There's just no coming back from this for Garrett Nussmeier. Not long ago, he was considered a Heisman Trophy contender, with the LSU football faithful ready to see him put on a show from start to finish in 2025. Now, it's up in the air if he'll start for the Tigers again.
Watch Frank Wilson rip into Garrett Nussmeier before LSU benched him vs Bama
On Saturday night, Nussmeier and the offense looked quite vanilla in the 20-9 loss in Tuscaloosa against No. 4 Alabama. So much in fact, interim head coach Frank Wilson stunned a lot of us in the middle of the third quarter by benching him.
That's right, Michael Van Buren took the field and while he made some nice throws, there was no late magic for LSU. If you were relieved to see Nussmeier benched, you weren't the only one, as even Tigers QB legend Matt Flynn knew it was time for LSU to make the switch:
I love everything that Nuss has stood for, and nobody has driven the bus more than me… I hate saying this, but it’s time
— Matt Flynn (@mflynn3) November 9, 2025
Matt Flynn said what everyone was thinking on LSU benching Garrett Nussmeier in loss at Bama
Flynn delivered that post not long before Wilson made the call to bring Van Buren out onto the field. It's truly a shame that things went south so quickly for Nussmeier this campaign. The expectation was that he'd be one of the top QBs in the game and keep improving his NFL Draft stock.
That hasn't been the case and following the loss to the Crimson Tide, LSU is now 5-4 on the season. Kelly was fired not long ago, which tells you that the 2025 campaign has not gone according to plan as a whole for the program. Scott Woodward also being fired is telling.
Soon enough, the hope among LSU fans is that better days are going to be on the way. However, things have been pretty rough of late and the Nussmeier benching is just the latest twist in what has been a wild couple of months.
Flynn, who helped LSU win the natty in 2007, was always in Nussmeier's corner and was hoping he'd live up to the hype. He didn't and now Wilson could end up sticking with Van Buren for the final three games of the fall.