing an inventory, ‘these are our plays,’ ‘this is what we’re gonna look at in third-and-short situations.’ We just have to continue to develop.”
