Truth or Myth: Jayden Daniels’ growth has turned LSU into an SEC contender

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Stats were always a little misleading in evaluating Daniels the first six games, or maybe it’s more fair to say stats became exhausting. The worse he played, the better his stats looked sometimes — because the offense as a whole struggled and that meant Daniels running around, trying to make plays. On the other hand, LSU coach Brian Kelly and other coaches would say he was often the only one keeping things afloat as the offense struggled around him. The discussion became so convoluted, fans just took their sides and stuck to them.

But something changed in the past two weeks. It started with trust. Daniels learned he could trust his (really good) receivers and throw more aggressively, even if they weren’t wide open. That led to a 23-of-32 for 349 yards and three touchdowns performance at Florida. He went from attempting just 18 passes of 15-or-more yards downfield the first five games to attempting nine for 175 yards and two touchdowns in Gainesville

Once Daniels took that step, LSU could truly become the offense Kelly and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock wanted it to be. It didn’t have to go uptempo just to give Daniels simpler looks. The run game opened up because opponents had to respect the pass. And LSU could properly use Daniels’ dual-threat ability to challenge defenses. The complete picture unfolded against Ole Miss, with Daniels throwing for 248 yards and rushing for another 121 in a nearly perfect offensive performance, putting up 45 points. Just to drive the point home, LSU never gained more than 417 yards in its first four Power 5 games. It averaged 514 the past two.

It’s not just the common sense notion that LSU is better with a good quarterback. It’s that receiver was considered LSU’s first or second biggest strength entering the season, and that strength was neutralized through six weeks. Against Florida, Kayshon Boutte, Jaray Jenkins, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas made jump-ball catches and gained yards after the catch. With Daniels playing like this, LSU goes from a below-average SEC offense to top five.

Before we make a ruling, yes, it must be mentioned these two performances came against suspect Florida and Ole Miss defenses. It’s just a two-game sample, and Daniels still has to keep it up. But the change looked so drastic, so real.

Verdict: Truth

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