The LSU Football team's rushing attack will start to improve this week

Coming into the season there was an expectation that the LSU Football team would have a great rushing attack. This expectation mostly stemmed from the belief in the offensive line as this group has two potential first round picks at offensive tackle and two guards that everyone is high on.

This also stemmed from the running back room as the group returned two veteran running backs in John Emery Jr and Josh Williams, a player who looked like a star in camp in Kaleb Jackson, and an incredibly talented true freshman in Caden Durham.

This season, the LSU Football team has rushed the football 46 times for 177 yards with no touchdowns. The Tigers' leading rusher is still John Emery Jr who only played half of one game with ten carries for 61 yards averaging 6.1 yards per carry. Emery has provided the team's only explosive run with a carry for 39 yards while Garrett Nussmeier is tied with Josh Williams for the second-longest run with 12 yards per carry.

The numbers are certainly disappointing as the Tigers are averaging just 3.22 yards per carry when you take John Emery's stats out of the equation.

There is a reason to believe that the Tigers' rushing attack is going to turn things around in the rushing game. For starters, the team and coaching staff has acknowledged this, and they'll certainly work on their rushing scheme throughout this week and the rest of the season.

Then you have to look at the fact that defenses are going to have to start defending the LSU Football team differently.

While teams weren't sure of what Garrett Nussmeier was going to be they were putting extra defenders in the box to slow the rushing attack. Given what Nussmeier has shown through two games, the defenses will have to defend the Tigers' passing attack much differently.

Nussmeier is completing 75% of his passes on the season for 610 yards and eight touchdowns with an interception that came when the game was already decided. LSU has gotten two great games out of receivers Aaron Anderson and Kyren Lacy and as Lacy continues to prove to defenses that he's a top receiver, more attention will be put towards slowing him taking safeties out of the box.

Speaking of players who will draw attention from opposing defenses, the Tigers have yet to get their fastest player on the field in Chris Hilton. The speedy receiver hasn't played as he deals with a bone bruise but, it's likely he'll return this week and if LSU played a different opponent in week two. When Hilton returns to the field, the opposing defense will need to account for him with deep safeties as he can beat anyone one one-on-one deep.

We haven't seen the best of this LSU offense yet

The Tigers' offense had its struggles in Week One against USC but, that was mostly due to bad situations as the Tigers were constantly forcing the run on early downs. As Chris Hilton Jr returns to the field, the team gets one of its best weapons back into the fold and it'll only make the group more dynamic. This offense is still working through new schemes with Joe Sloan and Cortez Hankton as Co-Offensive coordinators, and the more the team works through these plays in-game, the better the execution will be up front.

More LSU News:

Note: Stats via ESPN