LSU moves up in latest AP Poll after bye week

LSU had the week off, but as chaos continues to ravage college football, the Tigers slide forward from No. 13 in the AP Poll last week to No. 11 on Sunday afternoon. The weekend helped lessen the sting of LSU’s loss to Ole Miss and the Tigers remain in the playoff picture with all of their goals ahead of them as they move into the teeth of the SEC schedule.

Here is the full AP Poll after Week 6 of the college football season.

1. Ohio State
2. Miami
3. Oregon
4. Ole Miss
5. Texas A&M
6. Oklahoma
7. Indiana
8. Alabama
9. Texas Tech
10. Georgia
11. LSU
12. Tennessee
13. Georgia Tech
14. Missouri
15. Michigan
16. Notre Dame
17. Illinois
18. BYU
19. Virginia
20. Vanderbilt
21. Arizona State
22. Iowa State
23. Memphis
24. USF
25. Florida State

Others receiving votes:

Cincinnati 129, Texas 111, Penn St. 97, Utah 84, Nebraska 60, Southern Cal 46, UNLV 19, North Texas 16, TCU 14, Washington 10, Mississippi St. 10, Navy 4, Louisville 3, Auburn 1.

Brian Kelly’s media availability during the bye week

On speculation and rumors spread that Garrett Nussmeier might need in-season surgery…

“That’s misinformation. Those are not based on any facts. They are quite silly, actually, Shea. And I know you have to ask the question, so I am certainly not throwing you under the bus for asking it, because people want to know. But this is misinformation. Yes, early on he had an ab strain, not a core injury in terms of a core injury (we have to) deal with. And, it’s been slow to heal. But, as I had mentioned, he is on the back side of that. He is getting rest this week. He will be the Garrett Nussmeier he needs to be as we get into the very difficult part of our schedule.”

On what the bye week holds for Nussmeier and rehabbing his injury…

“A lot of mental work this week in terms of film study and looking at the things he has done during the year. Really, doing a deep dive and, in particular, the things he can control in the game that he wants to get better at. He was really good (vs. Ole Miss) in run-game checks and getting the ball out when we didn’t have fair numbers. We want to build on that. And then we want to build on his consistency in terms of the pocket, and he’s great to work with because he wants to do all those things on (virtual reality), so we can get him on VR. There are a number of different ways to build on what he wants to do on a play-to-play basis without having him out there throwing the ball 100 times.

“Our training staff and physicians have treated him with medication, and that’s been part of the procedures and protocol. We knew coming into this bye week that this was going to be the time for us not to be pushing him. This is when he could really, truly be the best version of himself. I think our training staff has done a great job. Again, I think you are going to see the best football as we move forward from Garrett Nussmeier.”

On his view of LSU’s struggles on offense through the 4-1 start to the season…

“First and foremost, the details of the passing game have to be better, and that is from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint. We just have to be better there. Garrett threw 15 touchdown passes at this time last year, he has thrown seven (this year). I think we averaged over 300 yards passing the ball, and we are well below the numbers. Everyone wants to talk about the run game, and I get it. I get it. But, we also have to accentuate the positives of this team, and that’s our skill players and the quarterback. The problem for us more than anything else is we have not been elite in the passing game, so that’s been a huge focus this week. It doesn’t mean we are not working on getting better at the running game. We are working diligently there. But, my point being, our passing game as to be much more explosive than it has been up to this point.”