LSU’s O-Line Has To Walk Before It Can Run, And It Took Some Baby Steps Vs. South Carolina

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU jumped seven spots in the national rush offense poll after gaining its Southeastern Conference season-high for rushing yards in a game Saturday with 166 in the 20-10 win over South Carolina.

That would be an off week for Vanderbilt, which is No. 23 in the nation in rushing with 208.7 yards a game. But the Tigers’ baby step still moved it from No. 119 in the nation in rush offense with 104.8 yards a game to 112 with 115 a game.

That’s a start, because one has to walk before it can run. Or as LSU coach Brian Kelly said, an offensive line has to A.) get off the ball before it can B.) block and then C.) sustain blocks.

At the moment, LSU’s offensive line is at about point B.

LSU Offense and Garrett Nussmeier – “One Step Up, And Two Steps Back.” But Nussmeier did look better. Column:https://t.co/mmevLsvr8l

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And it’s one thing at a time for the No. 10 Tigers (5-1, 2-1 SEC), who play at No. 17 Vanderbilt (5-1, 1-1 SEC) on Saturday (11 a.m., ABC). The Commodores have the No. 16 rush defense in the nation with just 90.8 yards allowed a game.

“We’re at the point now where we can talk about sustaining blocks,” Kelly said at his press conference Monday, sounding a bit like an elementary school teacher.

“Sustaining blocks is simply a determination and a want to and a will,” he continued. “And we’ve got to get to that. We had six runs of 15 yards or more (vs. South Carolina). That’s a really good start. We could’ve had three or for of 50 or more, if we sustain one or two blocks. And we just need to sustain.”

What LSU’s offensive line did well Saturday that it didn’t do at Ole Miss on Sept. 27 when it managed just 57 yards rushing on 22 carries was get off the ball.

“I couldn’t get to sustaining blocks, if I couldn’t get off the ball,” Kelly explained. “Now, we’re getting off the ball. Now we’ve got to sustain blocks. We’ve got to hold onto those blocks. It can’t just be contact, and that’s it. Because those guys are folding back in and making plays. So, we’re at a next stage, and if we continue to do what we’re doing, it puts us in a really good place. What really stood out after you watch film is whtat we ran off the ball for the first time with the offensive line. We got off the ball.”

Eureka!

“Now, we’ve got to sustain,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to get more will and want to.”

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After sustaining blocks, the next lesson is the pancake block – slang for total domination by an offensive lineman when he finishes on top of his near motionless opponent.

But don’t skip ahead.

LSU continues to struggle with run blocking at the edges with redshirt freshman right tackle Weston Davis and sophomore left tackle Tyree Adams, but junior transfer center Braelin Moore, senior transfer right guard Josh Thompson and redsirt freshman left guard Coen Echols did very well in the interior last week.

“Our guard and center play was the best it has been all year,” Kelly beamed. “It happens in the triangle. That’s where it has to happen. The group right there has got to get you off the ball and get you some initial movement, and that’s where we were better.”

And that was with a new starter at guard in Echols, who started with regular starter Paul Mubenga out with a high ankle sprain.

“He was really solid for us,” Kelly said. “He gets off the ball. He gets hands on you, and he moves you. You get a dent, and he did a really good job. Now, he made some mistakes, but that’s going to happen, because he doesn’t have a huge resume of work. But I liked his effort.”

Davis also shined in pass blocking as he held South Carolina’s outstanding edge rusher Dylan Stewart to zero sacks. The sophomore, who had seven sacks and 51 hurries last year, came in with three sacks and 23 quarterback hurries. He left with no sacks and one hurry.

“We did a great job in protecting our quarterback,” Kelly said as Garrett Nussmeier was not sacked and hurried just four times officially. “No sacks against one of the elite pass rushers in Stewart in the league. He is an outstanding athlete, and I was proud of our guys in keeping our quarterback clean.”

“We won the game, and that’s a good thing.”
… Brian Kelly. As far as most everything else, though … https://t.co/yYjJ47nmmG

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 12, 2025

A little more fine tuning, and Kelly feels his class of offensive linemen and thus the running game will be ready for Vanderbilt, followed by No. 4 Texas A&M (6-0, 3-0 SEC) and No. 6 Alabama (5-1, 3-0 SEC) in the coming weeks.

“I think it’s been an evolution,” he said. “It starts with getting off the ball. It starts with aiming points for our offensive line. A lot of the things that take time to come together are starting to come to fruition, and so the run game has got to be central to our overall offensive efficiency.”

Short yardage running must improve.

“We’ve got to set up field position better with first downs in those tough territory areas,” Kelly said. “We have not been good enough there. We’ve put our defense in shorter fields, because we haven’t been able to get first downs needed when the ball is backed up. And of course in our blue zone – five yards going in, 10 yards going in – that clearly has to be much better. We know the areas we have to improve on.”

And Kelly sounded enthused that such improvement would happen.

“They’re all very much within our grasp of doing so,” he said. “We’re going to have to do it better over this next stretch. But the foundational principles that I’m seeing are exciting for me. And now we’ve got to build off of those.”