LSU Football: Ed Orgeron is meddling with the offense again, how will it turn out this time?

LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron has a reputation for “meddling”.

It’s what got Orgeron fired at Ole Miss in late 2007. And it’s what nearly derailed the Tigers’ 2017 season.

In case you forgot, Orgeron and offensive coordinator Matt Canada had an icy relationship in 2017 that resulted in Orgeron becoming heavily involved in the offense in the second half of the season.

Canada moved on from the Tigers after the 2017 season, but his departure included a non-disclosure that means he can’t even speak about what all went on behind the scenes at LSU.

Steve Ensminger took over after Canada left the program. And it appeared that Ensminger, along with passing game coordinator Joe Brady in 2019, was free to coach the offense without much input from Orgeron (I guess it’s easy to take a step back when the offense is averaging nearly 50 points a game).

It seemed after the Ole Miss and Canada fiascos that Orgeron learned his lesson.

But that might not be the case.

After a season-opening loss to UCLA this past weekend, it looks like Orgeron is once again getting heavily involved with the offense.

Is Ed Orgeron getting too involved with LSU football’s offense?

Orgeron hired offensive coordinator Jake Peetz and passing game coordinator DJ Mangas this past offseason to run the “Joe Brady style of offense” this season.

Apparently, Orgeron wasn’t happy with the play calling in the week one loss to UCLA.

As a result, Orgeron met with the offense and told them what plays he wants to see more of moving forward.

Here’s what Orgeron had to say about the offense on Tuesday morning during an interview with 104.5 in Baton Rouge (via 247Sports):

"“I met with the offense, we have to be more diverse. Something that I wanted and again, it didn’t happen in the game,” Orgeron said. “That’s my responsibility, but we met with them on Sunday and we have to get the ball outside. We have to run some pin and pulls. We have to be more diverse. I guarantee you’re gonna see it this week.”"

I just don’t think this is a good idea. Orgeron hired Peetz and Mangas for a reason — let them call the game as they see fit.

Instead of worrying about the play calling, Orgeron might want to worry about the offensive line. That’s where the problem with the running game is rooted.

LSU’s run game was essentially shut down because of the offensive line’s run blocking issues. That’s why Peetz and Mangas had to alter the way they called the game. I guarantee you that’s not the game plan that Peetz and Mangas entered the stadium with. But they had to adjust because of the ineffectiveness of the run game.

Now, Peetz and Mangas will be forced to incorporate what Orgeron wants — whether it works or not — instead of trusting their instincts and calling the game as they would without Coach O’s input.

I just don’t have a good feeling that this is going to have a positive outcome. Head coaches meddling with the offense rarely turns out to be a positive thing.