BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Had No. 3 LSU been lighting up the scoreboard in its first three victories, this weekend's match-up with Southeastern Louisiana might have been an opportune time to rest offensive starters such as quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.
Instead, LSU's top players on offense will work on demonstrating an ability to execute better than they have in their past two games, when they've combined to produce just three touchdowns.
“We’re going to get better on offense — more efficient," LSU coach Brian Kelly promised this week as LSU (3-0) prepared to host the Lions (2-1), whose campus is about an hour's drive east in Hammond, Louisiana.
In a 20-10 victory over Florida last week, LSU scored one offensive touchdown. They scored just two in a 23-7 victory on Sept. 6 over Louisiana Tech.
Still, LSU is favored by about 40 points over a Southeastern squad that bulldozed Mississippi Valley, 56-3, last week.
Southeastern coach Frank Scelfo said he and his staff see the game as a chance to sharpen their squad before Southland Conference play — in addition to being a major revenue generator (about $750,000) for the program.
“We don’t talk about winning and losing,” Scelfo said.
Nuss buss tune-up
Nussmeier, who passed for 4,052 yards last season and entered 2025 in the Heisman Trophy discussion, is averaging 230 yards passing per game so far this season, well behind last season's pace (311.7).
Kelly hasn't been too concerned about that yet because of a variety of factors that he said have limited the offense's aggressiveness.
For one, Nussmeier had a torso injury this summer, causing staff to dial back his workload during August camp and earlier this season.
“The torso injury slowed him up and it slowed up, in some instances, the development of the offense because we needed to be very careful,” Kelly said before stressing that Nussmeier is now on “the other side” of the injury.
“This week is an opportunity for him,” Kelly said. “He’s doing some things in practice he hasn’t done in the last month. We’re pretty excited about what he could do this weekend.”
Meanwhile, Kelly said his staff's recognition of how strong LSU's defense is led them to follow a more conservative offensive plan — particularly against Clemson and Florida.
“We have a top-10 defense, I believe, in the country, and we need to play to that strength," Kelly said. “So, sometimes, you have to pull back a little bit here and there.”
Recommended for you
Blocking business
While Kelly would like to see the Tigers run the ball better, he has no complaints about pass protection.
Nussmeier was not sacked once by Florida last week, "and that is a really good defense,” Kelly said. “I’m pleased there. I mean, if we need to go out there and throw the ball 50 times, we’re capable of doing that.”
However, the Tigers' rushing average of 111 yards per game ranks second to last among SEC teams.
Connections
Scelfo, a former offensive coordinator at Tulane who has coached at the college level since the mid-1990s, has longstanding relationships with several members of LSU's staff — as well as one of their players.
LSU tight end Bauer Sharp, who transferred from Oklahoma, began his college career at Southeastern as a quarterback, but got noticed for his play on special teams.
“We just knew he was a great competitor,” Scelfo said of Sharp's willingness to play on special teams. “He just jumped at it, proved himself on that and we just saw value in him as a player.”
Scelfo told Sharp that he would play on offense regularly if he switched positions to tight end, and the rest is history.
Meanwhile, LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker played for Tulane when Scelfo was on the Green Wave staff. Scelfo said he noticed Baker running down the sideline as Dashawn Spears returned an interception for a touchdown against Florida.
“Looks like he’s still got it,” Scelfo said. “He was just an amazing player for us. So productive, great leadership.”
Scelfo said he also has ties to LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan and receivers coach Cortez Hankton, and called LSU defensive backs coach Corey Raymond the “second-most famous person out of New Iberia besides me.”
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.