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By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
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Saturday night in Tuscaloosa was supposed to be a coronation for the best quarterback in America, LSU's Jayden Daniels, to finally receive his hard won, well earned dues...
It was supposed to be an offensive shootout between Daniels and Alabama QB Jalen Milroe, two defenses folding in their wake for 60 minutes until one offense finally blinked....
For 3 quarters, that pregame narrative went mostly by the book, as Daniels and Milroe nearly matched each other's offensive output (219 passing yards apiece, 163 and 155 rushing yards) in what was a dazzling display of dual threat excellence from both signal callers.....
However, LSU's historically poor defense gave up over 500 yards once again, 288 on the ground alone, let Jalen Milroe score 4 rushing TDs, surrendered 39+ points for the 4th time this season and Alabama pulled out as comfortable winners 42-28, capitalizing on the only turnover of the game (a Daniels slant pass batted into the air by Dallas Turner & intercepted by former LSU recruiting target Terrion Arnold), alongside 8 horrifically timed penalties.
Overall, Denbrock's offense only made a few errors, racked up 478 yards, scored 28 points, Jayden Daniels committed otherworldly acts upon Saban's defense with one Heisman-worthy run or gutty throw after another, WR Malik Nabers went off as he fought through a back issue (171 yards, 10 catches and a TD), LSU rushed for over 200 as a team, and yet Brian Kelly's Tigers still lost this game due to the exhausting pressure of having to drag this terrible defense & nonexistent special teams over the line....every single week.
....because of the defensive front's complete inability to stop Jalen Milroe's improv on the ground, or their utter lackluster confusion on critical downs (Alabama finished 11/14 on 3rd down), while only creating 2 worthwhile stops throughout the entire game, defeat was inevitable even early into the 4th quarter once the Tigers turned it over & subsequently lost JD5 to a dirty hit from Dallas Turner (a play that could have broken the quarterback's jaw but didn't even garner a flag, barely a review and knocked JD5 out with a "concussion").
The Tigers' special teams didn't help matters, either, with Damian Ramos missing a key field goal (piling even more pressure on to the shoulders of JD5 and his offensive teammates) but far worse, former Louisiana high school 5 star prospect Kendrick Law, now at Alabama, tacked on 77 yards returning on kick offs, guaranteeing strong field position for Milroe on every drive.
Against that defense, who cruelly missed Mekhi Wingo's interior impetus, handing a team that kind of starting field position is almost asking to be scored on....but right now, it almost seems like any opponent can score on Matt House's porous, lackluster, confused and frankly pathetic defense.
In what should be remembered as one of the all time iconic quarterback seasons in LSU history, memories will now be blurred by a dull, aching anger and a neverending question:
"Why couldn't our 2023 defense provide even the tiniest shred of support for Daniels and Co?".....a championship-caliber offense, a record-breaking unit....now fading like dust in the wind before our eyes due to an unapologetically dysfunctional defense, underlined by 3 defeats in which they played a starring role.
How could a defense with the likes of Harold Perkins, Maason Smith, high 4 star Saivion Jones, 5 star high school prospect Sage Ryan, 5 star freshman Dashawn Womack, 5 star CB transfer Denver Harris, and before this night, All-American Mekhi Wingo, be so disturbingly bad?
The answer is depth and recruiting, it's also playing the right guys (where was Whit Weeks???), it's about coaches putting aside their egos and adapting their game plan to their personnel and it's mostly about giving a damn....
That's football....a bad defense & a special teams hindrance will always create poor offensive displays no matter how stacked or dynamic your weapons are....every phase of the game influences and bleeds over into the other....
Because of that fact, Matt House's historically awful defense has now historically invalidated Mike Denbrock's record-snapping offense. One of the greatest attacking salvos in LSU history will now be relegated to a dusty book on the shelf, stamped "2023: What Could've Been"....
In 2023, LSU has an offense that went 7 games racking up over 500 total yards, rushing for 200+ in 4 straight games during that span as well, ranking #1 in a host of categories, fielding a Biletnikoff-frontrunner WR, a Biletnikoff candidate as his #2, and a starting QB who isn't just lighting up the air or the ground, he's done everything to make this team an undefeated, playoff-bound colossus.
But on the other side of the coin, the personnel choices, schematic naivete, outdated thinking, and lack of fire made sure LSU's 2023 defense became the worst in program history....not only known as a unit ranking down near the bottom in every category that defines defensive football, Matt House's 2023 group will be forever branded with the mark of the beast: a squad who hijacked their team's chances at an SEC Championship return, a College Football Playoff run, and their quarterback's Heisman destiny.
MORE ON WHERE LSU GEAUXS FROM HERE, JD5'S HEALTH + ALL OF THE FALLOUT @ LSUODYSSEY.COM
By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
©️ 2023 Uninterrupted Writings Inc, a subsidiary of Uninterrupted Media LLC
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