It was great of LSU coach Brian Kelly to take up for his quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier, Saturday night after the No. 8 Tigers fell at No. 14 Texas A&M, 38-23, in one of LSU’s biggest second half collapses in history.
In a preemptive, defensive strike, Kelly tried to ward off the rough writers he sensed would be taking aim at his talented junior in his first season as a starter. And he was right … about the rough writers.
“We could go on all night here and gang up on Garrett Nussmeier if we want,” Kelly said. “But the reality is we’ve got to put him in the right situations with more balance. He can’t be that guy who’s got to throw for 365 yards. We did not get the kind of production (from the run game – 24 yards on 23 carries) that would keep Garrett Nussmeier from having to stand on his freakin’ head! We don’t give him enough balance, and it makes him vulnerable because he has to do so much.”
A better running game would clearly help. But Kelly needed to calm down a bit and remember that LSU did not run the ball very well in its 29-26 win over Ole Miss in overtime on Oct. 12. The Tigers rushed for just 84 yards in that game on 24 carries. And that didn’t stop Nussmeier from having the best second half of his career after an average first half. He finished that one 22-of-51 passing for 337 yards, three TDs and two interceptions – numbers very similar to his A&M game.
Nussmeier had been lauded as perhaps the best quarterback in the country and the first quarterback pick in the NFL Draft next spring should he come out, since that Ole Miss game. What people have noticed is how pinpoint accurate he is. He throws covered receivers open as Drew Brees used to. That was particularly true against Ole Miss, particularly on his regulation game-tying touchdown pass and the game winner in overtime.
Unfortunately, those plays and his amazingly accurate completions to often very well covered receivers all season gave a very confident, gunslinging quarterback on arrival in 2021 even more and newfound bravado entering College Station, Texas. He should’ve exited that game with a more balanced sense of confidence and the goal of being a tad more careful. If so, he will be all the better for it.
“I’ve got to execute better. I’ve got to play better,” Nussmeier admitted after a game in which he completed 25 of 50 passes for 405 yards and two touchdowns with three picks. “Guys are making plays, and I need to do a better job of just giving them opportunities in space. It’s a tough one. There’s not much else to say. It hurts. I think that it’s big for us to bounce back from this. Everything that we want is right in front of us.”
That’s a good start, but it’s simpler than that. Nussmeier needs to remember what down it is, and he must realize you can’t always throw someone open, particularly when there are one or more defenders right on a receiver – no matter how accurate he can be. He must learn to move on to the next down at times.
Nussmeier’s three interceptions at A&M – two in the third quarter and one in the fourth – directly set up 17 points for the Aggies. All three were to well-covered receivers with one or more defenders right there. The first one, Nussmeier scrambled well and threw accurately to his receiver on 3rd-and-2 from his 21-yard line. He was trying to make a play, but LSU was ahead 17-7 at the time with 8:17 to go in the third quarter. A punt would’ve been better. Yes, that’s hindsight, but the thought should’ve been on his mind.
Instead, cornerback BJ Mayes picked it off and returned it 27 yards to the LSU 8-yard line. Cue up the Reed Option with just-inserted quarterback Marcel Reed, and LSU’s lead is now 17-14.
If the defender on the play thinks the pass was ill-advised, it was ill-advised.
“I was in scramble drill,” Mayes said Saturday night. “I ran and I saw the quarterback – he looked at us. Then he cocked back, and I’m like, ‘No way, he’s going to throw it, because you see me right here.'”
But this was the quarterback formerly known as Garrett Cocksure-Meier.
“Ain’t no way he’s going to throw that,” Mayes said laughing. “But, (expletive deleted), he threw it. And the rest is history.”
This is one of the greatest postgame interviews I’ve seen. Texas A&M CB BJ Mayes, a UAB transfer who had 2 picks vs. LSU Saturday in his 1st start as Aggie.https://t.co/BwUzux60jg
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 30, 2024
Mayes intercepted Nussmeier again two LSU possessions later with :47 to play in the the third quarter and A&M up 21-17. Once again, Nussmeier’s back was to his end zone on the Tigers’ 25-yard line. But this one was only second down. He could’ve lived another play, but once again he threw into traffic as Mayes was right on LSU wide receiver Kyren Lacy.
“I made sure I got a real bang on him, because I knew he had a slot fade,” Mayes said. “So, I didn’t want to let him get in his route too much. I banged him. Another thing, I’m looking (at Nussmeier), and I’m like, ‘Ain’t no way he’s fixin’ to throw this ball.’ He threw it. And the rest is history is what it was.”
The Aggies took over at LSU’s 26 and soon scored for a 28-17 lead with 14:07 to play.
Nussmeier’s third interception came when the Tigers were down 38-23, but there was still 6:31 to play in the game. And it was first down. Still time, but Nussmeier appeared to be in panic mode now, and threw into tight coverage again. Linebacker Taurean York intercepted to set up a field goal for the 38-23 final.
On the second and third picks, Nussmeier was not even under a lot of pressure. Remember, he has been sacked only four times all season as LSU is in third in the nation in that statistic. And amazingly, Nussmeier is among the nation’s leaders in passing attempts with 333. Based on attempts, Nussmeier is easily the least sacked quarterback in the nation.
He is also No. 4 in passing yards with 2,627, but Nussmeier is all the way down at No. 48 in the nation in the all-encompassing statistic of passing efficiency at 143.1 because of an average completion percentage (.624) and nine interceptions against 20 touchdowns.
“Zero is an OK play. Not turning it over,” Kelly said Monday on the Paul Finebaum Show when he had gotten out of Nussmeier protection mode. “That goes back to the coaching, the teaching, the discipline of the position.”
That last one – Nussmeier needs to be more accurate on that one.
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