TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – During the third quarter of LSU’s 20-9 loss at No. 4 Alabama here Saturday night, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier almost looked like he got beheaded. Then he got benched.
Alabama defensive end Jordan Renaud ripped the helmet off of Nussmeier, who looked truly dazed and confused.
It has been that kind of season for the fifth-year senior quarterback. And with each game, he seems to descend in the 2026 NFL Draft. Thank God for the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine. Go to both, young Garrett. They may be the only way you can wash away this lost 2025 LSU football season that descended to 5-4 and 2-4 in the Southeastern Conference at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday as the Tigers lost three straight games in October and November for the second straight season.
Meet the new boss … same as the old boss:https://t.co/aTttOhkiU5
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 9, 2025
Had Nussmeier left LSU after last season, he likely would have gone in the first round. Now, maybe, maybe not.
At the moment, he appears to be a quarterback without a country or a coach. On Saturday, Nussmeier became the first LSU quarterback since Joe Burrow in his first season in 2018 in a 29-0 loss at No. 1 Alabama to not lead his team to a touchdown.
Head coach Brian Kelly was fired a week ago Sunday, and Nussmeieer’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan was let go the next day.
Nussmeier has also never played as well this season as he did in several games last season. He was hurt early this season with a painful abdomen tear, but that hasn’t been the issue for a few games now. After finishing sixth in the nation in 2024 in passing yards per game at 311.7, he is 52nd now with 225.8 a game.
He can’t even throw for 200 yards a game now, much less 300. He was 18-of-21 passing Saturday for 121 yards without a touchdown pass for just the second time in his career. Two weeks ago in a 49-25 loss to Texas A&M, he hit 22 of 35 passes for 168 yards (a pitiful 4.8 yards an attempt) around five sacks and weak offensive line.
During the A&M game, he didn’t seem to be listening to Kelly. In fact, he was talking more to Kelly than the other way around. Sloan may not have exactly enhanced Nussmeier’s career, meanwhile. His only previous OC experience was at Louisiana Tech in 2020 and ’21 before last season and this season at LSU.
LSU’s new play caller Saturday is the run game coordinator, Alex Atkins, who last called plays when he was at North Carolina-Charlotte in 2019.
Nussmeier can talk to or visit his dad, Doug Nussmeier, who is the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints, but he’s got his own problems. The Saints are 1-8 with major quarterback issues.
His new head coach, interim Frank Wilson, was never an offensive coordinator in 15 years as an offensive assistant coach. He was also 26-40 for a .393 winning percentage (18-28, also 39 percent in conference) as a lower level head coach at Texas-San Antonio and McNeese State before returning to LSU before the 2022 season under Kelly. What can Wilson really tell Nussmeier about quarterbacking?
Wilson also didn’t bother to name a new offensive coordinator to replace Sloan. Tim Rattay, who was an excellent quarterback at Louisiana Tech and played in the NFL, was promoted from analyst to quarterbacks coach. So, there’s that.
But by Saturday night when Wilson benched Nussmeier for a very average at best Michael Van Buren after another red zone, red alert meltdown, Nussmeier looked like he had heard and seen enough of all this crap of 2025 as Wilson appeared to be chewing him out on video below.
LSU Head Coach Frank Wilson letting QB Garrett Nussmeier have it.
— Lonn Phillips Sullivan (@LonnPhillips) November 9, 2025
LSU VS ALABAMA Postgame Show Will Start in the 4th Quarter👇https://t.co/DF62Fc7Ivk 🎞 ©️ ESPN / ABC pic.twitter.com/2SiVSdDd1D
At least, when Kelly was lighting Nussmeier up in recent weeks, he looked at his coach. Look above. Nussmeier is not even looking at Wilson.
And after the game, Wilson would not even guarantee that Nussmeier will start ahead of Van Buren when the Tigers host Arkansas (2-7, 0-5 SEC) on Saturday (11:45 a.m., SEC Network). That would be a ridiculous move.
“I haven’t put that kind of thought in it right now,” Wilson said. “Right now, I just want to be there for our players to let them know we’re going to be all right, to pick their heads up and we’re standing by you. We’re in this thing together. Decisions of depth and what moving forward, we’re not at that stage right now.”
Wilson’s comments about his team’s quarterback play were clearly not a ringing endorsement of Nussmeier.
“I thought he was solid,” Wilson said of Van Buren, who was 5-of-11 passing for 52 yards. “Pushing the pocket, stepping up, delivering passes, escaping, extending plays. I thought he did a good job.”
On Nussmeier, Wilson said, “I thought he did some good things early on. As we went into the depth of the game, we just thought it was an opportunity for us to change up, to throw their defense off. And so we went with the change. I don’t know that it was something necessarily that he did so bad. We just thought that it would be an advantage.”
Not so bad? And to think, Nussmeier entered this season as a Heisman Trophy favorite.
He has three games left, and this is not questioning his commitment, rather his surroundings, coaching and continued risk of really getting hurt.
The NFL Draft on April 23-25 can’t get here soon enough for Nussmeier. And this is one case where I would understand an opt out.
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