Not a whole lot to learn here
Diving into the box score this week is a bit of a fool’s errand, I will admit. When the teams were both more concerned with running clock for more than half the game, it does not lead to what we could call an honest box score.
And that’s before we get into the massive talent disparity between the teams which would have made such a comparison sketchy even before this turned into a laugher. But, we will do our best here.
37. LSU first quarter points. That sums up the whole game right there. LSU had a record breaking first quarter which dictated the rest of the game. This thing was over pretty much right away. Let’s be honest, the team needed that.
10/11. Jayden Daniels’ completion/attempts. Not much to complain about here. He played just over a quarter of football, he threw only one incompletion he connected with three different receivers for touchdowns, and he added 18 yards on 3 carries, including a touchdown of his own. A dominant performance made more impressive by Garrett Nussmeier’s underwhelming evening.
It is far too early to write off Nussmeier, but he could have used some of that performance. Southern’s defense stiffened up when Nuss entered the game. And while he displayed a big arm, he also made some… questionable decisions. Any lingering QB controversy is over.
85. Armoni Goodwin’s rushing yards. Goodwin didn’t exit the game nearly as early as Daniels, he hung around through the third quarter, splitting carries with Noah Cain. But seeing an LSU running back have any sort of success behind this line was a huge positive. And while we can doubt the quality of the backfield based upon the opponent, it is clear hat Goodwin is top of the depth chart.
2. Turnovers caused by Micah Baskerville. Outside of two plays, he had a pretty quiet night, only notching two assists on tackles. But what a two plays. The pick six was the straw that broke the camel’s back and his blocked punt is probably the moment this game turned into more of a party than a contest. It was good to see him have a standout game.
550. LSU’s total offense. Even with taking the second half off, LSU generated 550 yards of offense, throwing for 320 yards as well. LSU averaged 9.4 yards per pass attempt and 7.9 yards per play. A dominating performance through and through.
4. Southern fumble recoveries. Southern fumbled the ball 4 times and recovered it every time. Believe it or not, they were lucky this wasn’t worse.
5. Kayshon Boutte targets. Incidentally, its also his number of catches. Boutte caught 5 balls for 42 yards and even though he didn’t find the end zone, he was a key cog in the offense. He also had one carry for 41 yards. LSU desperately needs him to get going, and it was a positive sign he was an active and willing part of the offense on Saturday. That needs to carry over to next weekend.
1-0. Brian Kelly’s record in Tiger Stadium. Just sayin’.