Another SEC loss should make this a crisis point for LSU and coach Brian Kelly’s underwhelming tenure.
The Commodores are 6-1 for the first time in 75 years and in the thick of the College Football Playoff conversation. LSU can make other plans.
After months of unwarranted hype leading into the regular season, the offense is an enormous disappointment. The Tigers averaged 6.6 yards per play against Vanderbilt but couldn’t put together sustained drives, with a handful petering out in Commordores’ terrirtory and resulting in four field-goal attempts.
Defensively, the program has made big gains under second-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker but still comes up short against ranked teams. LSU gave up 239 rushing yards on 5.3 yards per carry and had no answer for quarterback Diego Pavia, who had 246 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.
Vanderbilt’s win snapped a 10-game losing streak in the series.
Kelly is certainly an acquired taste. But the taste goes down easier when he’s winning football games — Notre Dame was willing to accept the red-faced nonsense for a dozen years as part of the cost of 113 wins and eight ranked finishes.
LSU does not and will not have the same patience. The last LSU coach to lose to the Commodores resigned less than two months later; Kelly definitely won’t resign, but he’s headed toward the exit in his fourth season.
LSU, Vanderbilt and Georgia lead the biggest winners and losers from Saturday’s college football action:
Winners
Georgia
Down 35-26 heading into the fourth quarter, No. 7 Georgia closed on a 17-0 run to beat No. 5 Mississippi and reassert itself as an SEC bully. This is the second time this season the Bulldogs have won an SEC shootout, after a victory at No. 11 Tennessee, showing how this team can adapt to different styles and beat high-tempo teams — a major asset when looking ahead to the types of teams Georgia could face in the playoff. The big star was quarterback Gunner Stockton, who had the most productive passing game of his career with 26 completions in 31 attempts for 289 yards and four scores. He added 59 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Alabama
The winning streak is up to six games, and now four in a row against ranked competition. No. 6 Alabama beat No. 11 Tennessee 37-20 thanks in large part to a 99-yard pick-six at the end of the first half that flipped momentum into the Crimson Tide’s corner. That 14-point shift helped the Tide keep the Volunteers at bay in the third quarter and allowed the defense to key on Joey Aguilar, who averaged just 6.1 yards per attempt.
Georgia Tech
No. 12 Georgia Tech returned a fumble 95 yards for a score and cobbled together enough offense in the fourth quarter to beat Duke 27-18 and move to 7-0 for the first time in 59 years. The Yellow Jackets trailed 10-7 late in the third quarter but took over from there, eventually putting the Blue Devils away with a pair of long touchdown drives with under five minutes to play. Tech is 4-0 in the ACC for the first time in 27 years and set to continue climbing in Sunday’s new US LBM Coaches Poll.
Notre Dame
Brigham Young
The No. 14 Cougars are quietly marching toward an at-large playoff bid after moving to 7-0 with a 24-21 rivalry win against No. 22 Utah. Outgained by about 100 yards, BYU benefited from a plus-two edge in turnover margin and played cleaner football overall, though the offense struggled on third down. Not flashy but effective, playing sound and fundamental football has been the Cougars’ style all season and could carry this team to the Big 12 championship game.
Diego Pavia
His performance against LSU lifts Pavia back into the Heisman Trophy conversation after he struggled in a loss to No. 6 Alabama. More than just about his numbers, Pavia’s case for national hardware is built on the way he’s helped transform one of the weakest programs in the Power Four into a legitimate national contender. He shows grit and the ability make plays at the biggest moments.
Boise State
Boise State’s 56-31 destruction of previously unbeaten UNLV is a statement win that settles the pecking order at the top of the Mountain West. Running back Dylan Riley had 201 yards on 13.4 yards per carry for the Broncos, who next get a breather against Nevada before another two key conference games against Fresno State and San Diego State. The Rebels’ loss is good news for the American, which can breathe a little easier when it comes to the playoff knowing the Mountain West won’t put forth an unbeaten champion.
James Madison
The Dukes’ numbers on offense in a 63-27 win against Old Dominion deserve a mention: JMU threw for 313 yards, ran for 311 yards, averaged 7.9 yards per play and had possession for over 40 minutes in dominating this matchup of Sun Belt favorites. Quarterback Alonza Barnett III had 295 passing yards on 11.8 yards per throw with two touchdowns and another 153 yards on the ground and four rushing scores.
Losers
Mississippi
The loss in Athens isn’t fatal by any means, though things could get interesting if the Rebels lose next week at No. 13 Oklahoma. While this feels like a missed opportunity because of how Georgia pulled away in the fourth quarter, the bigger concern comes from how easily the Bulldogs were able to win in the trenches. Georgia ran for 222 yards and gave up just 88 yards on 3.7 yards per carry. Another issue is the play of quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who had his worst game of the year in completing just 52.8% of his throw with a touchdown, though he also ran for two scores.
Clemson
You can stop waiting for Clemson to find another gear and surge back to the top of the ACC. Playing without an injured Cade Klubnik, the Tigers lost 35-24 to SMU to fall to 3-4 on the year and 2-3 in conference play, ending any chance they had of matching last year’s second-half surge into the playoff.
Wisconsin
No one expected Wisconsin to beat No. 1 Ohio State. Scoring a point would’ve been nice, though. One week after getting shut out at home by Iowa for the program’s first shutout loss in Camp Randall Stadium since 1980, the Badgers were blanked 34-0 by the Buckeyes to suffer back-to-back home shutouts for the first time since 1968. This is a bleak, bleak time for Wisconsin as the wildly disappointing Luke Fickell era winds to a close.
Memphis
Alabama-Birmingham fired coach Trent Dilfer and then beat No. 20 Memphis 31-24 one week later. That’s probably not a coincidence. Memphis drove to the UAB 1-yard line with seconds left but drew a pair of false-start penalties before quarterback AJ Hill’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete. This is a complete disaster for the previously unbeaten Tigers, who had pushed around Florida Atlantic and Tulsa to start American play and clearly overlooked the Blazers, one of the league’s worst teams. Now with this loss in hand, Memphis still has to face three of the conference’s best teams in No. 23 South Florida, Tulane and Navy.
Maryland
In the past three weeks, Maryland allowed Washington to score 21 points in the fourth quarter of a 24-21 loss, let Nebraska drive the length of the field for the game-winning touchdown with a minute left in a 34-31 loss, and then gave up a 23-yard field goal to UCLA with three seconds left and lost 20-17. Worse yet, the Terrapins had just tied the game with 44 second to play on a Malik Washington touchdown pass but then gave 68 yards in five plays to set up the Bruins’ field goal.
