3 QUESTIONS
Is Griffin III right? Should Daniels be a Heisman contender?
COLUMBIA, Mo. – LSU football earned a big victory on Saturday, taking down Missouri on the road for its second-ever win against the Columbia Tigers, 49-39.
Major Burns’ interception return for a touchdown with 34 seconds left sealed the victory for No. 23 LSU (4-2, 3-1 SEC) on the road over No. 22 Missouri (5-1, 1-1).
Here are three questions surrounding LSU following the win.
Robert Griffin III declared that Jayden Daniels is a Heisman contender. Is he right?
Robert Griffin III posted on X, the social media app formerly know as Twitter, that Jayden Daniels deserves to be a top-five Heisman Trophy candidate after his gutsy performance against Missouri.
He may have a point.
Despite playing with bad ribs for much of the fourth quarter, Daniels accounted for 389 yards of LSU’s offense and scored four total touchdowns on Saturday. He led LSU on two go-ahead scoring drives in that final quarter and completed all but six of his 21 pass attempts for the game.
It was a monster performance against a top-25 team on the road, and Daniels had already entered the weekend top four in the country in passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing efficiency and passing yards per attempt.
Daniels should be a Heisman Trophy contender if he keeps this up, no matter what LSU’s record is by the end of the year.
Why did LSU run the ball as much as it did?
LSU was intent on running the ball early and often against Missouri’s defense, finishing the day with 43 rush attempts. And it worked, as LSU completed the game with 274 rushing yards.
Coach Brian Kelly after the game explained why LSU was so aggressive with running the ball.
“They wanted to play a lot of twodeep safety and play off. They were willing to give us the short routes. They weren’t going to give us the ball down the field,” Kelly said. “And it gave us some favorable runs where the numbers were in our favor. And Logan and Jayden took advantage of those checks, and we checked into some runs that were favorable.”
Does Saturday’s win make LSU a contender to win the SEC West again?
LSU had to win on Saturday to keep its SEC West title hopes. Two conference losses on its resume before matchups against Alabama and Texas A&M would have been too much for the Tigers to overcome.
But LSU’s win over Missouri keeps those SEC West title dreams in tact. LSU may not be the favorite as it arguably was to start the season, but every team in the SEC West has at least one conference loss except for Alabama. And LSU’s schedule before the big game against the Crimson Tide is favorable.
LSU faces Auburn next week before hosting Army in a rare non conference matchup in October. LSU will then have an off week to round out the month before heading to Tuscaloosa.
So while LSU is playing against teams it should beat 10 times out of 10, Alabama and Texas A&M will have to face Tennessee. Meanhwhile Ole Miss, although it has a relatively easy October, still has Georgia and Texas A&M on its schedule.
The halfway point of this season may already be here, but there is still a lot of football left to be played in the SEC West. That’s good news for LSU.