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LSU football took a very tough loss on Saturday night as Texas A&M ran away from it in the second half to take sole possession of first place in the SEC.
The game was shaping up to be a back-and-forth affair, but turnovers derailed LSU's momentum after halftime. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier threw three second-half interceptions, igniting the crowd in College Station and fueling an offensive surge from Texas A&M amid Conner Weigman's benching for Marcel Reed.
As a result, much of the blame has fallen on Nussmeier for the loss, which is understandable given some of the mistakes. However, head coach Brian Kelly is backing his quarterback and says that the team needs to be better around him, according to Dan Morrison of On3 Sports.
“It’s hard for me to sit here right now and give you an in-detail evaluation of what happened, but we did not get the kind of production that would keep Garrett Nussmeier from having to stand on his freaking head at the quarterback position and making plays,” Kelly said, per Morrison. “He feels like he has to. To a large degree, I get it. He’s going to be the guy we all blame. I just don’t think we give him enough balance within the offense, and it makes him vulnerable because he has to do so much.”
LSU still has everything to play for in crowded SEC
Despite losing to Texas A&M on Saturday, LSU still has all of its goals in front of it as it heads down the stretch of the regular season. As a result of the game, Texas A&M is the only team in the SEC still undefeated in conference play. LSU picked up its first SEC loss and now joins a huge pack of teams with one loss.
LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas are all sitting pretty with one conference loss, and those four teams will be duking it out over the next few weeks to earn a spot in the conference title game. Georgia and Texas seem like the best teams of that bunch on paper, but LSU has the kind of schedule that could allow it to sneak in.
After a bye week in Week 10, Brian Kelly and the Tigers will host Alabama in a huge matchup that is going to serve as somewhat of a playoff eliminator. LSU will have the advantage at home, and its schedule clears up if they can make it through that one.
After the game against Alabama, LSU closes its season with contests against Florida, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma, all of whom will be pretty hefty underdogs against Kelly and company. Nussmeier is still playing some of the best football in the nation despite his rough second half and is capable of leading LSU to a 10-2 record that would certainly land them in the College Football Playoff.
