The 6-4 LSU Tigers will host the Vanderbilt Commodores for their home finale on Saturday. The Bayou Bengals were on a six-game win streak before losing their last three games, falling to Texas A&M, Alabama, and most recently Florida.
Vanderbilt has been a big surprise in the SEC with a 6-4 record. This season, the Commodores’ big win came in early October when Clark Lea’s group upset the previously top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 40-35. This will be the first time Vandy has played in Baton Rouge since the 2009 season.
Kickoff inside Tiger Stadium is set for 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, November 23rd. The pregame will begin at 4:45 and the action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.
CONTAINING THE QB
One of LSU’s big issues this year has been defending athletic, mobile quarterbacks. The problems first became evident back in week three against South Carolina. Gamecock quarterback LaNorris Sellers rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns before missing the fourth quarter due to an injury. Before being sidelined, Sellers played a major part in scoring SC’s first 24 points. LSU made the comeback late and won 36-33 with Robbie Ashford under center for the Gamecocks.
Arkansas’s Taylen Green was a non-factor versus the Tigers, but everything changed against Texas A&M. The Aggies switched from Connor Weigman to Marcel Reed in the third quarter, which changed everything. Reed rushed for three touchdowns and was a big reason A&M scored 31 second-half points to beat LSU 38-23.
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe was no different. He rushed for a career-high 185 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, helping the Tide win 42-13. Vandy’s Diego Pavia isn’t recognized as the athletic quarterback like some of the others LSU faced. The senior, however, leads the team in rushing and is ahead of starting running back Sedrick Alexander by over 150 yards.
OFFENSIVE WOES
Since the second half of their game against Texas A&M, LSU’s offense has taken a turn for the worst. Over the last two and a half games, LSU has scored three touchdowns, the polar opposite of the four touchdowns per game contest over the season’s first seven games.
The Tigers have also settled for five field goals in the losses to the Crimson Tide and Gators. A by-product of the offense taking a dip was the play of quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. In the first seven games, Nuss threw six interceptions as LSU was 6-1. In the three-game losing streak, Nussmeier’s interception numbers have nearly doubled with three picks against Texas A&M and two more versus Alabama. Another issue was the fumbles by Nuss, three of which were between the games against the Gators and Tide.
On defense, Vanderbilt’s forced 11 turnovers this season, four of those takeaways in the last three games. Their team has even sacked opposing quarterbacks 22 times over the first 10 games.
WEAK PASSING GAME
Pavia may be the Commodores’ leading rusher but his passing hasn’t been great as of late. In the 24-14 win over Ball State, Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback threw for a season-high 275 yards. Since the win over Bama, Pavia’s recorded fewer than 167 passing yards four times and has thrown for under 200 yards in seven of their 10 games.
LSU’s secondary hasn’t been great all season. A strong pass rush at different points has aided the team. The unit’s been led by Bradyn Swinson, who leads the team in sacks, and linebacker Whit Weeks, who is the team’s leading tackler.
Getting into the backfield and forcing Pavia to beat LSU with his arm would put the Tigers in a back spot to avoid an upset. Brian Kelly’s team will look to commit to the run and control the clock, similar to the 44 rush attempts and almost 42 minutes of time of possession in last Saturday’s game against Florida.
SERIES RECORD: LSU leads 24-7-1
Last 5 Meetings:
2020: LSU 41- VANDERBILT 7
2019: LSU 66 – VANDERBILT 38
2010: LSU 27 – VANDERBILT 3
2009: LSU 23 – VANDERBILT 9
2005: LSU 34 – VANDERBILT 6
STAT LEADERS
LSU
Garrett Nussmeier: 262-422, 3,126 Yards, 22 TD, 11 INT
Caden Durham: 101 Carries, 551 Yards, 6 TD
Kyren Lacy: 49 Catches, 740 Yards, 7 TD
Bradyn Swinson: 8 Sacks
Whit Weeks: 92 Tackles (45 Solo)
Zy Alexander: 2 INT
Damian Ramos: 18-of-23 Field Goals, Long of 50, 29-of-29 PAT
Vanderbilt
Diego Pavia: 143-236, 1,843 Yards, 15 TD, 3 INT
Diego Pavia: 159 Carries, 628 Yards, 5 TD
Eli Stowers: 42 Catches, 557 Yards, 4 TD
Khordae Sydnor & Nicholas Rinaldi: 4 Sacks
Bryan Longwell: 63 Tackles (29 Solo)
Martel Hight, Randon Fontenette, Glenn Seabrooks III, CJ Taylor, De’Rickey Wright, Bryan Longwell & Miles Capers: 1 INT
Brock Taylor: 16-of-19 Field Goals, Long of 57, 30-of-31 PAT