LSU ranks 39th in opp PPG

5-0

Many here will come up with every excuse in the world or either try to be funny. I am concerned also. This defense is soft. I think it's the play calling and not the players.

Half those points were in garbage time. I'd like to see shutouts too, but other than MSU, we haven't played a game yet where the outcome was in doubt at any point. It's hard to maintain defensive intensity under those circumstances.

This d isn't great, but even that 2011 d got shat on by wvu. TCU very well make the playoffs, their d is god awful.

I know that at least 2 TDs were from special teams and a pick 6. So that bumps down our scoring D from like 22 to 19ppg.

And our kickoff coverage has been abysmal. Our opponents average 26.17yards per return against us and we have kicked multiple balls out of bounds. Our opponents are starting their drives at the 30 or closer, putting out D in a tough spot. The opponent gets into field goal range pretty easy starting from there.

We are only giving up 291yards per game, which is 14th in the nation and 3rd in the SEC. And like someone said, I'm curious to see how many of those points scored were in garbage time. No, this isn't an elite D by any means. But it's definitely not as bad as some make it out to be.

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Syracuse passed all over us with a scrub at QB

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LSU has a decent margin of victory. MSU being the outlier at this point. What's reassuring is that the Tigers have done a great job at answering when the other team scores.

Last year we saw a huge improvement beginning around game 6.
With the Tigers ball control offense they have been giving the D some time to jell. It's time to start showing some progress and I believe they will.

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I'm curious to see how many of those points scored were in garbage time.

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It can be argued that MSU points (we led by 15 points going into the 4th quarter - gave up 2 drives of over 80 yards to the best QB we will face this year) in the 4th, because we had let up off the gas a little quickly.

But I won't do that. (0)

We led by 31 points (38-7) when we scored late in the 3rd quarter against Auburn. I would argue those last 2, meaningless touchdowns were garbage - game ended 48-21 and was not close since the 1st quarter. (14)

Syracuse was much more of a competitive game - I would say the game was definitely over when we scored a FG after their interception in the 4th, to make it 34 - 17 (3 scores) with 5:11 remaining in the game. (7)

Eastern Michigan scored their final touchdown in the 3rd Quarter to make it 30-22 - say what you want about their program, it cannot be argued that any of their points were in "garbage" time, unless you just count the entire game as "garbage" time because we played down to a OOS "rent-a-win" team (which is on us, frankly). (0)

South Carolina scored their final touchdown in the 3rd Quarter, to close the gap to 2 touchdowns (38-24). We added an insurance score in the 4th, but I'm not sure we can count any of USCe points as garbage time. (0) (ETA: I'm open to arguments that their final TD might have been garbage - we were up 21 points relatively late in the 3rd )

So, I would say 21 points is about right to say - "garbage time" scores out of 110 points - 5 games, we're giving up 22 points per game, and we're giving up almost a FG and a half of that (4.2 ppg) as garbage time.

In addition, there is the KOR for a TD (averages 1.4 ppg) by the Gamecocks that cannot be charged to the defense. That would reduce the points scored against the defense during the competitive phase of all games played almost a touchdown (5.6 ppg), or down to 16.4 yards per game.

Of course we are scoring almost 40 points per game (37.8) - so there's that.

14th in Total D (3rd in SEC)
26th in YPP (5th in SEC)


... but 117th in opposing KO return yards.

Defense has been solid, if not quite dominant, and their scoring total has been inflated by our special teams constantly gifting favorable fielding position to the opposition.

Some penalties extending drives in 2nd half garbage time situations hasn't helped (ie, the questionable PI that wiped out an INT against Syracuse, they scored a few plays later)