LSU walked into Tuscaloosa hunting for a season reset and walked out with a gut punch of its own. Star wideout Nic Anderson was carted off with an apparent knee injury in the third quarter, a worrying development for a Tigers offense already wobbling through an uneven fall.
The scene cut through the noise of coaching changes and quarterback questions, turning the night into a health watch that could shape LSU’s final three games.
According to On3, the program fears Anderson suffered a season-ending right-knee injury at Alabama. He was helped off, evaluated in the medical tent, then taken to the locker room on a cart before returning to the sideline on crutches in street clothes.
An MRI was scheduled for Sunday to confirm the extent of the damage. Interim head coach Frank Wilson said after the game that Anderson left to get X-rays and that no further details were available.
The Oklahoma transfer has appeared in every game this season, logging 10 receptions for 74 yards and two touchdowns after a 2024 campaign in which a quad issue limited him to one game. His breakout 2023 at OU, 38 catches for 798 yards and 10 scores, hinted at the field-stretching gear LSU hoped to unlock in Baton Rouge.
On3 added that LSU’s loss dropped the Tigers to 5-4, with Arkansas, Western Kentucky, and Oklahoma still ahead, and that Wilson benched Garrett Nussmeier for Michael Van Buren Jr. in the third quarter while remaining noncommittal about next week’s starter.
Context around the roster only sharpens the stakes. LSU fired Brian Kelly two weeks ago, and the offense has sputtered behind a reshuffled line and a quarterback room searching for rhythm. A season that began with fireworks has hardened into grinding drives and thin margins, exactly the kind of script where a healthy, explosive WR1 matters.
July offered a very different headline for Anderson. In the summer, Kelly said the receiver had been in a minor car accident, cleared concussion protocol, and was expected back in full drills the following day. That was then and not recent, but it underscored why LSU has been cautious with his health since his Oklahoma tenure.
If Sunday’s imaging confirms the worst, LSU must manufacture explosives by committee and lean harder on situational defense to keep bowl positioning intact. If there’s a late reprieve, the Tigers’ best hope of finishing strong returns with it. Either way, the depth chart just became the story of November in Baton Rouge.
