LSU’s offense remains an offensive force, but questions remain about the Tigers defense after improving to 4-0 with a 66-38 win over winless Vanderbilt. Quarterback Joe Burrow set a school-record with six touchdown passes and he threw for 398 yards, 357 yards in the first-half, which is also a school-record.
“The receivers are making a lot of plays after the catch,” said Burrow. “I was doing my best to put the ball in a position for them to run after the catch and they did a good job of making plays afterward.”
But a once dominant Tigers defense gave up 374 total yards of offense and numerous big plays. Coach Ed Orgeron says he’s bothered by the poor tackling.
“Yeah, there are some different drills that I want to start to doing at practice that I talked to Dave (Aranda) there are some specific stuff we have to get better at, especially in the open field tackling, so we have to do more open field tackling drills,” said Orgeron.
Orgeron says LSU is basically playing with its second string defensive linemen, as Rashard Lawrence and Glen Logan have missed multiple games with injuries. Pass rusher K’Lavon Chaisson is also nursing an injury and linebacker Michael Divinity also got hurt Saturday. Orgeron said Divinity could be out a while.
Wide receiver Terrance Marshall Jr also reportedly suffered a stress fracture in his foot and is expected to miss two to four weeks. Burrow says Marshall’s absence will be felt.
“That’s a tough one for us,” said Burrow. “Terrace is having a really, really good start to the season, but he’s going to shake back, he’s a super tough guy and he’s going to come back when we need him, but I have faith in the guys behind him.”
LSU has a chance to heal up as they have an open date coming up and then host Utah State October 5th.
