Steve Spurrier jokes 'nobody's gonna beat LSU' after listening to Garrett Nussmeier at SEC Media Day

Steve Spurrier joked that LSU will not beaten this year after listening to Tigers’ quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. Amid SEC Media Days, it’s easy to get swept up in the hype of certain squads.

While Spurrier wasn’t totally serious, his statement does warrant some merit in regards to Nussmeier. A popular Heisman Trophy pick, Nussmeier could very well lead LSU to the College Football Playoff and beyond.

After all, it’s Year 4 for Brian Kelly so there’s expectations for the Tigers to make a jump. A national title is pretty much the only thing that lacks on his resume.

“I was listening to Nussmeier, the quarterback from LSU, and I’m gonna tell you with the way he talked, nobody’s gonna beat LSU this year,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “They all love each other, they got great players. they love coach Kelly …the atmosphere at LSU, nobody’s going to beat them. So we just have to wait and see. But most of the players will talk, probably, a lot like that: how good everything is. And, you know, that’s why we call it talking season.”

Nussmeier is very good, there’s no doubt about that. He threw for 4,052 yards, 29 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 64.2% completion percentage last season.

But he knows how difficult the SEC is. If LSU and Nussmeier are able to get out of the conference in one piece, say with at least a 10-2 record and make the CFP, perhaps the national championship conversation isn’t that absurd.

“It is the toughest conference in all of football and I think that’s pretty evident. I don’t really care what anyone says about it,” Nussmeier said. “To play an SEC schedule week in and week out, you don’t get any rest… When you go from what we did, playing [Texas] A&M to Alabama to Florida. Like, it doesn’t get easy. So, definitely a learning experience.”

Last season, 11 of the top 20 teams in ESPN’s strength-of-schedule rankings were from the SEC. LSU was No. 14 on that list.

“Being able to watch an entire season, correct mistakes and to go back and see my weaknesses and see things that I need to improve on, find the tells that I may have been giving to defenses and things like that. It’s a totally different ballgame, to have a full season to be able to watch and correct,” Nussmeier said. “Also, just from my personal growth as a player and having those experiences under my belt, I’ve seen a lot.

“We saw a lot of different defenses last year, a lot of different things. People had to try a lot of different things to stop us. Being able to see all those things – all those different pressures, all the different coverages – is something that’s going to help me a lot.”

Grant Grubbs contributed to this report