LSU Football: 3 takeaways from ugly beatdown by Auburn in Week 9

1. LSU lacks consistency

LSU entered the season as the defending national champions and even though they lost most of their core team last year, there were still good expectations for this young team.

Then they played the first game of the season and were defeated by Mississippi State 44-34, not the best of starts, and head coach Ed Orgeron shouldered the blame for the poor defensive performance and assured the team would come back the following week with noticeable improvement.

It wasn’t really hard for LSU to come back and show noticeable improvement against their next opponent, the Vanderbilt Commodores. Vanderbilt had the worst offense in the nation, so it wasn’t hard for any defensive line to look good against them. The Tigers were scheduled to face the Florida Gators the following week, but the game was postponed because of the coronavirus.

A decent test for the Tigers came in the next week against South Carolina at home in Baton Rouge. Both teams had struggled at the beginning of the season and both teams were seeking to find their footing both offensively and defensively every week. LSU owned South Carolina on both sides of the field, and the lopsided score doesn’t even reflect how horrible the Gamecocks played against the Tigers.

Yes, LSU is missing their starting quarterback, Myles Brennan, which doesn’t help this young team, but Finley is supposed to be ready to step in and take his place, which includes producing points, as the backup quarterback. Finely had a great week against South Carolina, but not so much against Auburn.

The Defense really hasn’t shown much growth this season, as you can’t take wins against the conference’s worst offensive lines, as too much growth in the defensive line. The growth comes when you are able to stop the top offensive lines in the conference. That’s when the team shows growth.

Coach Orgeron has two weeks to watch films and make some drastic changes during practice before the Alabama Crimson Tide comes to play against the Tigers in Death Valley. There are many areas that need great improvement, it is up to the coaching staff to implement a plan to come back a better team.