For a few years now, defense has been the big problem with LSU football. Jayden Daniels led an explosive offense during his time with the Tigers, but the defense let him down during his Heisman Trophy campaign. Garrett Nussmeier experienced a similar problem in 2024 despite leading one of the top offenses in the nation.
In 2025, LSU seems to have fixed things on the defensive side of the ball. Blake Baker has emerged as one of the top defensive play callers in the nation and the Tigers have been very impressive on that side, shutting down both Clemson and Florida to get to 3-0 on the season.
Unfortunately, the explosive offense of the last few seasons is nowhere to be found. Nussmeier has been up and down, and LSU hasn't been able to put away its opponents by scoring points.
Brian Kelly clearly didn't want to talk about this, as he fired off at a reporter postgame for asking about the offense. After all, the Tigers had just gutted out a tough win against a talented Florida team, and Kelly apologized to the reporter on Tuesday.
Whether he wants to admit it or not, Kelly's LSU squad does have some serious problems on the offensive side of the ball that need to be addressed.
LSU's running game is a major issue
If LSU wants to be considered as a serious contender in the SEC and compete for a national championship, it needs to fix its running game. Nussmeier is a great processor and has taken a lot of strides as a pre-snap quarterback, but he still needs the running game to try to draw some defenders down into the box and make the play-action game more effective.
Caleb Durham is a quality back, and the box score on the surface doesn't look that bad. He has 196 yards on 45 carries for the season with a pair of touchdowns, but explosive runs do a lot of work in buoying those numbers.
Against Louisiana Tech, when those runs dried up, Durham finished with just 29 yards on 13 carries and didn't record a carry longer than five yards all game. Against Florida, he had 42 yards on 14 carries before sealing the game with a 51-yard run on the final drive.
Of course, explosive plays aren't bad. But some of the more talented and disciplined defenses in the SEC won't give up those big plays as easily, making the down-to-down success of the running game very important.
Nussmeier also has to be a bit better as a decision-maker. He trusts his eyes and his arm to make just about every throw on the field, but that has gotten him into trouble at times this season, like when he threw a critical interception in the fourth quarter against the Gators on Saturday.
The schedule isn't getting any easier for LSU in the gauntlet that is the SEC. Kelly and company still have road dates with Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Alabama and Oklahoma on the docket as well as a home game against Texas A&M. The offense must take some pretty big strides forward if LSU wants to make it through that stretch unscathed and get into the College Football Playoff.
