LSU Football: The biggest “trap game” of the season for the Tigers
By Zach Ragan
LSU football has a lot to prove in 2020.
There are plenty of folks doubting LSU football in 2020.
And look, I get it.
The Tigers lost an extreme amount of talent from their 2019 team to the 2020 NFL Draft. Plus, they lost star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (who opted out and will enter the 2021 NFL Draft). And did I mention that Joe Brady, the passing game coordinator who received a lot of the credit for LSU’s offensive success in 2019, left Baton Rouge to become the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator?
LSU will look a lot different in 2020 than they did in 2019. The Tigers will rely more on their defense (which will be led by Bo Pelini, after Dave Aranda left for Baylor) instead of their offense.
All of these changes mean there will be plenty of questions surrounding the Tigers this season. Those questions are only intensified by the weird offseason that LSU — along with the rest of college football — has experienced this offseason.
Ed Orgeron and his staff have been forced to alter practice plans because of positive COVID-19 tests and contract tracing.
At one point, the Tigers had so many offensive linemen absent due to COVID-19 that LSU couldn’t even run team drills.
“Look, two weeks ago, we had everybody on our offensive line except two or three guys were out. We couldn’t do any team (drills),” said Coach O this week (via Rivals).
The uncertainty of what to expect from the Tigers this season has me believing that LSU’s week one matchup against Mississippi State could be the program’s biggest “trap game” of the season.
No one knows what to expect when LSU football takes on Mississippi State
LSU’s matchup against Mississippi State in week one is a game the Tigers should easily win.
Coach O’s squad has way more talent than the Bulldogs. It’s not even close.
But LSU’s exorbitant amount of turnover on each side of the ball, combined with COVID-19 related issues this fall, means there will likely be some struggles early in the season for the Tigers.
Quarterback Myles Brennan, who will take over for Joe Burrow, will have to quickly build chemistry with his offense in an actual game setting, which is much different than practice. That chemistry during games won’t be built overnight.
The offensive staff — specifically offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger and new passing game coordinator Scott Linehan — will also have to build chemistry together. Plus, they’ll have to learn what works with Brennan.
On top of all of the uncertainty with LSU, there’s also the fact that Orgeron and his staff don’t really know what to expect from Mississippi State and new head coach Mike Leach.
“You know, we don’t know what Mississippi State’s gonna do. We’re looking at what he’s (Leach) done in the past, but we don’t know exactly what they’re gonna do because it could be brand new,” said Orgeron (via Rivals).
“I’m sure there’s gonna be some adjustments to be made. They’ve got a new quarterback. We have to make in-game adjustments just like any first game.”
Next. Coach O was clearly over Dave Aranda. dark
Ultimately, I think this is a game LSU wins convincingly. But if the Tigers aren’t fully prepared — or they overlook the Bulldogs — this is a matchup that could go south quickly.
Mississippi State may not be the class of the SEC, but it would be unwise to ever take a rival SEC program lightly.