Film Review: Vanderbilt

People are taking Garrett Nussmeier in a functional setting and really holding space with that.

The LSU offense, after facing 3 teams with the athletes to take exploit LSU’s limitations and take away everything in the passing game, finally got a bit of a break. As a result, we finally got to see what it looks like when the whole offense doesn’t rest on Garrett Nussmeier creating out of nothing while running for his life. As it turns out, he looks a lot better to the average fan when that isn’t the case! While Florida was arguably Nussmeier’s best individual game of the season, Saturday against Vanderbilt was his cleanest. I’ve been softer on Nussmeier than I was early in the season because he has been generally better than he was in September. He’s seeing things quicker, he’s less skittish in the pocket, he’s creating more out of structure. The problem has been that he’s consistently been put in positions where, with nothing open in structure and quick pressure, the only way for LSU to move the ball is for him to be a hero. For a naturally aggressive and inexperienced QB, that raises the voice of the Green Goblin mask in the corner and leads to some ugly-looking plays.

On Saturday we saw what he looks like when that isn’t the case. The competition was easier, but that simply made Nussmeier’s dysfunctional surrounding…functional, giving us a look at what he would have looked like if the structure of the offense gave him places to go with the football.

For reasons I don’t understand, Vanderbilt played a lot of standard Cover-3 which LSU hasn’t seen much this year because the only routes their receivers are good at tend to be best against it. LSU hasn’t seen this much cushion on the outside or space behind the linebackers in over a month. The arm talent to drive this ball accurately to Lacy on the far-hash while getting hit reminds you of the elite toolset Nussmeier is working with.

This isn’t to suggest that Nussmeier needs things to be defined and predetermined. He’s able to make complex reads and go find the right answer for himself (if he’s given the chance to). Once he sees the outside leverage of the defenders frontside he knows that the ILB buzzing out from the LOS is going to have to work to relate to Anderson’s route from inside, and that the dig will be open behind him if he hits it with proper timing.

He is fine with cycling through options quickly and managing dirty pockets when forced off his spot, unlike most of his peers. He eliminates the frontside slot fade early because it’s manned by a Safety 10 yards off the line. Even though it ends up open late, you can’t expect him to misplay it so it’s not a good option. He feels the interior pressure, slides into space, and gets to the backside on time. LSU has asked him to play an NFL style of QB and when given a real chance he has mostly answered the call.

Without the need to buoy the offense with out-of-structure playmaking, Nussmeier again felt able to play within himself and check the ball down when needed. Unfortunately, he will have to go back into the torture chamber next week, as LSU faces the hardest defense on its entire schedule. While the Oklahoma game will likely again see his options suffocated, pockets crushed, and surface stats ugly, we should remember heading into the offseason that LSU has a Heisman/top-5 pick caliber QB that simply needed a year of live seasoning. If LSU can surround him next year with a functional offense that can keep defenses honest, he will explode. That is Brian Kelly’s number one job when, in the next several weeks, the various offseason markets reopen.