GEAUX BIG OR GEAUX HOME
Just 2 years removed from a national title, Orgeron is under fire in Baton Rouge
Will the defense get its act together?
The Tigers long have been known for menacing defenses down around the swamps, but last year they allowed a program-worst 34.9 points per game, tied for 98th nationally with SEC West doormat Arkansas.
An irate LSU coach Ed Orgeron wasted no time firing first-year defensive coordinator Bo Pelini — the former Nebraska coach — and replacing him with Daronte Jones, who was the Minnesota Vikings’ secondary coach.
“We’re going to simplify stuff; we want our players to have their cleats in the grass,” Orgeron said. “We’re going to play a lot more zone … and we’re going to let our guys play the ball in front of us, and make plays.”
So, there you go, LSU fans, problem solved. Allegedly.
Who will play quarterback?
Fifth-year senior Myles Brennan broke his arm just before camp began, and the Tigers will rely on sophomore Max Johnson early with the season opener Saturday at UCLA. But Orgeron hardly has downplayed the growing hype around freshman Garrett Nussmeier from Flower Mound Marcus High.
“Right now I feel good that Max is our starting quarterback and Garrett is behind him,” Orgeron said during camp. “But Garrett is going to be one great quarterback — he is dynamite.”
Orgeron added that Brennan is expected to return this season and should start throwing in about a month. That does not mean he’ll automatically earn back the starting gig, of course.
Will LSU exact revenge on Mississippi State?
The Tigers’ 44-34 season-opening home loss to Mike Leach and the Bulldogs last season was one of the program’s most embarrassing moments in recent memory. Not because of the score — but because of how it came about.
MSU quarterback K.J. Costello threw for an SEC-record 623 yards against the Tigers, and Costello didn’t even close out the season as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback. LSU opens league play Sept. 25 at
Mississippi State, and Orgeron has sought revenge since the double-digit setback to the passhappy Leach in Leach’s first year in the SEC.
The Bulldogs finished the season 4-7, adding to LSU’s humiliation.
Has ‘Coach O’ still got it?
Hard to believe considering the Tigers are less than two years removed from an undefeated season and the program’s fourth national title, but Orgeron is under plenty of scrutiny after LSU’s 5-5 showing in 2020. Only three assistants remain from that 2019 title team, and Orgeron repeatedly has missed the mark in his hires since.
Plenty of longtime observers believe that if Orgeron falters in 2021, Louisiana-Lafayette’s Billy Napier will be ready to take over at a moment’s notice. There’s also the notion that LSU athletic director Scott Woodward will at least make a run at Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, just as Woodward successfully did while in the same role at A&M when Fisher was at Florida State.
What’s the bottom line?
LSU fans always will be grateful for 2019, but they also believe Orgeron must prove he’s not a one-hit wonder. LSU and its three national titles since 2003 — under three different coaches — would get much more national love if it weren’t for pesky Alabama and its whopping six national championships since 2009. Orgeron likely will have a short leash in trying to add another title.