LSU football has gotten off to a scorching start to the season. The Tigers have put the crushing Week 1 defeat to Florida State behind them and they’ve now won four games in a row. Brian Kelly’s team was truly tested in its first away game last weekend, where it found itself in a 17-0 hole against Auburn. The Bayou Bengals fought back with grit and determination to win the football game 21-17 and break into the AP Top 25 Poll for the first time this year.
Now, LSU faces its toughest test of the year as No. 8 Tennessee strolls into Baton Rouge. There is a lot of hype around the Tigers right now, understandably so considering the streak. However, they’ll be classified as either contenders or pretenders based on their performance against the visiting Volunteers. It’s an untraditional 11 a.m. CT kickoff from Tiger Stadium, but that won’t silence what’s sure to be a ruckus crowd for this Top 25 matchup.
LSU football continues SEC play on Saturday against Tennessee. Site Expert Caleb Calhoun from All for Tennessee joins us for a pre-kickoff Q&A!
Tigers fans have read a lot about their team at Death Valley Voice over the last few weeks. Now it’s time to get some insight from the other side of the aisle. In a recent discussion with Death Valley Voice’s Gabe Henderson, All for Tennessee Site Expert Caleb Calhoun revealed his thoughts ahead of the Volunteers’ biggest game of the year thus far.
Here are all of the questions and answers from the chat with Calhoun:
Death Valley Voice: Tennessee got a huge break with a bye week before heading to Tiger Stadium. What are some of the issues that you believe Josh Heupel and his team needed to address during that week off?
All for Tennessee: Their biggest issue was pass defense, but I’m not sure there’s much they can do. The Vols have no No. 1 cornerback, and that complicates things when facing a mobile quarterback like Jayden Daniels because they can’t just freely bring pressure from the outside. What works in their favor, though, is that Daniels is a bit more of an East-West runner than Anthony Richardson, so they may be able to bring more pressure than they did against the Florida Gators.
As for other issues, one you guys are pretty familiar with is one they needed to work on: special teams miscues. The Vols almost blew their leads to the Pittsburgh Panthers and against Florida because of such miscues. At Pitt, they had a punt blocked and then muffed a punt, the latter of which set up Pitt’s game-tying score. Then they let Florida recover an onside kick late, which almost allowed them to come back from 38-21 down. So in terms of a fixable problem, special teams miscues are probably the biggest one.
Finally, they need to clean up their penalties. UT commits seven and a half penalties a game, surrendering 71.5 yards per game. That’s No. 107 and No. 113 in the nation in terms of fewest penalties and fewest penalty yards per game respectively.
Death Valley Voice: There hasn’t been an SEC East team that has beaten LSU in Death Valley since 2016 (2008 if you don’t count LSU’s SEC East rival, Florida). Further, the Volunteers haven’t beaten the Tigers since 2005 in any location. How does all of this make Tennessee fans feel heading into this game?
All for Tennessee: Honestly, that doesn’t worry Vol fans too much. Given how far the program has fallen, even thinking they have a chance in Death Valley is a huge deal. Let’s go back and look at all the other losses to LSU since 2005.
In 2017, the Vols were a week removed from firing Butch Jones, and they were en route to their worst season in school history. Before that, in 2011, they were a 5-7 team facing an LSU team that would go undefeated in the regular season and should’ve won the national championship (Alabama had no right to play them that year again). A year earlier, in 2010, the only reason for the heartbreak was how it ended, with the 13-men on the field penalty as time expired. However, the Vols were a bad team that season, as it was Derek Dooley’s first on the job, and LSU was riding high as a program. That game was in Death Valley. In 2007, they lost the SEC Championship game, but LSU was the better team and significantly so.
Probably the last time these two teams were on an even or just similar playing field in terms of talent was when LSU won in Knoxville in 2006.
Of course, Vol fans dwell on those heartbreaking losses in 2006, 2007 and 2010. Nothing, though, tops 2001, when they were No. 2 and set to play for the national title if they beat a far inferior LSU team in the SEC Championship that they had already blown out earlier in the year. They went up 17-7, LSU lost their quarterback and running back, and an unknown quarterback named Matt Mauck led by this young up-and-comer in Nick Saban shocked them in the second half, coming back to win 31-20. It’s not an exaggeration to say that’s the worst loss in program history, one the Vols have never recovered from.
Death Valley Voice: Everybody knows about star quarterback Hendon Hooker, but who are some of the other playmakers that fans should watch for on Saturday?
All for Tennessee: Bru McCoy has emerged as an elite wideout, particularly with Cedric Tillman banged up. Jalin Hyatt can be deadly in the slot. On defense, Byron Young was an All-SEC edge rusher entering the year, and Omari Thomas has become a game-changer at defensive tackle.
Death Valley Voice: What do you make of the Vols’ struggles in the secondary thus far? Do you believe it’s a blessing or a curse to be going up against an LSU team struggling to throw the ball right now?
All for Tennessee: As mentioned above, they just don’t have anybody good enough to guard a team’s No. 1 receiver. With Warren Burrell now out for the year, it’s only going to be worse. Given the fact that Florida was struggling to throw the ball before facing the Vols, I would say it’s a curse. However, there are some advantages to facing LSU that don’t come with facing Florida, including the fact that LSU is one of the worst teams at preventing sacks while Florida is one of the best. That goes back to the pressure point I brought up earlier, and it could help the Vols take pressure off their secondary.
Death Valley Voice: Where do you believe Tennessee has an edge in this game? Similarly, where do you think LSU has a leg up on the visitors?
All for Tennessee: The biggest advantage for the Vols is Hendon Hooker’s mobility and their receivers on the outside. LSU has struggled to defend mobile quarterbacks this year, and Bru McCoy at the very least is physical enough to make LSU pay for all the press man coverage it plays. If Cedric Tillman can go, LSU is in even bigger trouble.
As far as LSU’s advantage, the Vols won’t be able to guard their receivers. Malik Nabers is a mismatch for anybody in their secondary, and if they can get Kayshon Boutte involved, UT is in serious trouble given his speed. It’s all on whether or not Jayden Daniels can get them the ball.
What’s most remarkable about this game, though, is the fact that there will be similarities in how both teams approach it. They’ll want to find a way to bring pressure on the other team’s mobile quarterback since neither has a great pocket presence, but at the same time, they want to be able to contain those quarterbacks. The defense that does those two things best probably wins the game.
Death Valley Voice: What is your prediction for the game?
All for Tennessee: Despite LSU’s defense, another shootout is on the horizon for the Vols. With or without Cedric Tillman, LSU won’t stop Hendon Hooker’s ability to run, and they’ll pay for the press coverage they put on Bru McCoy.
On the other side, Jayden Daniels will make some plays against the Vols’ secondary, largely because his mobility will keep the pass rush honest. However, the defense will still kill at least two drives with big sacks, and that’ll be enough for the Vols to win. They pull out a victory 42-35.
A huge thank you goes out to Caleb for taking the time out of his day to talk with us about Tennessee. Be sure to check out All for Tennessee and read my responses to his questions before kickoff on Saturday morning!