The LSU Tigers are one of the most storied programs in college football history, and with Brian Kelly running the team, they have a great chance to make some more history in 2024. Last season was uber exciting with Jayden Daniels winning the Heisman trophy and two wideouts playing themselves into first round draft selections, but the Tigers fell short of their College Football Playoff hopes once again. Most of the blame for that goes on the defense, who allowed 45.5 points per game last year, and essentially required their superhuman offense to always keep their foot on the gas to win games. Now, Daniels, Malik Nabers, and Brian Thomas Jr. are gone, but the Tigers look to be more balanced as a team in 2024. Now that you’re caught up, let’s dive right into LSU’s season preview:
So, what’s new? Regardless how much the defense needs to be fixed, it all goes back to the question of who is starting at quarterback, which is Garrett Nussmeier. After spending three years on the bench for LSU, Nussmeier is finally getting his opportunity to start, and he seems poised to make the most of it. He certainly doesn’t have the rushing ability that Jayden Daniels had last year, but Nussmeier is deadly accurate and can put the ball on a dime anywhere on the field. We haven’t seen much action yet from Garrett on the field, but in his lone start last season in the ReliaQuest bowl, he was lights out, throwing for 400 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Obviously, LSU will need to replace a lot of missing targets this season with the only returning starter at receiver being Kyren Lacy, who had a nose for the end zone last year but wasn’t super productive overall. Chris Hilton Jr. is also coming back, and he is expected to take a much larger role in the offense, but CJ Daniels, the incredibly productive senior transfer out of Liberty, seems to be the obvious choice for wide receiver one in this offense. Daniels had over 1000 yards and 10 touchdowns last season with Liberty on just 55 receptions, averaging out to almost 20 yards per catch. In a higher volume situation this season, Daniels is primed to be one of the leading statistical receivers in college football this season and will anchor the Tigers passing game.
The RB room has also had a lot of turnovers; with leading tailback Logan Diggs transferring to Ole Miss, now Josh Williams and Kaleb Jackson are slated to pick up the slack. Williams will be a steady force in the run game as he has been in years past, and Jackson has the potential to burst onto the scene as one of the most athletic running backs in college football in 2024, despite limited play time last season. Jackson, the sophomore Baton Rouge native, was highly touted out of high school for his elite speed and agility and will form a great one two punch with Williams to keep LSU’s ground game as productive as Brian Kelly would like.
Although there’s been a lot of change on offense, like I said before, the defense is really what held this team back last season, which is why LSU has done so much to address it. LSU brought in the #2 ranked safety in the country, Jardin Gilbert from Texas A&M, who paired with the added pass rush from a more developed combination of Gregg Penn and Harold Perkins, can help to lock down this defense. Plus, bringing in Mizzou DC Blake Baker should help to bring some pass rush success over by emulating what they were able to accomplish last year with Darius Robinson tallying 8.5 sacks from the edge, along with 30+ sacks coming from other players.
With a roster overview out of the way, let’s go over some Key Games for the Tigers in the upcoming season:
The Tigers open the season up against #23 USC, who are in an eerily similar situation after not being able to win the national title with Caleb Williams at quarterback, largely due to their own issues on defense. This will be a great test to see what this LSU roster is really made of against some top tier competition early in the season, but also to ease Nussmeier in against a defense that is going to give him some open looks.
In their 5th game of the season, LSU is set to face Ole Miss, who are not-so-sneakily projected as one of the top teams in college football this season. By then Nussmeier should be totally locked in with the offense, and this might be headed straight for a shootout much like the one LSU ended up on the wrong side of last season. This time, they can get revenge and lock themselves in as a top 10 school in the country with a big win at home.
The remainder of their schedule is an SEC gauntlet, as they play Arkansas, Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma to close things out. If the Tigers can leave this stretch with even a single loss, they’ll surely be locked in for a well-deserved CFP spot. A&M is one of those teams that, despite being a low top 25 program in 2024, you never want to see on the road, especially late in the season.
Related: Five Burning Questions for the LSU Tigers Before Kickoff in 2024
And then to turn around and host Bama, it’ll be interesting to see how tough they are without Saban, but so far, all the reporting is leaning towards the notion that they’re going to be the same ‘ole Tide, which means a very tough in-conference matchup for LSU. Closing out with Oklahoma at home will be no joke either; the Sooners are currently ranked 16th and have a lot to prove in their first year in the SEC even though they were a 10-win school last year. The SEC is just chock-full of playoff contenders, so for LSU to go the distance in 2024, they must really separate themselves from the pack.
Now that we’ve reviewed the schedule for the upcoming season, here’s a projected outlook and record prediction for LSU this year. I know how much I’ve talked about the defense being a liability last year and how tough their schedule will be, but I truly believe LSU will clinch a playoff Berth this season. The new 12 team playoff format gives teams a little bit of leeway if one or two games don’t go their way, so that they can still make a run at the national championship come December. Brian Kelly has already given glowing reports from camp, stating a multitude of improvements such as less frequent blown coverages, stronger and deeper pass rush groups, and even things as simple as just being excited to get on the field, something that he shared they lacked at times last year.
And the real point that I need to hammer home here is that LSU must see improvement on defense, but they don’t have to be the second coming of the Georgia Bulldogs. Despite the players they lost in the offseason, I believe this team is going to regress a lot less offensively than what the current consensus is, and they’re still going to be posting 40 or more points per game, even against SEC competition. So really what this defense has to do is force turnovers, field goals, and sacks to end drives.
If they can just get off the field on third downs, even if they’re still allowing north of 30 points per game, LSU will have a fighting chance in every game they play this season. And like I’ve already said, they don’t have to be 2023 Michigan, going undefeated through the regular season to have a crack at the title. Basically, the year is going to come down to four games: Ole Miss, A&M, Bama, and Oklahoma, and if they can win two of those four without any blunders in the other games they should win, they’re most likely in the playoff picture.
But on a serious note, college football is already here. FSU just lost to Georgia Tech, which goes to show that everything we think we know, we really don’t.
