Three Observations: LSU Rushing Attack Plummets, Defensive Woes Far From Fixed

With two weeks until Bama, LSU has major soul searching, corrections to get fixed

LSU's 48-11 loss to Auburn on Saturday afternoon was the worst the program has suffered since 1996. In many games this season, the offense has been able to keep pace with the opposing team but this weekend, we found out just what happens when both sides of the ball aren't clicking and it was brutal to watch. 

No doubt the nitty gritty details will be covered in the weeks to come. After all we have until Nov. 14 before the Crimson Tide head to Baton Rouge. But there's no denying LSU took a significant step back and will have to spend the next two weeks radically improving on the mistakes made against Auburn to avoid a similar outcome two weeks from now.

Here were three takeaways from the game.

Defense Back to Square One

There's no tiptoeing around it. LSU's defense for the third time this season was thoroughly embarrassed from the second quarter on. The miscommunication and missed assignments continued to be a problem and players at times just looked around at one another not knowing what was going on. 

What was most stunning of all was that there were signs of promise early in the game as the defense forced punts on three of five possessions and a Derek Stingley forced fumble saved a touchdown as well. But 510 yards and 48 points later, we still come back to the same issues that just don't seem to be going away. 

It was the third time this year the defense allowed over 500 yards of offense. Linebacker Jabril Cox didn't attribute the porous defensive effort from the second quarter on to miscommunication from the sideline to the field, rather guys having bad eyes on certain reads and assignments.

"We just left the man cold free and it was just miscommunication on our [the players] end," Cox said. "Always after a loss like this, it hurts. But you can't dwell on this. We know who we have in two weeks, that's something we have to prepare and get our minds right. We have to make sure the feeling we have after this game doesn't carry over to the next two weeks."

LSU Running Attack Takes Significant Step Back

After 276 yards and a dominant showing from start to finish against South Carolina, the Tigers' running attack took a step back against Auburn, being held to 35 yards on 23 attempts. That's not going to get it done against any team and coach Ed Orgeron knows that played a significant role in the dropoff on offense. 

There's certainly a trend that's been discovered in the six games LSU has played this season. When it runs the ball effectively, LSU wins. When it doesn't, LSU loses.

In the two games the Tigers have won, they’ve run for over 100 yards in each outing, averaging a little over five yards per carry. In the three losses, they’ve been held to under 50 yards a contest and 1.9 yards per carry.

The run blocking was the first thing Orgeron pointed to in the postgame press conference, saying he was surprised by the inability for the offensive line to open up running lanes. 

"We tried and we just couldn't block those guys," Orgeron said. "I thought we could run the football, I was worried about our pass protection. I was really surprised we couldn't run the football."

John Emery was stymied to 21 yards on nine carries while Tyrion Davis-Price failed to record a rushing yard in eight attempts. Center Liam Shanahan needs to watch the film to give a more accurate telling as to what went wrong but at the end of the day knows it starts up front.

"We're definitely not happy with the showing," Shanahan said. "They were a good defense, they totally outplayed us."

Myles Brennan is Clearly LSU’s Starting Quarterback When Healthy

Let's get this out of the way first. Saturday was not all on freshman quarterback TJ Finley. It was a struggle from top to bottom and Finley certainly made his fair bit of mistakes. His costly interception in the second quarter and subsequent fumble that went for a touchdown was the momentum swing of the game.

But coach Ed Orgeron was emphatic on not putting the brunt of the blame on the freshman's shoulders because LSU failed its gameplan. The run was not established and far too often Finley was forced out of the pocket before being able to make a read down field. 

"These guys are two young freshmen, they're gonna be inconsistent but you know what, I can't expect them to perform well when we can't block," Orgeron said. "Those guys were running for their life and we need to do a better job of protecting."

Orgeron also made sure to point out that there's no debate over who the starting quarterback should be when healthy.

"Myles is our starter and that's clear," Orgeron said. 

With two weeks to get his lower body injury right, LSU can only hope Brennan will be available for Nov. 14 matchup with Alabama.