LSU Looks to Improve Against Louisiana Tech

The Tigers are setting out to officially put their impressive Week One win in the rear-view mirror. LSU will host Louisiana Tech in its home opener with hopes of improving. The 21^st meeting between the in-state foes will take place at 6:30 CST in the (now confirmed) true Death Valley on a Louisiana Saturday night.

Head Coach Sonny Cumbie led the Bulldogs to a 24-0 win in Week One over another in-state program, Southeastern Louisiana. Despite an improved 2024 season, the heat is on Cumbie to show progress considering his 13-26 career record in Ruston. While anything can happen, we don’t expect Tech to pose much of a threat to LSU. But it’s a great opportunity for Brian Kelly’s squad to improve before its SEC opener against Florida.

LSU Hosts Louisiana Tech

Finishing Drives

It’s not easy to put good teams away. That becomes even more challenging when playing self-destructive football. The Tigers had negative plays, penalties, and turnovers that prevented them from pulling away from Clemson last week. Fortunately, it proved that they could overcome adversity. The bad news is already enough adversity in football without a team creating more for itself.

Of course, some of LSU’s penalties can be attributed to early-season jitters, but assuming they will go away doesn’t mean they will. False starts, illegal motions, and illegal formations can cost the Tigers a game later in the season. And the Tech defense is good enough to challenge LSU if it gets behind the chains.

Ball security is always a focal point, and turnovers are usually key components of major upsets. Lest we forget, LSU only beat Louisiana Tech by 17 in the last meeting between them. The ultimate equalizer of stolen possessions can challenge the positive vibes surrounding the team just as quickly as the early win has enhanced them.

Fine Tuning the Passing Game

Ok, so maybe we’re nitpicking here. Garrett Nussmeier’s 232 yards last week were pedestrian by his standards. But he was efficient, decisive, and judicious with the ball. As usual, Aaron Anderson was clutch, and nine total Tigers had receptions. It’s quite a feat to spread the ball around that much in a game with relatively low offensive output.

In fact, the only noticeable imperfection in the passing game was the absence of the deep ball. Although Nussmeier did drop one in the bucket to Barion Brown for a would-be touchdown, formerly known as a catch. Either way, this weekend presents a great opportunity for LSU to take shots with Brown and Chris Hilton. The Tigers appear to be a more capable running team than last year, and a downfield passing threat only helps the run game. The perfect opportunity for LSU awaits, as Louisiana Tech is strong at linebacker but not as much in the secondary.

Special Teams

LSU has significant goals, and big goals require complete games. The Tigers missed out on some special team opportunities in the first game. Punter Grant Chadwick averaged a respectable 42 yards per punt last week. He came tantalizingly close to pinning Clemson inside the five on two different occasions, but the gunners couldn’t quite get in place to stop the ball in time.

There will be games in which the LSU defense doesn’t play as well as it did against Clemson, and forcing an offense to start a drive deep in its own territory can sometimes kill drives before they start. The Tigers can’t be satisfied with touchbacks when punting from the opponents’ 40-yard line.

Evolution of the Defense

We can’t come up with much as far as improving a dominant defensive effort. But we know that no defense has reached its peak after one game. Despite the creativity and aggressive nature of the LSU defense a week ago, Blake Baker has much more up his sleeve.

More concepts and personnel combinations will show up as the weeks come and go. DJ Pickett will continue to challenge PJ Woodland for snaps, and we expect Woodland to continue to play at a high level. As a true sophomore, he’ll only get better.

The defensive line looked fresh and disruptive, but it’s not rushing the passer alone. Coverage ability on the back end allows Baker to be more exotic with blitz packages. Louisiana Tech will help quarterback Trey Kukuk against LSU by getting the ball out fast. He had 14 completions last week for only 130 yards. If Harold Perkins and friends can’t get to him, they must continue to tackle well in the open field.

Believe it or not, this Tiger defense has more room to grow. It’ll get its next opportunity on Saturday.