Three absolute musts for the LSU Football team against UCLA

The LSU Football team enters this weekends game against UCLA as a massive favorite over the Bruins. While LSU should win this game easily, there are certainly some things that LSU needs to clean up on both sides of the football. The LSU Football team has yet to play a complete game start to finish and ideally this should be the first game the Tigers do so. Here are the three absolute musts we need to see from the LSU Football team this weekend.

3. Show continued improvement running the football

Outside of John Emery Jr's carries, LSU looked terrible running the football in Week One and even worse in Week two against Nicholls State. This past week against South Carolina was the best that LSU has looked running the football. This was mostly due to Caden Durham's emergence as he broke a ton of tackles extending plays but, also because LSU ran behind Will Campbell and Garrett Dellinger.

We all know this passing offense can be explosive but, we need to see continued development in the rushing attack. UCLA allows 87.0 yards per game on the ground which is heavily inflated due to Hawaii's rushing struggles and the five sacks they allowed.

This game we should see a ton of running plays while most of the carries should be given to LSU's younger backs Kaleb Jackson, Caden Durham, and Ju'Juan Johnson as they continue to develop. Becoming a team that can create explosive plays with the run game will only make LSU a much tougher team to stop.

2. Make this team one dimensional

Through two games it's become clear that the UCLA Bruins like LSU have struggled to field a productive rushing attack. The Bruins are averaging 83.5 yards per game on the ground and 3.6 yards per carry. The Bruins leading rusher is quarterback Ethan Garbers who has been far and away their best rusher averaging 4.9 yards per carry.

On Saturday, LSU needs to dominate the Bruins rushing attack forcing this team to become one dimensional. Garbers has struggled passing the ball completing just 54.1% of his passes while throwing three interceptions to just one touchdown. This game needs to be LSU's best defensive effort especially as they prepare for much better offenses like Ole Miss.

1. Start fast

Through three games, the LSU Football team has only scored nine first quarter points with all nine points coming against Nicholls State. On LSU's three opening game drives, the Tigers have yet to score a point a trend that will need to change when you get into the games against Alabama and Ole Miss. Finally through three games, LSU's point differential in the first quarter is -5, in the first half is only +1.

Against weaker opponents like Nicholls State and South Carolina who lost their quarterback for the game at the end of the half you can overcome an early deficit. But, if LSU gets down multiple scores against an Alabama or an Ole Miss, you can quickly find this team in trouble. Starting this week, the Tigers need to make a habit out of getting out of the gates with points so the defense can play with a lead and apply pressure.

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