re: Why do people forget how mediocre Joe Burrow&Jayden Daniels were in YR 1 starting at LSU?

Burrow beat #5 Georgia his first year and Daniels beat Alabama. I think those games really won the fans over for both qbs. Nuss was clutch against Ole Miss this year but that game didn’t feel as big.

I like Nuss though and his gamer mentality. It’s a huge relief he’s coming back. Interceptions are fine if you have a one-on-one situation and the defender makes an incredible play. Not all his interceptions were like that.

I think the offense needs to run the ball better next year and Nuss needs to do some serious work on his own speed this offseason.

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Why do people forget how mediocre Joe Burrow&Jayden Daniels were in YR 1 starting at LSU?

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They weren't mediocre. The fact that you think they were is further proof that LSU fans have unrealistic expectations. 2018 was the FOURTH highest passing yards that LSU fans had ever seen at that time. Anyone who thought Joe was "mediocre", is an idiot. Daniels put up better numbers in his first year than Burrow did in 2018.

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His year 1 was better than both of theirs

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JB9 2018:
219/379, 2894yd, 16 TD, 5 INT, 7.6 y/a, 133.2 rating, 399yd rushing, 7 TD

JD5 2022:
266/388, 2913yd, 17 TD, 3 INT, 7.5 y/a, 144.5 rating, 885yd rushing, 13 TD (1 receiving)

Nuss 2024:
313/491, 3739yd, 26 TD, 11 INT, 7.6y/a, 140.7 rating, -45yd rushing, 3 TD

He was definitely not better than 2022 Jayden

Jayden Daniels beat Alabama his first year

Burrow beat Georgia

That’s why people favor those guys in their first year over Nuss. It doesn’t mean Nuss won’t or can’t be elite in his second year. In fact I think he has a great shot and I’m excited. But just let it go man. We’re ridin.

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We'll see if Nuss learns to make better decisions with the ball. He has the talent, if he can stay focused.

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He has a full offseason to work on the flaws in his game, mostly presnap reads. If he improves there then his post snap decision making will improve.

Despite those flaws, a hit or miss run game & pass pro issues, LSU was 5th in the NATION on 3rd down percentage.



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There's a positive & negative to being that good on 3rd down. The positive is that Nuss was able to complete passes to keep drives alive. The negative is that along with his ypa (7.62 which ranks 58th in the country), showed his inability to connect many times on the deep ball which could have lead to easy scores.

A large amount of posters want to harp on poor throws. Mostly Nussmeier picks yet Nuss has had 490 pass attempts so far this season. That's a ton of pass attempts for a college QB so simply from a numbers perspective, the high number of pass attempts are going to lead to a larger amount of mistakes (picks - 11 INTs). The issue with the picks are that some came at the absolute worst times. The 2nd half vs A&M & the opening drive of the 2nd half vs Bama. The picks vs A&M completely changed the momentum of the game & the pick in the endzone vs Bama took the life out of the crowd when a TD would have made it a one score game.

490 pass attempts (312 completions) in a regular is far too many though for a 1st starter. The inconsistent run game placed too much of the offensive production & responsibility on Nuss' shoulders. Kelly & the offensive staff must find away to have a better run game in 2025 to compliment the passing game.

The aspects of the game Nuss has to work on this offseason:

1. Presnap reads - He has to get in the film room to be able to make better presnap coverage keys. If Nuss is able to do that then his post snap decision making will improve dramatically.

2. Footwork & pocket awareness - There were times Nuss ran into pressure or sacks. He has to get a better feel in the pocket. His spin move was 50/50. There were times where it was the right decision to spin outside then other times it wasn't. Sometimes the better decision would have been to step up in the pocket. He also needs to learn to minimize throwing off his back foot.

3. Timing & accuracy on deep throws. That's pretty much self explanatory.

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1. Presnap reads - He has to get in the film room to be able to make better presnap coverage keys. If Nuss is able to do that then his post snap decision making will improve dramatically.

2. Footwork & pocket awareness - There were times Nuss ran into pressure or sacks. He has to get a better feel in the pocket. His spin move was 50/50. There were times where it was the right decision to spin outside then other times it wasn't. Sometimes the better decision would have been to step up in the pocket. He also needs to learn to minimize throwing off his back foot.

3. Timing & accuracy on deep throws. That's pretty much self explanatory.

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Great and well thought out post. I was going to post some of these and never did. Live in the film room and get pre-snap reads down. The game still hasn't slowed down for him yet, but I think it's getting there.

When not in the film room work on timing with his receivers, especially now that he has to get timing with new players.

I think more RPO would help with the OL firing off to run block and masking the run/pass. More crossing routes and seams. We ignored the middle too much like 2022.

He has to step up in the pocket, but IOL has been getting pushed back and he's a very generous 6'2. Probably closer to 6'0-6'1. Therefore he needs to slide to get better throwing lanes and keep his base.

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Players don’t always get better because two other guys did

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But no moment proved that more than the regular season finale after Nussmeier took a sack against Oklahoma, went to the locker room for X-rays and came back to play in the final two and a half quarters to lead LSU to victory.

“We had a talk and I told him there was no way I was sitting out. A lot of these guys have busted their butts for the last year. LSU means the world to me and I bleed these colors no matter what anyone has to say about me. There was no way I was going to watch that game from the sideline and let those seniors go without me playing. There was no option in my head. whatever we had to do to get back out there.”

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“This year was a huge growth year for me,” Nussmeier said after the Oklahoma game. “I said in September I hoped I would be a better player by the end of the year than I was then and I think that has proven to be true. Our team got better throughout the year and there were things we had to fix and we improved. I’m happy for us and our team and for me personally, I continued to grow my game and I look forward to continuing to do that into the offseason.”

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Does that sound like someone who is comfortable & who won't work harder to improve? Nuss obviously came back for a reason. He & the people around him clearly understood that there are aspects of his game that needs work to improve his draft stock for the 2026 NFL Draft. Nuss actually now film to go back over to find his flaws to work towards minimizing those flaws which is something he lacked coming into 2024.

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He wasn’t better, he just threw the ball a whole lot more

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C'mon man, Nuss had to throw it more out of necessity but that wasn't his fault. He shouldered almost the entire offensive load due to an inconsistent run game. Despite all of that, Nuss still responded very well for a 1st year starter. You cannot deny that. You cannot deny that his arm talent is legit & he showed the ability to make NFL, tight window throws. Yes, he has aspects of his game that he needs to work on but you simply trolling if you refuse to admit that his abilities bring plenty to the table to build off of.

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Yea, throwing the ball 103 more times will yield higher stats, who could have guessed