By TODD HORNE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

LSU’s Closed Scrimmage Isn’t A Mystery. Lane Kiffin Has Questions To Answer

At 10 o’clock this morning, LSU will play one of its most important football games of the season.

Nobody outside the program will see it.

Lane Kiffin’s second major scrimmage of preseason camp is closed to the media. There will be no reporters in Tiger Stadium, no live statistics and no independent account of what happens inside.

That does not mean we don’t know what matters.

Kiffin gave us a pretty good starting point after LSU’s first major scrimmage last Saturday.

The Tigers ran approximately 170 plays. About half included live tackling. And Kiffin was clear about which side had the better start.

“I thought the first defense played extremely well,” he said. “Gave the offense a lot of pressure and really good in coverage.”

The first offense struggled for a while before responding later.

So the most obvious question facing LSU this morning is also the simplest.

Has the offense gotten better?

Not against air. Not during an individual passing period. Not during the 10 or 12 minutes of practice the media has been permitted to watch.

Against Blake Baker’s defense.

That is a considerably more useful measurement with Clemson two weeks away.

Sam Leavitt also gave Kiffin something important in the first scrimmage.

Movement.

Leavitt underwent Lisfranc surgery after last season at Arizona State and spent LSU’s spring practice recovering from it. He was able to throw, study and participate in portions of the offense, but LSU could not really find out whether the quarterback who had made plays with his legs at Arizona State was completely back.

Last Saturday provided the first extended evidence.

“He’s moved great,” Kiffin said.

Leavitt escaped several pressures, including some that came free, and Kiffin sounded encouraged by his ability to create when protection failed.

That makes today another important test, but not because LSU needs to find out whether Leavitt can scramble.

Kiffin needs his quarterback operating his offense.

And that includes tempo.

“Spot the ball” has become associated with Kiffin for a reason, but it does not mean what people sometimes make it mean.

It is not some mystical football declaration about toughness or competition.

It is about going fast.

Kiffin wants the offense back at the line and ready for the next play as quickly as the officials will allow it. Get the ball spotted. Get aligned. Get the call. Force the defense to communicate quickly, limit its ability to substitute and make it play at the offense’s pace.

Spot the ball.

That requires more than Leavitt knowing the playbook.

The offensive line has to identify the front. Receivers have to get aligned correctly. Everybody has to receive the call and be ready to function without LSU taking 25 seconds between plays to sort everything out.

We have seen very little of that during the portions of practice open to the media.

Kiffin will see plenty of it today.

And his offensive line remains one of the biggest questions.

Not necessarily the first five.

Jordan Seaton has been working at left tackle. Bo Bordelon at left guard. Braelin Moore at center. Aliou Bah at right guard. Weston Davis at right tackle.

Kiffin’s concern is what comes next.

“It’s a concern, and it’s something that’s high on our list of concerns right now,” he said Thursday about LSU’s offensive-line depth.

That is significant.

Coaches spend August telling us they need more depth everywhere. Kiffin specifically identified the offensive line.

Five offensive linemen will not get LSU through an SEC season.

Who is No. 6?

Who is No. 7?

Can LSU lose Seaton or Moore for a series without the offense changing?

Can the second unit protect well enough for Kiffin to keep running his offense rather than protecting his protection?

Today should tell him more.

And if Kiffin does not like the answers, we already know he is willing to keep looking for players long after most coaches would consider their roster complete.

Thursday, while discussing the possibility that a court ruling could make additional players available, Kiffin acknowledged how unusual the current environment has become.

Normally this late in August, he said, “Our team is our team. It’s what we’ve got.”

Then came Friday.

LSU gained a commitment from Notre Dame fifth-year senior edge Junior Tuihalamaka, whose opportunity to play another season grew out of the continuing legal fight over eligibility for players from the 2022 signing class.

LSU was preparing for its second major preseason scrimmage.

Kiffin was still adding players.

Those two things happened on the same day.

Tuihalamaka also addresses a real roster issue. LSU lost Gabriel Reliford for the season, and while the Tigers have intriguing young edge players behind Princewill Umanmielen, there is a difference between intriguing and proven.

Kiffin found another experienced option.

Whether LSU is finished looking is another matter.

Running back requires no additional shopping.

Kiffin already has more viable choices than carries.

Caden Durham entered camp as LSU’s established runner and its leading returning producer at the position.

He has not been treated like an incumbent.

Dilin Jones has worked prominently in the rotation. Harlem Berry broke a long touchdown run during the first scrimmage, and Kiffin said afterward that Berry has begun running more physically.

Then there is Stacy Gage.

Gage came from UCF after carrying the football only 13 times last season and has been one of the more noticeable risers of LSU’s camp.

During the limited periods reporters have been allowed to see, Durham has not consistently been at the front of the line.

Kiffin explained his approach Thursday.

“We just open it up and evaluate guys from scratch, regardless of what they’ve done before,” he said.

That makes today useful.

Not because somebody needs to “want it more.”

Because Kiffin has carries to distribute.

Durham has SEC production. Berry has explosiveness. Jones has continued to push. Gage has forced himself into the discussion.

One football.

Kiffin has to decide who gets it.

The defense presents a different problem.

LSU already knows its first defense won much of the early work in the first scrimmage.

What Kiffin and Baker need to determine today is whether that performance was the beginning of something or simply the defense being further along than an offense installing a new system with a new quarterback and massive personnel turnover.

The returning advantage is obvious.

Baker is in his third season running LSU’s defense.

Kiffin is in his first running the offense.

LSU also has competition still playing out along the defensive line and at safety, and the addition of Tuihalamaka creates another piece to evaluate at edge if and when his eligibility is resolved.

So Kiffin has plenty to learn this morning.

Has Leavitt’s offense closed the gap on Baker’s defense?

Can LSU run Kiffin’s tempo cleanly instead of merely quickly?

Does the offensive line have seven or eight players Kiffin trusts, or only five?

Who is actually LSU’s best running back?

How deep is Baker’s defense when the first unit leaves the field?

Those are measurable football questions.

They are also why this scrimmage matters more than anything reporters could learn from another 12-minute practice viewing period.

The media will not be there.

Kiffin prefers it that way.

He did not particularly enjoy discovering earlier this week that LSU had even released a few seconds of video from the first scrimmage.

So Clemson will not get much help from us today.

Neither will LSU fans.

But sometime around noon, Kiffin should have another substantial collection of evidence about the football team he will put on the field Sept. 5.

He will know whether the offense improved.

He will know more about his offensive line.

He will have more information on his running backs.

He will see whether Leavitt can run his offense at the pace Kiffin demands.

And, considering what happened Friday, he may walk out of Tiger Stadium and decide he still needs somebody else.

But first the official has to put the football down.

Then Kiffin’s offense can do what he has been teaching it to do.

Spot the ball.