LSU was bullied by Kentucky in a 42-21 loss, violently hammering the last nail in the coffin of the Ed Orgeron era. The Tigers gave up 330 rushing yards, and looked completely helpless while doing so. Not only was the defensive effort embarrassing, but I found it odd that the offense could look so bad on the same night LSU would have their best rushing attack of the year. The head coach is ultimately responsible for the issues within this team, and I’m more confident than ever that he will not finish the season. If it is in fact “one team, one heartbeat”, that heartbeat is waning by the week. There will be plenty of time to speculate on potential head coach targets, so for now I’ll just focus on the game.

It was evident early on that LSU would have issues against the run. I was foolishly confident the defense would contain Kentucky running backs Chris Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke after the Tigers shut down Auburn’s dynamic duo last week, and Kentucky quickly gained control of the line of scrimmage on their first possession. Even Will Levis, UK’s quarterback, slowly ran for 75 yards against LSU. This was a physical beatdown of epic proportions, and LSU somehow made it even worse with baffling substitutions throughout. Although they didn’t play a perfect game, Damone Clark and Micah Baskerville are the only linebackers I trust on this team. Kentucky broke big runs with them in the game, but the Wildcats were guaranteed to break them when they were not in the game. Kentucky didn’t pass much, but when they did there was no pass rush whatsoever. LSU did nothing defensively to make UK uncomfortable at any point during the game. The Tigers have not blitzed often this year, but sometimes chances have to be taken when nothing else is working.

My thoughts on the offense begin with Ty Davis-Price. The kid has been criticized heavily this year, but his effort level remained the same. Price ran for 147 yards last night, which eclipsed his season total. Armoni Goodwin made two consecutive effective runs to gain a first down. The offense finally had the run game needed to be a complete, dominant offense, right? Nope. Max Johnson finished with a decent stat line, but this was his worst game of 2021. Accuracy, decision making, and his internal clock failed him last night. Johnson would be helped immensely by better play calling. As great as the running backs looked, down 3 scores with 6 minutes left is not the time to run the ball. Peetz is still going for it on fourth down without having a play ready on fourth down. The receivers are running long, slow developing routes when the opponent is conceding slants and 10 yard comebacks the whole game. Jake Peetz understands concepts, but he has no feel for play calling. As I’ve watched LSU this year, I’ve never felt like the offensive plays tied into each other for a common purpose as to say “This is who we are”. It’s felt more like he’s calling plays completely independent of each other from down to down. It looks as though LSU is practicing plays more so than running an offense. I attribute this to Orgeron chasing the ghost of Joe Brady. You can’t hire a coach with the expectation that he’ll install a different coach’s offense. Coach O should have brought an established offensive coordinator in to run his own offense.

Thanks, Coach Ed Orgeron. You gave us one of the most exciting, gratifying seasons I’ve ever experienced. It’s now time to go, and there is no one to blame but yourself. Being a head coach is about more than knowing football, teaching football, and recruiting. A head coach has to be PR savvy. He has to be able to evaluate position coaches and coordinators. He has to know how to build a team, as opposed to collecting talent. Don’t hire Bo Pelini then announce (without being provoked) that your defense is better than it was when Aranda was here. Don’t allow women to take pictures of you in bed with an exhausted grin on your face. Spend more time getting to know and understand your team. Spend less time catering to cable news outlets. You won’t get fired for going back and forth with an opposing fan, but it’s not a good look when you get blown out the same day. Orgeron was fortunate to win a championship, but I’ll give him credit for putting the staff and players in place to do so. However, LSU can not go forward allowing him to hire new coordinators every year while we cross our fingers and hope for the best. Orgeron is the only coach I know that could prove the naysayers wrong then prove them right in a span of 2 years. It was real, but this is the end of the Ed Orgeron era. Geaux Tigers!