By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU’s inability to score touchdowns or score at all deep in an opponent’s territory – aka the red zone – reared its ugly head in the 31-13 loss to Alabama last week.
But it is not new, LSU coach Lane Kiffin said on his weekly radio show on Thursday night. And that must change if the No. 21 Tigers (6-3, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) are going to stay mathematically alive in the College Football Playoff and beat No. 6 Texas (7-2, 5-2 SEC) on Saturday in Tiger Stadium (6:30 p.m., ABC).
“Obviously not to get into too much schematical stuff in that,” Kiffin said in answering a fan question about the red zone. “But that’s really been our number one problem offensively. We’ve got all kinds of yards and all those things.”
LSU is No. 1 in the SEC and No. 6 nationally in total offense with 504 yards a game.
“But inside the ten, if you look at the SEC games alone, we have 10 drives inside the ten that we did not score touchdowns,” Kiffin said. “So, just think, that’s 70 more points out of those drives if you’re scoring touchdowns. And five of those drives, we score no points at all.”
Texas, meanwhile, is No. 14 in the nation in red zone defense with nine touchdowns and eight field goals allowed through 23 opponent trips into the red zone. LSU is No. 68 nationally in red zone offense with 33 touchdowns and nine field goals out of 49 trips to the red zone.
“The good thing, like I tell them, is, ‘Hey, we’ve got really good players because we move the ball.’ Some people get a lot of three-and-outs,” Kiffin said. “We move the ball the length of the field. Inside the ten, we’ve got to execute better in those situations. And we’ve got to call better plays sometimes, too.”
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