Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Tigers ride defense in grounding Cardinals
LSU coach Ed Orgeron was late to the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl winner’s press conference Saturday afternoon.
“Coach O will be right out … he’s dancing,” said LSU athletics department representative Michael Bonnette.
“Coach O’s turning up, y’all,” said LSU running back Derrius Guice.
Welcome to the new era of LSU football.
During Orgeron’s first official game as head coach, the Tigers shut down Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson and a high-powered Louisville offense while knocking off the Cardinals 29-9 Saturday afternoon at Camping World Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 46,063.
It was LSU football the way Orgeron wants it to be played, especially by the defense, said cornerback Tre’Davious White.
“Coach O, he always says … hit him hard, play fast and get to the ball, all 11 guys, and our defense does that,” said White, who helped the Tigers rattle Jackson all day.
LSU held Louisville to 220 yards of total offense, did not allow a Cardinals touchdown and sacked Jackson eight times.
“We just pride ourselves in keeping guys out of the end zone,” White said. “On defense, our motto is ‘bend, but don’t break.’ If they get down in the red zone, just don’t let them get in the end zone, so we did a great job of that.”
Orgeron said his team’s preparation, engineered by defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, was crucial to shutting down Jackson. LSU, which had not used many blitz packages during the regular season, came at Louisville with several different looks.
“I thought it was very brilliant on Dave’s part to mix it up,” Oregeron said. “We did it all game. He was one step ahead.”
LSU (8-4) set the tone early. Louisville appeared to get things rolling during the second series when Jackson hit James Quick with a 53-yard pass to the LSU 9-yard line. The Cards settled for a short field goal from Blanton Creque to open the scoring and give Louisville a 3-0 lead.
That was about as much offense as the Cards could muster during the opening half. Louisville (9-4) was forced to punt on five of its first seven offensive possessions, the other ending in another Creque field goal to end the half.
Meanwhile, the LSU offense started to establish some balance, led by the passing of Danny Etling and the running of Guice. Etling lit up the Louisville secondary in the first half, and the primary recipient of his work was Malachi Dupre, who had a career-best day with seven catches for 139 yards, most of which came before halftime.
His one-handed snag, Odell Beckham style, on a third-and-11 play in the second quarter kept a drive alive that ended with a Guice 1-yard touchdown catch that put LSU up 14-3.
Jackson never got it going, a feat the LSU defense thought it had a good chance of accomplishing. Linebacker Arden Key was one of the players causing the most trouble for Jackson. Key’s first sack of Jackson resulted in a safety, and his second helped him set the LSU record for sacks in a season with 12.
“I didn’t get frustrated. I just tried to keep going. … It’s a long game,” Jackson said. “[You’ve] got to go out there and attack, and I just feel we didn’t really attack how we should.”
LSU’s offense fed off the defense and Guice got rolling, as well, ending the game with 138 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, including a 70-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Etling threw for 217 yards and two touchdowns on 16-of-29 passing.