Whit Weeks sighed as he considered the question. The sophomore linebacker knows as well as anybody that LSU has given up too many explosive plays, an issue that continued in the first half of a 34-17 win over UCLA.
Weeks was asked what needs to happen to limit those long gains. He didn’t have the answer Saturday night, so he laughed slightly and acknowledged the problem.
“That's the million dollar question right there,” Weeks said. “That's what we've got to figure out for sure.”
LSU has given up explosive plays in all four games, and time is dwindling to clean up the mistakes. South Alabama and Ole Miss, the Tigers’ next two opponents, entered Saturday’s games ranked in the top 10 nationally in plays more than 10, 20, 30 and 40 yards.
It’s not just one area. Explosive plays have come on the ground and through the air. Southern Cal had 12 completions over 15 yards. Nicholls running back Collin Guggenheim ripped off a 67-yard touchdown. South Carolina recorded six plays over 25 yards, including touchdown runs of 75 and 66 yards.
UCLA continued the trend until the second half. In the first half, quarterback Ethan Garbers completed 70% of his throws for 198 yards and two touchdowns. With seven passes over 15 yards, including five over 20 yards, he averaged 12.8 yards per completion.
On UCLA’s opening possession, a checkdown on third and 4 turned into a 28-yard gain. Garbers found an open tight end over the middle a few plays later for a 20-yard touchdown. He also had a 29-yard completion on third and 8, leading to a field goal, and a 32-yard completion to set up UCLA’s second touchdown.
“All of their points in the first half were just mistakes that are all correctable mistakes,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said, “and we corrected them in the second half and played really well in the second half.”
To Kelly’s point, Garbers had 83 yards and an interception in the second half. And because LSU held UCLA to 3.2 yards per carry when adjusted for five sacks, the Bruins never threatened to score again. Weeks said LSU played a lot of man coverage, so it made stops when the players trusted their feet and their eyes.
“We came out in the second half, and we were able to clean up a lot of those mistakes that we did make in the first half, so that's promising,” Weeks said. “Now, we've just got to figure out next week how to come out in the first half and not play sloppy for a quarter and a half.”
Kelly called the mistakes “maddening” three times in his postgame news conference. He said LSU didn’t make any schematic adjustments at halftime. The difference was players took care of their responsibilities.
“They executed the defenses that were called. Execution is attention to detail, doing your job," Kelly said. "Doing our job on defense was the biggest difference from the first half to the second half.”
So far this season, the Tigers have done some things better defensively than they did last year. They are generating regular pressure, and they have gotten off the field more often on third down. UCLA started 4 of 7 on third down in the first half, then finished 5 of 12 as LSU made stops.
But LSU plays a lot of man coverage, so when pressure has not gotten home, the defensive backs are exposed. The potential downside of defensive coordinator Blake Baker's aggressive approach was big plays, and the defense has largely been boom or bust. The Tigers are giving up 6 yards per play.
“We're pressuring, we're getting turnovers, we're doing some really good things defensively,” Kelly said, “and then it's just maddening some of the silly mistakes that we're making on defense that just have to go away.”
.@OleMissFB :
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) September 22, 2024
+198 point differential this season…
That’s the best through 4 games in @SEC history⁰
1st team in SEC history with 600 yards in 4 straight games⁰
220 points this season, most through the first 4 games in school history
South Alabama suddenly looks challenging. It scored 135 points over the past two games in wins over Northwestern State and Appalachian State. Running back Fluff Bothwell has averaged 9.7 yards per carry, and quarterback Gio Lopez is averaging 9.2 yards per attempt.
Then there’s Ole Miss, one of the most explosive offenses in the country so far. The Rebels already led the nation with 81 plays of 10-plus yards going into their game Saturday night against Georgia Southern. They added 15 more in the win. Quarterback Jaxson Dart had six completions over 30 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown.
LSU still believes it can get to a place where it can slow down those offenses. Weeks said “what's maddening is we have the players, we have the skill, we have the talent.” But UCLA had not been explosive, and it generated several big plays.
“Wish we were cleaner in the first half,” Kelly said. “The mistakes are maddening. We got to clean them up. We're going to continue to work.”