An Early Dive Into LSU Football's Matchup With McNeese State

The goal for LSU over the next two weeks is to build confidence before SEC play. After many of the same issues that plagued the team in 2020 continued to crop up on Saturday against UCLA, the only way to build any kind of momentum is to start fixing some of the more obvious isues.

LSU faces in-state program McNeese State as its home opener for the 2021 season, an interesting story as head coach Ed Orgeron will face his son, Cody, who is the starting quarterback for the Cowboys. Cody is coming off a spring season with McNeese State where he totaled 1,817 yards and 13 touchdowns in a shortened seven game schedule back in the spring.

In their opener to the 2021 season, the Cowboys offense came out firing on all cylinders against West Florida, losing 42-36 but racking up 484 yards of offense. In that game alone, Cody threw for 361 yards and two touchdowns, rushing for an additional score in the loss.

There's something to be said for having a veteran quarterback, no matter the program, who doesn't beat themselves and that's exactly what the Tigers' defense faces Saturday night in Death Valley.

But that storyline will be put on the backburner as the Tigers need to find some answers on both sides of the ball, starting with their offensive and defensive lines. Becoming more gap sound defensively would do wonders for this defensive line that is good at applying pressure but struggles immensely with containing the run.

What the whole country witnessed on Saturday was the inability of the second level to adjust to those crossing routes as linebackers and defensive backs were consistently out of position throughout the night. McNeese and every opponent LSU plays this season was surely taking notes and until the Tigers prove they can shut it down, it'll be something they face in every opposing offensive gameplan.

This simply shouldn't happen to a program that's invested this much in its defensive line over the last two years.

Watch UCLA’s OL run block

This look at the tweet below to watch LSU’s pic.twitter.com/BJ82dXvqrb
— T-Bob Hebert (@TBob53) September 6, 2021

They're getting pushed around and that's not the only example from Saturday night's game. The LSU defensive line has a lot of work to do, from mechanics like aggressiveness and pad level to setting the edge so runs around the outside can't be more frequent.

Setting a tone against McNeese, a team that struggled to run the ball in its opener, would be a good start to building some confidence with this defense.

The offensive line fared just as bad, if not worse than the defensive line and that will need to change starting against the Cowboys. Simply, the LSU athletes are much bigger than those of McNeese and if they continue to struggle, it's a pretty clear sign of what's to come in conference play.

Linemen were constantly pushed backwards and had Max Johnson running for his life or taking huge hit after huge hit.

Orgeron hinted that one of the concerns he had entering the UCLA game was the "gelling" of the offensive line because of the fall injuries and the improvements that still needed to be made in learning Brad Davis' scheme. The unit failed against the Bruins as injuries played a part in losing both starting tackles for a period of time, forcing numerous rotations within the same series.

There are very few positives with this group at the moment as the gameplan Saturday quickly turned to trying to see what would stick, and nothing did. Like the defensive line, a dominant performance is expected against McNeese and if that doesn't happen, LSU could be in for a long season.