Coming off their second nonconference, and third overall win of the 2024 season, here’s a look at the good, the bad and the promising from LSU football vs. UCLA.
LSU football vs. UCLA: The good, the bad and the promising
The good
LSU football is, once again, really good on offense.
Coming off a season in which the Tigers led the country in yardage and scoring, there was plenty of concern about how they’d follow things up during the 2024 season. This was especially prevalent when considering the notable losses of quarterback Jayden Daniels, wide receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock.
Well, as we now find ourselves four games deep, it’s quickly become fairly obvious that those concerns are no longer present, and quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has been a big part of it.
Having already thrown for 1,247 yards and 13 touchdowns, while completing 70.6 percent of his passes, he’s been truly elite for the purple and gold. Add in the fact that he currently ranks within the top-10 nationally in both yards and touchdowns per game, it’s safe to say that the offense is in good hands.
Furthermore, even despite losing over 1,000 yards rushing from Jayden Daniels, the Tiger rushing game has looked good as well, with 6th-year Josh Williams, freshman Caden Durham and sophomore Kaleb Jackson having combined for 345 yards and four touchdowns on 4.1 yards per carry.
The bad
The Tiger defense just can’t seem to catch a break, and Saturday’s LSU football vs. UCLA matchup was no exception.
In a year where the group was hoping to lean on a select few veterans to show improvement on what was an abysmal 2023 campaign, the injury bug has unfortunately set its eyes on Baton Rouge, LA.
Earlier this year, the program lost senior defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory to an achilles injury that has been confirmed as a season ending setback for him. As if that weren’t bad enough, it appears that the purple and gold have found themselves with yet another season ending injury, as 247Sports first reported that junior linebacker Harold Perkins Jr could be out with an ACL injury.
For Perkins Jr, this, for obvious reasons, is a heartbreaker. Heading into 2024, the star junior had high hopes for a true breakout season, and was even being talked about as a 2025 first round NFL Draft pick.
Now, if the reports end being confirmed, the LSU defense will have immediately lost its top playmaker, and defensive coordinator Blake Baker will undoubtedly have his work cut out for him throughout the remainder of the season moving closer to the return of SEC play.
The promising
While you never want to see a star player go down with an injury, it certainly helps to make things easier if some of the depth pieces start to step up, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen from the purple and gold through the first few weeks of the season.
In their matchup vs. UCLA specifically, we saw some big things from the defensive line as a whole. From the first career sack for talented freshman Dominick McKinley, to the fifth sack for Bradyn Swinson in the last two games alone, defensive line coach Bo Davis is truly working some magic for his unit.
Additionally, run defense was impressive from start to finish, allowing just 14 yards on 22 carries for the Bruin running game. This unit is coming into its own at the exact perfect time, and this could and should do some major things for the entire defensive unit throughout 2024.
LSU football will return to the field this weekend, as they get set to host high-scoring South Alabama for their final nonconference matchup of the 2024 season on Saturday, September 28, 2024. The game will take place at 6:45 p.m. CST in Tiger Stadium and will be available to watch live on SEC Network.
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