After eight weeks, the weekly “Three Stars of the Week” comparison is no longer necessary, so David Billiot Jr. and I snake-drafted our Stripes of the Week for Week 8 on Geaux Deep Dive. After a lopsided win, choosing only three players each was no easy task.
Sam Leavitt claimed three stripes again, and this time it came while dealing with a bad hamstring. For the second straight week, he lands at the top of the board, moving one stripe ahead of Deuce Geralds for the season lead heading into the bye.
He’s earned it. Over the last two weeks, Leavitt has gone 63-for-83 for 676 yards and seven touchdowns through the air, while adding 12 carries for 65 yards and a score on the ground.
The season has felt like two different versions of him: early on, he seemed intent on running too much, then the hamstring injury pushed him into a more pocket-based role. Against Auburn, even with the injury, he showed the most complete version of himself, minus one nearly costly decision.
He finished 32-of-45 for 387 yards and three passing touchdowns, and he ran eight times for 54 yards and another score. Now the task is simple: keep playing at this level and let the bye week help the hamstring.
Jackson Harris also jumped up the stripes ladder in a big way, moving from two stripes to three after a huge night. He caught nine passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns, and that 178-yard outing is the highest by an LSU receiver since Malik Nabers had 239 yards in 2023 Week 3 at Mississippi State. With defenses paying more attention to Winston Watkins Jr. after his early-season production and with Trey’Dez Green sidelined by injury, Harris has pushed himself into the discussion as one of the SEC’s best wide receivers.
Jordan Ross picked up two stripes for the second straight week and had a case to be even higher. He finished with four total tackles, two sacks and a pass deflection.
Most of the talk about LSU’s pass rush this season has centered on Princewill Umanmielen and Deuce Geralds, but when Princewill missed most of the game against Mississippi State, Ross stepped in. With Princewill back against Auburn, the two of them combined to wreak havoc, accounting for three of the team’s seven sacks.
If both EDGE rushers stay healthy and keep producing like that, offenses will have their hands full.
PJ Woodland earned two stripes as well, though DJ Pickett was right there in the discussion. Woodland keeps standing out because of the way he plays: relentless, tough and active.
For a corner to lead the team in tackles and still avoid giving up any big plays says a lot. He posted nine total tackles, seven solo, and a pass breakup.
As the rest of the defense keeps trending upward, Woodland and Pickett continue to grow as a cornerback duo.
Trey’Dez Green got one stripe after showing plenty of toughness in his return. It would have been easy to sit out until after the bye and come back for Alabama.
It also would have been easy to return for limited snaps and function as a decoy. Instead, Green played most of the meaningful snaps after the injury.
According to Lane Kiffin, he only came out because Auburn kept trying to hip-drop tackle him late in the game. Green made that return count with five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
With Harris emerging and Green back in the mix, defensive coordinators now have to decide who to focus on between Green, Harris and Watkins. Even if they manage that, LSU still has enough weapons behind them to punish defenses.
The offense may have managed without Green, but his presence gives the SEC’s top offense another dangerous dimension.
Davhon Keys also landed on the list with one stripe after making his own case in a game where it would have been easy to overlook him. He finished with seven tackles and a sack.
Since stepping in for the injured Whit Weeks, Keys has taken a winding path, but he keeps improving as the season moves along. With Weeks’ return approaching, Keys may not see as many snaps going forward, but Kiffin and Blake Baker know he can be counted on to make plays whenever he’s on the field.
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Quietly Added An Offensive Voice As LSU Feud Escalates
As LSU's offseason and early-season storylines kept spinning, Lane Kiffin revealed that the Tigers quietly added Nate Carroll as an offensive analyst before the season, a move that had not been publicly disclosed at the time. Carroll, who brings NFL coaching experience and comes from the Pete Carroll coaching tree, has been helping LSU's offensive staff during games, giving the program an extra experienced voice behind the scenes.
The timing adds another layer to a situation already marked by legal friction between LSU and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey over the schools recruiting practices and Kiffins comments. With the public focus elsewhere, the quiet addition of Carroll underscores how much of college football now unfolds away from the spotlight, even as the larger LSU-Sankey dispute continues to simmer. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Just Got A New Reason To Worry About Alabamas Passing Game
Alabamas passing game has been dealing with a hit since the injury to Ryan Coleman-Williams in the Georgia game, and LSU now has another name to plan for ahead of Nov. 7. Kalen DeBoer said the wide receiver is expected back for that matchup, a development that matters because Coleman-Williams had already been part of the offense before the injury sidelined him for recent games.
For LSU, the timing is hardly ideal. Alabama has had to adjust without one of its receiving options, but DeBoers comments point to a possible boost when the Tigers arrive, with Coleman-Williams expected to be available and, in the coachs view, ready to matter right away. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Holds Firm As AP Poll Chaos Shakes Contenders
Week 8 turned the AP Top 25 into a weekly stress test, and the ripple effects were felt well beyond the top line. With nearly a third of the top ten taking losses, the rankings shifted in a way that opened the door for movement all over the board, including a boost in first-place support for Miami after No. 2 BYU went down. Teams such as Texas and Utah were among the biggest movers, while the fallout also pushed some familiar names, including Iowa and USC, into the vote-getting crowd without a place in the poll itself.
For LSU, the bigger takeaway is the kind of volatility that can reshape the path ahead in a hurry. Poll weeks like this tend to reward teams that keep stacking clean Saturdays and punish anyone living on the edge of the rankings, and the churn around the top 25 only sharpens the pressure on contenders trying to stay in the conversation. It also leaves the picture unsettled enough that every ranking checkpoint now feels like a referendum on who can hold up when the standings start to wobble. [Read more 🡒]