Note To LSU Fans: Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff – You Have The Makings Of A Great Team

September 19, 2025 Glenn Guilbeau LSU Football 0
LSU defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory points the way for LSU, which appears to have righted the ship to the playoffs this season so far. (Tiger Rag photo by Jonathan Mailhes).

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Nearly two hours before this boiling pot of emotion unfolded, before LSU further established itself as a national championship contender, Florida players twice instigated skirmishes between the teams during pre-game walk through.

– That was USA Today senior national college football writer Matt Hayes’ first paragraph Saturday night after watching No. 3 LSU beat Florida, 20-10, in person at Tiger Stadium.

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Six paragraphs later after explaining that Florida coach Billy Napier was at the front of the firing line, Hayes returned to LSU’s future.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the stadium, for the team and coach on the verge of something big, LSU coach Brian Kelly found his inner fire when, right out of the box, he was asked about the poor performance from his offense.

Notice, no mention of LSU’s problems on offense until the end of paragraph seven, and that was only in passing.

No. 3 LSU’s 20-10 win over Florida began with a pregame scuffle between players from both teams and ended with fireworks from Tigers coach Brian Kelly, who defiantly defended the style of his team’s victory. The Tigers’ dominant defense never allowed Florida quarterback DJ Lagway to get comfortable and intercepted him five times, holding their third straight opponent to 10 points or fewer.

– That’s the first two paragraphs from ESPN writer Dave Wilson, who was also at the game and also didn’t see the offense issues as the headline.

Sometimes fans and those media members who get a little too close to the fans’ fire fail to see the forest for the trees. National writers often can give a better perspective of a team from above the fray, because their view is not so polluted by too much minutiae. They see more clearly.

This happened Saturday night. There were trees all over the place – LSU’s offense playing average again with too many misses on third-and-short, a below average running game, another mediocre game by quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.

Then Kelly basically set some trees on fire by lighting the Nick Saban within him.

But all those were just trees. Fans and those media members too close to the fans’ fire obsessed over the offense all week. And they missed the point.

Here are some notes on the forest to which you and many others should have been paying much closer attention. So, beginning tonight with No. 3 LSU (3-0, 1-0 SEC) playing Southeastern Louisiana (2-1) at 6:45 p.m. (SEC Network), try to see the forest and not the trees. For LSU does have a potential “national championship contender,” as Hayes said.

THE REAL HEADLINES FROM LSU-FLORIDA

Here are the real top headlines of LSU’s win over Florida:

1. The Tigers lost one of their best defenders and leaders on Florida’s third play of the game in linebacker Whit Weeks when he was ejected for targeting. And it was targeting. But it didn’t matter. Florida netted only 79 yards rushing on 27 carries for a 2.9-yard average. Weeks is one of the Tigers’ best pass rushers as he led LSU linebackers in sacks last season with 3.5 and had six quarterback hurries. But he wasn’t missed. LSU sacked Florida quarterback DJ Lagway three times and hurried him another four times. Linebacker Davhon Keys led LSU in tackles with 14 off the bench. Now, there’s a story.

2. LSU intercepted five passes – its most since 2020. And safety Dashawn Spears, who was a bit of a disappointment last season, picked off two and returned his second one 58 yards for a touchdown and the 20-10 lead in the third quarter. Now, there’s a story. Two more pick sixes, and you have Auburn-LSU in 1994.

3. The Tigers, who had the second worst defense in school history just two years ago that finished last in points allowed in the SEC and 78th nationally with 28 a game, allowed 10 points or less for the third straight game. Wilson made this point above in his second sentence on the game. The last time an LSU defense did that was in 2007 when it won the national championship.

Considering just how bad LSU’s defense was a mere two seasons ago at 115th against the pass (255.6 yards a game) and 105th in total defense (416.6), and considering LSU’s worst defense ever was just in 2020 at 124th in total defense (492), 127th against the pass (323) and 98th in scoring defense (34.9 points), it seems like fans would be jumping up and down about finally having a real defense.

And funny, the first question to Kelly after beating Florida 52-35 in 2023 with 701 yards of offense was not about his bad defense, which gave up nearly 500 yards itself. It was about Florida’s defense.

“That football team just worked their tail off to get an SEC win, and you want to know what’s wrong?. You know what? You’re spoiled,” Kelly said to WBRZ’s Michael Cauble after the game Saturday.

He was very wrong to single out Cauble there, and he later apologized. But he has a point. LSU fans and some media members perhaps have been spoiled by all the offense they saw from quarterback Jayden Daniels on his way to the Heisman in 2023 and by Nussmeier’s huge numbers last season. Those teams did not win as big as their numbers. This team may win significantly with far less offensive numbers.

“Give them some respect,” Kelly continued. “How about that? Give them some respect instead of micro-analyzing every little thing. You guys were here when we had a prolific offense. That doesn’t (always) work. You can’t outscore people and be a championship team (consistently). You can build your offense around the defense, if it’s that good.”

And it’s that good.

4. For the first time in LSU history – it is believed – three brothers played in the same game and all at linebacker – senior West Weeks, junior Whit Weeks and true fresman Zach Weeks. But there’s more. They didn’t play at the same time. And Zach was not supposed to play. He had to because Whit was ejected in the opening 1:55 of the game for targeting, and it was the right call. And West was injured (calf) in the third quarter. So, Zach went in as a gridiron battlefield promotion. Now there’s another story.

OK, now we can talk about the offense.

And it was bad. In fact, it set sort of a record for bad. The Tigers garnered only 10 first downs in the game. They had not had 10 first downs or fewer in a game that they won since a 17-13 win over Kentucky in 1994. LSU finished 4-7 that season.

But therein that tree lies the forest of this team. LSU’s defense still controlled the game Saturday, even though its offense could only muster 10 first downs. LSU’s defense had not won a game with so little help from the offense in more than three decades. LSU’s defense has two second half shutouts in three games this season against Clemson and Florida, which both have been ranked this season.

Yes, the offense has been alarmingly bad so far. Remember all the stories and talk about wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. in the off-season? I wrote quite a few of those. He has exactly one catch for one yard this season.

Re-read this quote from Nussmeier from four days before the season opener at Clemson:

“We’ve got athletes everywhere. We got guys who can make plays. I think it speaks to the fullness of our team.” … Yet, LSU is runnin’ on half emtpy so far this season.

During the same interview, Nussmeier expressed concern about the defense because at times it struggled to stop the offense in practice and scrimmages.

“You feel good about it as an offense,” he said. “But at the same time, you’re a little bit concerned.”

Now, that’s a flip.

Fans and some media members are a little bit too concerned about the offense right now, because it is still early. But some of this same group were actually worried about the LSU baseball team’s RPI numbers late in the last regular season and questioned some of coach Jay Johnson’s starting lineup and platooning methods. … Too much minutiae. Too many in the weeds. Too many trees. And sometimes too much insignificant information.

It is still early, and LSU’s offense has way too much skill talent to keep spinning its wheels and staying stuck for very long. But the kind of defense LSU has can hide an average offense for a long time – until it finally sees the light, and Nussmeier’s torso and abdomen get better. And I don’t see a great team on LSU’s schedule.

And, by the way, No. 13 Ole Miss’ defense next week may just be the vaccine LSU’s offense needs. The Rebels are 117th in the nation and last in the SEC against the run with 194.7 yards allowed a game. And they’re 93rd in the nation and second to last in the SEC in total defense with 381.7 yards allowed a game. Even LSU’s offense can negotiate those numbers and matriculate down the field.

LSU could ride its great defense and average offense clear into the playoffs. By then, Nussmeier and Hilton and others may be clicking like they were late last season.

But Saturday night against Southeastern would be a good time for Nussmeier and company to put up about 50 points and 300 yards passing. And let everyone micro-analyze that minutiae for a while and quit obsessing.

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