Welcome everyone to the latest edition of Four Downs where we break down the good, the bad and the ugly of the LSU Tigers. This week, we look at the Tigers season opener against the Georgia Southern Eagles.
1st Down: 21st Century Offense
All throughout the off-season, the conversation has been about the new offense with passing game Joe Brady and Steve Ensminger being the hive mind behind it. Saturday night gave us an early look at what that new offense is and boy was it amazing.
Joe Burrow threw for five TDs in the first half, Only played a couple drives in the third and had the biggest margin of victory to open up the season in a long time. While everyone is saying that they played Georgia Southern, hit the rewind button and choose a group of five games from the last couple of years and you’ll see the Tigers let these programs stay in it and stay competitive. This was a statement that last year was last year and this new era of LSU football has zero mercy,
2nd Down: Spread the Wealth
The way things were divided up on the offensive side of the football was nothing short of impressive with 14 different players touching the football. The motto for this season is “Everybody Eats” and with the way everything went, nobody is going to go hungry on this team.
Yes, this is the first game of the season, but the way things worked out on Saturday this could be the beginning of something special.
3rd Down Derek Stingley’s First Punt Return Thing of Beauty
After a three-and-out on Georgia Southern’s opening drive, freshman Derek Stingley Jr. made his presence known with an electrifying punt return that many not have ended with a touchdown but was definitely refreshing compared to what we saw last season with Jonathan Giles taking the punts.
As one of six true freshmen in the last twenty years to get the start on defense, there was a lot of hype for the Dunham product and there’s not a doubt in my mind that he lived up to it in his debut for the purple and gold.
4th Down: Defense Leaves Georgia Southern No Options
The only thing that could have stopped LSU was the defense allowing the triple option of Georgia Southern to run rampant. That just wasn’t the case and an offense that put up an average of 345.8 yards per game last season was held just below 100 yards by a motivated defense.
This year’s defense looked more like the defense that opened up against BYU a couple of years ago. If that defense shows up once SEC play starts up, they are going to be one of the best in the country.
Extra Point: Zion Embracing the Culture
Sup @LSUfootball 🐯 @Zionwilliamson @hayes_jaxson @TheReal_NAW1 pic.twitter.com/k76FnZIbts
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) August 31, 2019
I don’t think you’ve ever seen Anthony Davis attend an LSU game during his time with the New Orleans Pelicans. The rookie out of Duke hasn’t played a second of a regular-season basketball game, but he along with the rest of the rookie class have embraced the culture that the state of Louisiana has. He also made a visit to Tulane’s season opener on Thursday.
Why not come to Lafayette before the season starts and check out the Cajuns, Zion?