Ed Orgeron reveals message to team following LSU loss
Ed Orgeron and the LSU Tigers had absolutely no answer for the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday, as LSU fell in deflating, 42-21 fashion to the home team and fell to 3-3 on the year.
With another week deflating loss for Orgeron and LSU, this one against an unbeaten, talented Kentucky team, more questions regarding Orgeron’s future at the helm of LSU have surfaced. And frankly, after the Tigers’ inability to stop the Kentucky offense, each question seems valid to ask.
As for what Orgeron told his team after the loss — the LSU head coach encouraged his .500 Tigers to stay in-tact and keep playing for one another, despite an extremely difficult road ahead.
“Stay together. Stay together. It’s going to be tough, I understand that. Just stay together,” Orgeron said, when asked what he told LSU postgame. “Let’s look at the film, let’s coach better, let’s play better and let’s get ready for Florida. That’s all we can do.”
As Orgeron alluded, LSU’s gauntlet of a schedule continues next week, when they face No. 20 Florida and its two-quarterback offense, then No. 17 Ole Miss, followed by No. 1 Alabama and No. 13 Arkansas. Things are looking bleak, to say the least.
LSU’s defense was porous this week in a 42-21 shellacking on the road, as Orgeron’s team let Kentucky quarterback Will Nevis string together one of the most efficient games of his career. Nevis needed just 17 pass attempts to complete 14 passes, and though he only threw for 145 yards, he punched in three passing touchdowns. Additionally, Levis had 11 rushes for 75 rushing yards and two touchdowns — making him the third-highest rusher on a Wildcats team that ran all over LSU. Chris Rodriguez Jr. had 16 carries for 147 yards and a rushing touchdown, while Kavosiey Smoke had 12 carries for 104 rushing yards.
Orgeron is going to have to find a way to stop opponents from rushing with such ease, and the solution must come to fruition quickly. He said he was surprised by the Wildcats’ 330 total rushing yards this week, something that he hadn’t quite prepared to see, while taking the question in stride and praising his own rushing attack.
“I do like the way we ran the football with authority,” Orgeron said, deflecting the question to his own rushing attack — which was, quite literally, one of the worst in the country heading into the Kentucky game. “I like the way [Tyrion] Davis-Price ran the ball. I thought he ran the ball very well. We made some improvement on offense.”
To Orgeron’s credit, LSU did run the ball well, and Davis-Price had himself his best game of the season. He rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, but that proved to be inconsequential. LSU’s offense still punted the ball away three times, and the defense failed to force a turnover; meanwhile, quarterback Max Johnson, who completed 22 of 38 passing attempts for 261 passing yards and a touchdown, lost a fumble of his own to the Kentucky Wildcats.
But if Orgeron was surprised by Kentucky’s rushing attack, he could be blown away by the offenses that the LSU Tigers are set to face in the coming weeks — that is, if he makes it through the next few weeks.