LSU Coach Ed Orgeron, Players React to "Embarrassing" 45-41 Loss to Missouri

Ed Orgeron didn't sugarcoat his team's performance on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, Missouri. He and the LSU program are embarrassed by what transpired on the field as Missouri hung 580 yards of offense on a defense that has some serious soul searching ahead of it.

It's important to first note that Missouri came into Saturday's game desperately searching for a rhythm as the team had averaged 15.5 points in losses to Alabama and Tennessee. It was announced pregame that seven players, including three of the team’s top three receivers would be sitting out due to COVID-19 related reasons.

Starting a freshman quarterback on Saturday in Connor Bazelak, the LSU defense made him look like a four-year vet as Bazelak tossed for 406 yards and four touchdowns while completing over 85% of his passes.

Orgeron attributed most of the defensive lapses to missed assignments and poor communication down field, two areas that reared its ugly heads against LSU in the loss to Mississippi State.

"Too many missed assignments, guys running wide open down the field," Orgeron said. "Too many missed calls, whether we're in and out or in zone. We had some missed tackles, we had guys in position to make plays and then we got beat one-on-one.

"We really gotta look at what we're doing, we've gotta do some soul searching," Orgeron said. "It was just all on the defense and we gotta get it fixed. We've gotta stay together, we can't blame it on the players and it's just not LSU defense."

Marshall goes up against this LSU defense in practice every week and was shocked by the performance that was displayed against Missouri.

"It was a big surprise but we're not perfect, you're gonna have your good days and your bad days," Marshall said. "Today was one of those days where Missouri came out there and outplayed us."

On offense, while the Tigers weren't able to get the run game going, LSU did have some solid performances out of quarterback Myles Brennan, receiver Terrace Marshall and tight end Arik Gilbert. Brennan threw for 430 yards and four touchdowns, continuing his historic start as a first-year starter. Marshall continued to show why he's one of the best in the country with his 11 catches for 235 yards and three touchdowns.

Brennan said that the reason the run game couldn't get going was the cover zero that Missouri was in, with nearly seven players in the box at all times.

"They had seven in the box and we had five guys blocking seven so that obviously doesn't line up," Brennan said. "We had to make plays through the air but the running backs did their job."

The Tigers also went 0-for-10 on third downs including the critical one down on the goal line where a pass from Brennan to Marshall was broken up at the line of scrimmage.

"There was a lot of pressure, guys missing plays, scheme needs to be better, I think it was a combination of everything," Orgeron said.

"Third down is a pressure down for most defenses and it all starts with execution," Brennan said. "We just didn't execute on third down and that's something we have to get fixed to stay ahead of the chains."

With Florida and its high powered offense up next on the schedule and coming off a devastating loss of its own, LSU will need to find some answers on defense or we could very much see a similar outcome next weekend as well.