How LSU Football Has Spent Last 48 Hours Responding to First Loss of the 2020 Season
Nobody in the LSU program is content with the team's performance on Saturday. From the coaching staff to the players, training staff and analysts, there is plenty of work to be done before the Tigers get on a plane and leave for Nashville on Friday.
When Orgeron was asked about the mindset of the program after its first loss in nearly two years, the Tigers head coach responded in as candid a manor as he could.
"It put some fire in me. I guaran-damn-tee you that. And we're gonna have a fire," Orgeron said. "And this is a big game for us, and we'll take it one at a time. And we're gonna play with some fire, and we're gonna play with some energy."
The 48 hours after a loss is something that neither Orgeron nor this coaching staff have had to prepare for in some time. After what could only be described as the perfect season in 2019, the team was riding on the highest of highs for most of the offseason.
Of course there were negatives on a week-to-week basis that the coaching staff needed to clean up last season, but in the same breath, the team was winning. Saturday's 44-34 loss to Mississippi State, surrendering a single-game SEC record 623 passing yards to K.J. Costello in the process, was a punch to the mouth for this brand new 2020 squad.
The meetings started on Sunday as the coaching staff broke down every single snap of the Mississippi State game, figuring out what went wrong. Orgeron told reporters on Monday that the team won't make any "drastic" changes this week against Vanderbilt but that there will be plenty to tighten up.
"The No. 1 thing we told them is to believe in each other and don't panic," Orgeron said. "We're not going to change anything drastic but we've gotta tighten up on some stuff. We've gotta play with more energy, with more desire, we've gotta coach better. This is a new season, a new team and we knew that but now we definitely know that."
The one area that will be immediately pointed to is the secondary and how a unit ripe with youth and inexperience can make a quick turnaround for the team's first road test of the season vs. Vanderbilt. Orgeron mentioned that improving on third down and fundamentals will be one of the areas addressed with both the offense and defense this week in practice.
Mississippi State went 8 for 16 on third downs in Saturday's win, while the LSU offense went 5 for 17. The team was able to get some pressure on Costello in those situations but the crossing routes underneath allowed him to get rid of the ball quickly and the missed tackles and assignments led to huge gains after the catch.
"There were some third downs where they made some touchdowns on us," Orgeron said. "Those young guys, they're gonna grow up, that's who we have, we believe in those guys."
Bulldog running back Kylin Hill alone had 155 of his 158 receiving yards come after the catch. In total, the Bulldogs' offense accumulated 383 yards after the catch. That's where the fundamentals come into play.
The missed tackles come from an offseason where tackling in practice has been limited to some degree, but isn't an excuse. Every team has had to abide by the same restrictions and Orgeron said on Monday that another emphasis in practice this week will be on the fundamental side of the game.
"One of the things that we're gonna do today is we're gonna talk about 'Stance, Alignment, Assignment,' get back to fundamentals, get back to playing the LSU standard of performance, which was not there Saturday night," Orgeron said. "And I take all the responsibility, but we're gonna get it fixed and get it going. I believe in this coaching staff. I believe in this team. I know they're hurting today, but I know they're gonna come back and have a great practice."
There's plenty of clean up work for this LSU team and it'll be up to Orgeron and the coaching staff to make sure some of these changes are shown on the field Saturday evening in Nashville.
