LSU’s season hasn’t exactly gone according to plan, but some of the breaks that looked bad at first have turned into reasons the Tigers are still standing as November gets serious.
Take the injury to tight end Trey’Dez Green, who went down Sept. 19 against Ole Miss and missed the next four games. It was a major hit at the time, but LSU absorbed it better than expected because Jackson Harris stepped into a bigger role as quarterback Sam Leavitt’s favorite target.
Harris has 37 catches to Winston Watkins’ 36, but he’s the Tigers’ clear leader in receiving yards with 634 and has scored seven touchdowns through the air. No other LSU player has more than two receiving touchdowns.
Running back Dilin Jones also picked up more work in the passing game, with 30 receptions, and that helped keep the offense moving until Green returned. Back against Auburn, Green was back in the mix with five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Leavitt’s health has changed the shape of the offense, too. Early in the year, he seemed too quick to tuck the ball and take off.
Then came the hamstring injury on Sept. 26 against Texas A&M, and since then he has been more willing to stay in the pocket and let plays develop. He’s still using his legs - he ran eight times for 54 yards and a score at Auburn - but now the rushing threat is working more as an extra layer to his passing game.
Leavitt leads the SEC with 312.1 yards of total offense per game.
That willingness to stay aggressive also showed up in the Auburn game, and it may have been shaped by what happened in Lexington. If LSU coach Lane Kiffin had the call again, he probably would have chosen to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the Tigers’ 43 late in regulation at Kentucky.
Instead, LSU punted, Kentucky drove for a field goal to tie it, and the Wildcats eventually won 35-34 in overtime. Kiffin’s decision on fourth-and-2 from the LSU 31 against Auburn felt like the opposite reaction.
With LSU leading only 10-3 and Leavitt having just thrown an interception that was overturned, Kiffin kept the offense on the field. The conversion extended a 95-yard drive that became the key sequence in LSU’s 38-17 win.
Expect him to keep pushing that edge the rest of the way.
Defensively, LSU has had to patch things together as well. The injuries to Dashawn Spears and linebacker Whit Weeks have been difficult to manage, but TJ Dottery, who leads the team with 60 tackles, safety Ty Benefield and cornerback DJ Pickett, even in run support, have helped cover the damage.
Spears, who has an ACL injury, is done for the season. Weeks, recovering from a broken fibula, is drawing more attention as a possible return, but next Saturday’s Alabama game sounds like a stretch.
When he does get back, he’ll be joining a defense that has already found ways to hold together.
There’s no way around Halloween in Louisiana without Billy Cannon, and there’s no way around Cannon without remembering his 89-yard punt return on Oct. 31, 1959, against Ole Miss. It remains the most famous moment in LSU sports history.
But that play should also bring to mind the goal-line stop Cannon and Warren Rabb - mostly Rabb - made on Ole Miss quarterback Doug Elmore with 18 seconds left to preserve a 7-3 win. In those days, stars played both ways, and that mattered.
“If Rabb doesn’t make that tackle,” the late LSU sports information director Paul Manasseh once told me, “nobody remembers Billy Cannon.”
The coaching carousel is spinning, and one of the names in the mix is a familiar one around Baton Rouge. Former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda was fired at Baylor, and current LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker along with first-year offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. have been reported as candidates. It’s not clear how real those Baylor ties are, but Kiffin is likely already bracing for the possibility that one or both could be gone after the season.
And in another bit of college football noise, Tennessee said its crowd peaked at 130.3 decibels on Oct. 17 during the Volunteers’ 26-10 win over Alabama, which the school says is the loudest noise level officially recorded at a college football game.
In Other News...
LSU May Be Weighing A Surprising Lamar Brown Role Change
Lamar Browns Instagram post has added a little intrigue to LSUs roster picture, because the freshman defensive lineman appears to be hinting at a possible move to the offensive line. Brown has mostly been used on the defensive side this season, and his playing time has been limited, which makes any potential shift worth watching as the Tigers continue sorting out where young talent might fit best.
LSU has not officially confirmed any position change, and for now Browns future remains in the realm of possibility rather than announcement. Still, a switch like this would be notable for a player whose early college role has not yet fully settled, and it gives the Tigers another personnel storyline to monitor as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Just Got A Stunning Title Vote Before Alabama Week
Nick Saban rarely hands out compliments lightly, which is why his latest national title pick turned heads around Baton Rouge. With LSU sitting at 6-2 and No. 15 in the rankings, the former Alabama coach pointed to the Tigers as a sleeper candidate to win it all, citing a team that has paired strong scoring with a defense that has done its part. Six of LSU's wins have come by 20 or more points, a sign that when the Tigers are rolling, they can separate from opponents in a hurry.
The timing makes the endorsement even more interesting with Alabama coming in at 6-2 and ranked No. 10 for a matchup that already had plenty riding on it. Saban did flag quarterback Sam Leavitt's turnover issues as a possible obstacle, a reminder that LSU still has questions to answer before any championship talk gets serious. Still, getting that kind of vote of confidence from Saban just before Alabama week adds another layer to a game that was already going to carry plenty of weight. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Faces An Early Recruiting Test In A Battle Fans Will Notice
The early stages of B.J. LaFells recruitment already have a familiar LSU feel to them. The son of former Tigers receiver Brandon LaFell, the 2029 prospect has picked up offers from LSU and Notre Dame, along with other programs, and the Tigers are leaning into a pitch that combines family ties with a long track record of developing NFL receivers.
For LSU, this is the kind of battle fans will notice because it reaches beyond the usual recruiting chatter and into legacy territory. Notre Dame gives him a national alternative with its own appeal, and the process is still just beginning, with coaching relationships and development opportunities likely to matter as much as any school name on the offer sheet. [Read more 🡒]