LSU's Loss to Ole Miss Created a New Question for Lane Kiffin

For much of the early season, one of the biggest questions surrounding LSU's offense was whether the Tigers could consistently run the football.

Against their biggest test so far, Ole Miss, LSU finally did.

But it wasn't enough.

The Tigers rushed for 172 yards in Saturday's 32-24 loss, including 106 yards from Dilin Jones. Instead, LSU left Oxford with another offensive question for Lane Kiffin to solve before facing Texas A&M.

Can LSU consistently beat teams through the air when the situation demands it?

Sam Leavitt completed 16 of 27 passes against Ole Miss for just 158 yards, one touchdown and one interception. LSU averaged only 5.9 yards per passing attempt, while Leavitt's longest completion went for 26 yards.

After reviewing the film, Kiffin saw opportunities LSU simply didn't take advantage of.

"We had open players," Kiffin said. "I'm pretty hard on quarterbacks, but then I break it down to them and show them."

The problem wasn't necessarily that LSU couldn't create opportunities downfield. It was that Leavitt rarely had the confidence to take advantage of them.

Ole Miss consistently affected him in the pocket, and Kiffin acknowledged that the early pressure changed the way his quarterback played.

"When you get impacted early in the game by rush, they did a really good job," Kiffin said. "Same thing, obviously everybody tries to do against a quarterback — you can't step up and throw in rhythm."

Leavitt instead became one of LSU's most effective runners. He finished with 63 rushing yards and a touchdown, helping the Tigers erase a 24-7 deficit and eventually tie the game at 24.

Kiffin doesn't want to eliminate that part of Leavitt's game.

"You don't want him to stop running. I'm not saying that," Kiffin said while discussing Leavitt staying in the pocket longer. "But just staying in the pocket more and letting passes develop."

That's the balance LSU has to find.

Leavitt's ability to escape pressure is part of what makes him dangerous, but LSU can't become dependent on its quarterback abandoning the pocket whenever things begin to break down.

Kiffin said confidence can become "fragile" at quarterback when a passer is getting hit from different directions. Still, he made clear that Leavitt has room to improve.

"He knows he got to do a better job of that, even in those situations, and deliver the ball on time and not try too much," Kiffin said.

Kiffin also wasn't willing to put LSU's passing struggles entirely on his quarterback.

Leavitt missed practice time leading into the Ole Miss game, including LSU's third-down and red-zone work, and Kiffin said that affected the timing of the offense.

"Didn't help missing practice last week," Kiffin said. "He actually missed third-down, red-zone day. You know, the timing of those routes. I believe that practice matters, so that didn't help him."

More importantly, Kiffin believes LSU has to make life easier for Leavitt.

"I love Sam's competitiveness. I love that he put us in a position to win the game," Kiffin said. "We've got to play better around him. We've got to protect him better."

LSU still had an opportunity to win despite everything that went wrong.

After falling behind by 17 points, the Tigers scored 17 unanswered to tie the game. Ole Miss responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive, but Leavitt and the LSU offense got one final opportunity with 6:07 remaining.

The Tigers drove deep into Ole Miss territory before the comeback ended with an interception in the end zone.

"We didn't finish," Kiffin said afterward. "We have to finish on defense and stop them. We let them go down and score, and then the offense moved the ball and stalled at the end."

Now LSU doesn't have much time to dwell on it.

Texas A&M is next, and the Tigers enter the matchup 0-1 in SEC play.

"We have a lot to learn from," Kiffin said. "We know where we are at and we know the spot we are in right now. 0-1 in SEC play and it only gets harder from here."

Ole Miss answered one question about LSU's offense. The Tigers can run the football.

But in doing so, the Rebels created another.

When LSU needs Leavitt to stay in the pocket and beat an SEC defense through the air, can the Tigers protect him long enough — and can Leavitt make the throws when they're there?

Against Texas A&M, Kiffin may not have to wait long to find out.

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