LSU left Lexington with a loss that had to feel like a punch to the gut, and it was the kind that keeps the alarms sounding. After the setback to Ole Miss, the Tigers badly needed a clean run through the next stretch, especially with Kentucky, Mississippi St, and Auburn all sitting there as games LSU was supposed to handle. Instead, the Tigers opened that sequence by letting one slip away.
For long stretches Saturday night, LSU looked like the more talented team. And for long stretches, it also looked like the team making the bigger mistakes.
Kentucky kept getting extra lives, and Will Stein’s group made sure those chances mattered. By the time the Wildcats pushed the game to overtime, the Tigers were already in the kind of road-Southeastern Conference mess nobody wants.
There were plenty of rough edges in this one, but a few Tigers still stood out.
Jackson Harris was one of them. Two weeks after his breakout against Texas A&M, he delivered another eye-catching performance in a different way.
Harris hauled in a ridiculous touchdown catch in the end zone while taking a heavy shot from a Kentucky defender, then later turned around and threw a touchdown of his own. On an end-around, he hit Roman Mothershed in stride for a 41-yard score that looked like it might be the spark LSU needed.
It may not have changed the ending, but it was one of the best individual plays you’ll see all season.
Dilin Jones was another bright spot, even if this wasn’t his usual kind of night. He didn’t pile up the kind of rushing production LSU has come to expect from him, but he helped move the offense in the passing game.
Jones finished with 7 catches for 84 yards, and 5 of those receptions moved the chains. His 16 carries for 56 yards were modest by his standards, but he still found ways to keep the offense alive.
If he keeps giving LSU an outlet when Sam Leavitt needs one, that only makes him more valuable.
On defense, TJ Dottery was everywhere. The Tigers had a tougher time than usual slowing Kentucky down, and the loss of Whit Weeks for the first SEC game without the senior leader clearly made life harder.
Dottery handled a lot of the load, finishing with 12 tackles, the team high by a wide margin. He also posted the top tackling grade on the defense from Pro Football Focus at 84.1.
Leavitt’s night was a strange one. Strip away the two turnovers, and he was excellent.
But those two mistakes were the difference between control and chaos. The interception was simply a bad throw, with Eugene Wilson III overthrown.
The late fumble, though, was the killer. LSU had the lead with under 5 minutes left and just needed to burn clock.
The call to throw on 2nd and 6 was questionable enough, but once the play broke down, Leavitt had to protect the ball. He didn’t, and he put LSU in danger.
Kentucky didn’t score off either turnover, but that kind of luck doesn’t hold forever. Leavitt still finished with 275 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, 74% completions, 39 rushing yards, and another score on the ground.
He also looked more comfortable moving around on the hamstring injury he suffered two weeks earlier against Texas A&M. Still, the turnovers loom large, and they have to be cleaned up before they cost LSU in a bigger moment.
The offensive guards also had a rough go of it. William Satterwhite II has kept the starting job for Bo Borderlon since the Ole Miss game, and while he’s viewed as the better pass protector, his Pro Football Focus grade of 55.6 showed a difficult night.
Aliou Bah, meanwhile, has had his own ups and downs after entering spring practice as one of the safer bets to win a starting job following his transfer from Maryland. His overall grade of 51.7 ranked 18th among 20 graded offensive players.
The pass protection was solid at 76.0, but the 49.7 run-blocking grade was a problem.
That run game has been a concern for a while now. The warning signs showed up in Week 1, when Dilin Jones got more than 80% of his 113 rushing yards after contact. LSU has had trouble finding real consistency on the ground, and that fed directly into a decision that is still hard to understand: punting on 4th and 1 instead of trusting the offense to get one yard and close the game out.
That kind of call, from Lane Kiffin, stood out even more because of who he is. He has built his reputation on being aggressive and willing to take the bold route.
After the 4th and 1 pass play that went for a long touchdown to Jackson Harris against Texas A&M, he even said afterward that he considered punting but reminded himself who he was and why he was brought to LSU. That same mindset never showed up Saturday.
Then came the other side of the same problem. Blake Baker’s defense, instead of leaning into its aggressive personality, went with a prevent look on the final drive and effectively handed Kentucky the room to force overtime. Kenny Minchey moved the Wildcats down the field quickly enough that they had a real shot to win it in regulation, and the drive ended with the tying field goal.
In the end, LSU didn’t just lose because of one mistake. It lost by stepping away from what it does best at the exact wrong time.
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UCF Showed Promise But One Late Issue Still Looks Costly
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The final minutes, though, exposed the kind of late-game detail that can decide close contests once the results start counting. UCF had pulled even at 81, only for LSU to regain control in the closing seconds and finish the job, leaving the Knights with encouraging signs and a reminder that execution under pressure still has to sharpen before the games matter most. [Read more 🡒]