Most disappointing LSU players from Week 1 loss vs. Florida State

The LSU Tigers had a largely forgettable outing in their 2022 college football season debut, as they lost to the Florida State Seminoles on Sunday to the tune of a 24-23 score. That game is still buzzing among college football fans, with LSU football turning into a butt of jokes, obviously inspired by the schadenfreude they feel toward Tigers head coach Brian Kelly. But it's not just Kelly's undoing that doomed LSU football against the Seminoles. There were shortcomings from both the coaches and the players. With that said, let's take a loot at the three players (or units) that disappointed the most in the loss to the ‘Noles.

3. LSU football offensive line

We'll just go ahead and mention the entire LSU football offensive line here to start things off. Jayden Daniels looked like everything on offense that the Tigers had against Florida State. The Arizona State Sun Devils transfer was making his debut for LSU football against the ‘Noles, but it was not all that pretty for the dual-threat quarterback. For one, he was repeatedly abused in the pocket by Florida State's defense. The Seminoles recorded a total of four sacks against LSU, highlighting the fear of the Tigers that their offensive line hasn't improved a lot from its disappointing form in 2021. Last season, the Tigers allowed 38.0 sacks. They were also just 99th in the nation with a 7.94 percent quarterback sack rate on offense.

The Tigers can't just expect Daniels to frequently rely on his dual-threat capabilities to escape hungry pass rushers going after him. Most of Daniels' game-high 114 rushing yards against the Seminoles were gathered not by design but out of necessity to get out of the pocket amid intense pressure from Florida State's defense. Even the seemingly menial job of snapping the ball was not done smoothly by LSU's offensive line in Week 1. Right in LSU's first drive of the game, center Garrett Dellinger clumsily snapped the ball which resulted in a loss of 14 yards for the Tigers. While Daniels and the Tigers' offense still managed to score a field goal during that drive, that mistake perhaps set the tone for what would turn out to be a disastrous night for LSU football.

2. Kayshon Boutte

Much of the hype around LSU football going into the 2022 college season was built around wide receiver Kayshon Boutte, who missed most of the 2021 season due to an ankle injury. In his first game back in action after a long while, Boutte mightily struggled to put together a performance that would match the excitement over his return. Boutte, who played just one game in 2021 but has 1,264 receiving yards in 17 games so far in his college career, finished the Florida State game with just 20 receiving yards on two catches. It was a frustrating night for the entire LSU offense, but it gets more disappointing when the wide receiver that was supposed to make the biggest impact downfield did not even have a decent outing.

Boutte would be the first one to tell you how irked he was about the night he just had, which you can easily tell from the fact that he removed LSU references from his Instagram account. Boutte did not even have a single reception in the first half of the Florida State contest. Part of that was the aforementioned poor quality of LSU's pass protection that greatly limited Daniels' time in the pocket to look for open receivers. It can definitely get better for Boutte and the Tigers' receiving corps in the coming weeks, beginning with a cakewalk matchup against the Southern Jaguars at home this coming Saturday.

1. Malik Nabers and the special teams

LSU football was so close to forcing the game to go into overtime. Down by seven points with a little over a minute left in regulation, Daniels and the Tigers engineered an 11-play drive that resulted in a Jaray Jenkins touchdown. All the Tigers needed to do was to make the extra point, which of course they did not because that was just the kind of night their special teams were having.  But even earlier in the game, there were notable instances where LSU football's special teams cast themselves in a bad light. There was Malik Nabers muffing a punt not once, but twice.

Perhaps Jayden Daniels summed it up best for LSU after the game, via Blake Toppmeyer of USA TODAY:

“I was stunned and confused,” Daniels said. “It’s disheartening because, obviously, you think you’re going to overtime, but that doesn't define the game. We had like 20 to 30 plays that defined the game.”