By Charles Hanagriff
Shortly before halftime of LSU’s game against Nicholls St., Garrett Nussmeier hobbled to the sideline holding the back of his leg.
The season must have flashed before Brian Kelly’s eyes.
The thought that immediately popped into my head was, “he just pulled his hamstring…will he be back for Ole Miss?”
The terror that filled the hearts of LSU fans was not so much rooted in the fact that there isn’t much experience behind Nussmeier as it was that this has very quickly become his team.
Not a power running team behind a seasoned offensive line. Not a defensive juggernaut. A team that will be dependent on their fourth-year quarterback to win games.
Two years ago, I didn’t think this would be the case. Watching practice in August of 2022, it was apparent early that Jayden Daniels would be the starter. The battle between Nussmeier and Walker Howard for the backup job was up for grabs.
I’ll admit that at the time, I thought it would be Howard. He was one year younger, had spent his entire life around LSU football and had been recruited by the current staff. Nussmeier was signed by the prior regime.
In current day college football, what almost always happens is one player stays and one player transfers. That is what happened here, too, just not the way I expected.
Howard, who transferred to Ole Miss, will have a chance at a fine career in the future. Nussmeier, though, is a star now, the one player the LSU Tigers can’t do without.
So hop on the Nuss Bus, but there’s need to discuss much.
Can the running game improve enough to take some of the pressure off the quarterback? Kelly said that Nussmeier checked out of over a dozen run calls on Saturday because of crowded fronts.
It’s great that Kelly trusts his quarterback to do that, and even better if Nussmeier has mastered the task. It certainly explains the run/pass imbalance in a plausible manner.
But it doesn’t explain why, on the 21 carries they actually had in the game on Saturday, LSU couldn’t do better than 3.2 yards per attempt. It doesn’t really explain why, besides John Emery, who is out for the year, they didn’t do much more against USC.
Since this offensive line has protected Nussmeier with the ferocity of a mother guarding her cubs, LSU will apparently prefer to travel by air this season. When the big plays come, they always cure a lot of other ills.
So, for the moment, LSU’s offensive imbalance or defensive liabilities are palatable as long as Nussmeier keeps up the high production. Four of the last six seasons have been quarterbacked by a player that would eventually win the Heisman, so the Tigers know something about riding a hot passer.
Nussmeier should also benefit from a wide variety of receiving options that, believe it or not, haven’t been fully explored yet. Thirteen LSU receivers have caught passes so far this season, but Chris Hilton and Shelton Sampson are not among them.
They will be. Hilton may be LSU’s best deep threat, and the bone bruise that has kept him out so far is healing. When Hilton gets back in the lineup, it should open up more options for everyone, as his deep speed must be respected.
Sampson, at 6-foot-4, is the tallest of the Tiger receivers, providing yet another potential matchup problem. He is the one specifically mentioned by Kelly as someone they want to get more involved in the offense.
As the familiarity grows between Nussmeier and first year play caller Joe Sloan, the production should only increase. The young receivers figure to improve, and neither Daniels nor Joe Burrow was putting up record setting numbers in their first few weeks. After the season’s first two games, Nussmeier leads the nation in touchdown passes.
So, the floor is high, and the ceiling is rising. LSU may just have another special signal caller behind center. The perception of what this offense might have been, as opposed to what it actually is, should not deter the Tigers from leaning on Nussmeier to deliver.
Enjoy the ride.
