GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – When holders don’t catch the ball, they obviously can’t hold it for the kicker.
And that happened to No. 8 LSU Saturday night in an exasperating, 38-23 loss at No. 14 Texas A&M that snapped the Tigers’ six-game winning streak and will likely drop them out of the top 10.
The Tigers were lining up at the Aggies 29-yard line for a 46-yard field goal attempt by Damian Ramos with 4:55 to play in the third quarter and leading 17-14. Deep snapper Slade Roy snapped it perfectly to holder Peyton Todd. Unfortunately, Todd was not looking. His head was turned as he spoke to Ramos.
The snap hit Todd on his shoulder closest to Ramos – a very good, chest high snap. But he never saw it. And after an 11-yard loss, Texas A&M took over at its 40-yard line. This really upset LSU coach Brian Kelly. And ABC’s cameras showed him chewing out Todd.
Perhaps Roy jumped the gun when he snapped the ball, because Todd certainly wasn’t expecting it. And Roy has snapped too early in other games and perhaps in this one. But Kelly clearly blamed Todd in the video. And Todd already had placed poorly one or two field goal snaps he did see coming and caught in the first half that contributed to Ramos missing two kicks. If he makes them from 48 and 49 yards within his range, the Tigers would have been up 23-7 at the half instead of 17-7.
Whether it’s the snap, the hold or the kicker, something is dreadfully wrong with a very basic football play.
The Aggies drove 60 yards in seven plays after the botched field goal attempt for a 21-17 lead, and the Tigers never recovered.
“The silliness of the field goal stuff,” Kelly said shaking his head. “That has got to end.”
Shaking his head again, he said, “That is just ridiculous. We’ll clean that up in short order.”
When a reporter tried to specify if it was the snap or the hold on the three missed field goals, Kelly shook his head again.
“That’s twice now that’s happened,” he said. “It’s unacceptable. We’ll get it fixed, and it’s never going to happen again. Ever.”
And the amazing thing is Ramos nailed four field goals last week in the 34-10 win at Arkansas, including one from 47 and another from 48.
LSU also ran the ball well last week with 158 yards on 37 carries as tailback Caden Durham rushed for 101 yards on 21 rushes. Against the Aggies, LSU rushed 23 times for 24 yards. Durham had 15 yards on 11 carries.
And that led to quarterback Garrett Nussmeier throwing three interceptions in the second half after putting on a clinic in the first half with 14-of-26 passing for 259 yards and two touchdowns. He finished 25 of 50 for 405 yards and two touchdowns, but with three killer interceptions that set up 17 points in the second half.
“Look, you can’t make a living with 33 yards rushing,” Kelly said. Actually, 24 yards, coach, but who’s counting?
“And we’ve got to help Garrett out, quite frankly,” he said. “We’ve got to give him a more balanced offense. That’s not what we expected. We spent a lot of time on our run game. We did not get the kind of production that would keep a Garrett Nussmeier from having to stand on his freakin’ head!”
LSU needs a running game before it’s too late for Nussmeier, and he gets hurt.
“And so Garrett Nussmeier is not out there trying to make a play every flippin’ play,” Kelly said.
LSU’s defense was also suddenly dumbfounded by a running quarterback, as if that’s new. Marcel Reed gained 62 yards on nine carries with touchdown runs of 8, 8 and 4 yards. He’s a freshman, but he’s not new. He started three games this season and had 226 rushing yards on 43 carries coming in.
Yet, new LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker played Reed as if he had no film on him.
“I would say we need to spend more time on the quarterback running game,” Kelly deadpanned. “Because right now, I would run the quarterback against us.”
Too often this season, it looks like Kelly and offensive coordinator Joe Sloan and Baker are doing everything by the seat of their pants. It’s like they don’t know the team they are coaching. Too many weeks have held too many surprises, which raises questions. What was this staff doing during spring and August?
The in-game adjustments to Reed and other issues were nowhere to be found, and Kelly knows it. The game plan looks a little suspect as well.
“I feel from a a coaching standpoint, we need to help our team,” he said. “And I didn’t feel like we had the answers necessary on defense nor on offense to help our group out. We need to coach better.”
And that starts with the deep snapper-holder exchange, which in late October is ridiculous.
That’s like the Dodgers and Yankees working on bunting tomorrow.
In other words, Kelly and company need to get their f-ing operation going.
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