GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Sometimes the younger coordinators in college football focus too much on all the bells and whistles, instead of finding the right synchronization between their bag of tricks that make them look smart and simply letting their talent win.
LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan is 37. Defensive coordinator Blake Baker is 42.
“I just thought we were simpler,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said after the Tigers broke a confusing, three-game losing streak with a low-drama, 24-17 win over Vanderbilt that was void of fancy play calls on both sides of the ball.
Vanderbilt has a simpler approach itself compared to previous LSU opponents, yes. Kelly compared the Commodores (6-5, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) to the service academies he played at Notre Dame. But LSU had trouble earlier this season with simple execution offensively and defensively against other average teams such as USC, Nicholls State, UCLA, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Florida.
Against Vanderbilt, LSU looked more efficient on both sides of the ball than it has all season. Other than quarterback Diego Pavia’s 63-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Quincy Skinner Jr. on Vanderbilt’s first play, there were no major busts on defense with wide open spaces as if the Tigers did not have the required 11 players on the field.
There were no plays like the 55-yard touchdown run by Florida’s Jadan Baugh on Nov. 16 that ended that game with 3:48 to play for a 27-16 LSU loss.
“Half of us thought we were running one play. Half of us thought we were running a different play,” LSU linebacker Whit Weeks said.
There were no gashes by Pavia, a very good dual-threat quarterback, as there by Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe in Alabama’s 42-13 win at LSU on Nov. 9 in which Milroe rushed for 185 yards on 12 carries (15.4-yard average) on simple runs – not run-pass options. He scored on runs of 72, 39, 19 and 10 yards, often barely being touched. Pavia gained only 43 yards on six carries.
“I think we had five calls on defense,” Kelly said. “And we ran some pass plays multiple times. It wasn’t a different look.”
It was less. As in less to remember.
“It helps us a lot,” LSU defensive end Sai’vion Jones said. “It just stops us from doing all that thinking. It feels like when you’ve got to be thinking about something, that’s when your reaction isn’t as fast. You’ve got to worry about, ‘Oh, what if this happens? Or this happens?’ But since we simplified the playbook, it’s been less thinking and more reacting.”
And less gaping holes.
LSU MAY HAVE BEEN ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD
“We didn’t have execution mistakes,” Kelly, 63, said. “Sometimes, in my career, I’ve always looked at if there’s a lot of mistakes, there might be too much information. You might be doing a little bit too much. So, we simplified some things and felt like we put our players in a really good position to succeed. Sometimes that goes hand in hand.”
Look for LSU (7-4, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) to likely keep things on the simpler side Saturday when it closes the regular season against Oklahoma (6-5, 2-5 SEC) in a 6 p.m. home game on ESPN.
“We were very consistent with our play calls on both sides,” Kelly said. “And that was the mantra, ‘Be committed to the call. Whatever that call is, execute that call. We’re not going to have a lot of calls this week.'”
Players knew the call before the play, which is important.
“We cut out a lot,” Kelly said. “And that really helped our players stay locked in on the call and be committed to the call. We ran four-vertical (offensive pass formation) probably more times than I can remember in a game, but we had the checkdowns.”
GARRETT NUSSMEIER TONED IT DOWN
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier had his highest completion percentage in a game without an interception this season as he completed 28 of 37 for (.756) for 332 yards and a touchdown with one sack a seek after getting sacked seven times.
“We had other avenues to get the ball out,” Kelly said. “We had the check-downs.”
Nussmeier broke with tradition of virtually always choosing the deep route and settled for dinks and dunks to wide receivers and backs. Tailback Josh Williams, for example, caught four passes for a season-high 61 yards. And LSU converted 8 of 13 third downs.
“They are a really good third-down team,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “When the quarterback can step into the pocket and find the check-down late, it is going to find its way to a bigger space. Our guys were dropping in the top zones. It just seems like that was the rhythm of the game.”
Vanderbilt’s linebackers kept dropping on the wide receivers on LSU’s four-vertical plays.
“Linebackers were running with those inside seams (by the wide receivers), which created a big disparity between the depth of the linebacker who was trying to get into the seam route,” Kelly said. “So, we said, ‘Look, if they carry the seams, just check it down. We’re going to get 12 to 15 yards.'”
Vanderbilt never adjusted well enough to stop it.
“They know where to attack,’ Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson said. “Nussmeier’s a good quarterback. He knows how to read coverages. It’s about mixing up looks.”
OKLAHOMA DEFENSE IS TOP NOTCH
Oklahoma’s defense, though, is better than Vanderbilt’s. Sooners’ head coach Brent Venables was one of the top defensive coordinators in college football at Oklahoma (2004-11) and at Clemson (2012-21) before becoming Oklahoma’s head coach entering the 2022 season.
The Sooners held then-No. 7 Alabama to 2.3 yards a rush (70 yards on 30 carries) and 13 first downs in a 24-3 whipping on Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma. Milroe rushed for only 45 yards on 12 carries and completed 11 of 26 passes for 164 yards with three interceptions, including a 49-yard pick six by linebacker Kip Lewis.
Oklahoma is No. 15 in the nation and fifth in the SEC against the run (105.5 yards allowed a game) and No. 16 nationally and fifth in the SEC in total defense (311.3 yards a game). But the Sooners are average and have been flat bad against the pass as they are 48th nationally and eighth in the SEC with 205.8 yards allowed a game.
Nussmeier comes in No. 7 in the nation in passing yards per game at 314.4 and is second in the SEC in touchdowns with 23.
“We simplified some stuff, and it really worked,” said Nussmeier, who was aided by a running attack that netted 139 yards.
“Garrett Nussmeier played his best game of the year,” Kelly said. “We were balanced on offense. We had one negative play, whereas the week before we had 14 negative plays. We were much more efficient on first down. It played itself out well. Defensively, we had one misfit on a run play.”
Simple and beautiful.
Look for LSU to try to not complicate things Saturday.
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