LSU football: LG Garrett Dellinger set to miss Tiger Bowl vs. Auburn

LSU football has played two games against non-power five opponents this season. The Tigers’ matchups with Southern and New Mexico were used primarily to build confidence within the team, establish a plan for the future and experiment with different styles. The former of the two contests in particular allowed the coaching staff to fiddle with its offensive line following a subpar performance in the trenches during the Week 1 loss to Florida State.

For a handful of injury and performance-related reasons, it took the Bayou Bengals until the third game of the season to find an offensive line that worked for them. They kept the same five guys out there against the Lobos last weekend, as well.

LSU was finally starting to show some consistency where it counts, but good things can seemingly only last for so long in Baton Rouge. The Tigers will have to shift linemen around once again on Saturday when the team travels to Auburn.

LSU football: LG Garrett Dellinger set to miss the Tiger Bowl vs. Auburn

LSU’s starting left guard, sophomore Garrett Dellinger, is set to miss the upcoming Tiger Bowl against Auburn. Dellinger broke his hand earlier in the week and he is expected to miss at least one week as his injury heals. Brian Kelly has noted that Dellinger is ‘doubtful’ during the Tigers’ first road test at Jordan-Hare Stadium. However, Kelly hopes he will have his starting lineman back when the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers come to town in two weeks.

This latest injury should be a worry for the Bayou Bengals. The LSU Head Coach expressed his concern with the depth in the trenches during a recent radio appearance. Kelly even went as far as to say that the program lacks depth on both the offensive and defensive lines already. There’s unfortunately nothing that can be done to improve that situation at this moment in time.

Redshirt sophomore Miles Frazier—who has started the last couple of games for the Tigers at right guard—is expected to slide over into Dellinger’s place for the time being. This will allow Anthony Bradford to vie for a starting spot once again. Bradford lost his spot on the depth chart following an injury he sustained before the Mississippi State game. If neither Bradford nor Frazier is up to the task, expect to see sophomore Xavier Hill fill in wherever he is needed.

This will be the fourth different offensive line that the Tigers will have started in five games. They seemed to have figured out all of their issues during the last couple of weeks, this injury just temporarily sets them back to square one. The timing is not ideal considering a lot of onus will be on the offensive line on Saturday. Rough weather conditions will likely see LSU try to run the ball more often than not as rain descends onto Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Time will tell as the Bayou Bengals try to power past a struggling Auburn squad. One thing is certain though, LSU will need Dellinger back for the following game against the Vols.