LSU vs Texas A&M will come down to which Struggling Quarterback STEPS UP

AD, good morning. Thank you for joining us. Hey, Noah. Good morning. How are you? I'm doing well. Doing well. How was your trip to and from Oxford, Mississippi this weekend? Well, man, I made it back safely. Didn't get hit with anything or hit by anyone, so I think we had joked all off-season about what it was going to be like over there, and then as it got close to actually having to go there, I don't want to say I was nervous or anything, but certainly approached it a little bit differently. But wore neutral colors the whole time, white shirts, good move. I had a few people ask me where my purple or gold was. Very easy for them to say, sitting on their couch and not having to navigate Oxford for 12 hours a day or whatnot. You know, it was a great atmosphere. It's always cool to be at the college game of the weekend, and when you're blessed to cover LSU, you get the college game of the weekend pretty often, and the stadium was packed. I didn't have any problems with any Ole Miss people. If it ran onto the field, no problem. Ran off the field or walked off the field, no problem. So LSU came up short. Obviously, that was disappointing and just a lot of things that they didn't do well in the game, but all in all, things went pretty well. The bigger the game, the more coverage, and we had a lot of coverage. You know, did the show live there on Friday, did a one-hour, another one-hour show on Saturday, lots of live shots for the newscast at 5 and 6 and 10, so there was a lot of coverage. When I got back, I was a bit worn out. We were joking in the media afterwards in the press conference, somebody said, this is game three, and I feel like I've already covered 12, and that's kind of how it's been so far this year at Lane Kiffin. That's for sure. It has not been for the week to cover the Lane Kiffin-run LSU football program. A little bit on Saturday, this past Saturday's game, before we dive into this week, what Lane and the players said in the last two days, and of course getting ready for A&M, but what did you see overall in that matchup Saturday night between LSU and Ole Miss that are really your key takeaways from it? You know, there are a lot of people that feel certain ways about the quarterback and the offense or the defensive game plan in the first half as well as some of the decision making throughout, but obviously you lose 32-24 after battling back in that game. What are your key takeaways from LSU in their first loss of the Lane Kiffin era? Neither side of the ball showed up in the first half. The offense, the first three times they touched the ball, they punted or didn't score, finally got a drive together late in the first half, and then just when you think you can go to locker room down 10, the defense allows Ole Miss to drive down the field for a touchdown in less than two minutes, and you're down 24-7 at the half. Trinidad Chambliss did whatever he wanted in the first half. He was surgical. I think he was 21 out of 27, 244, two scores in the first half alone. I expected the LSU defense to put up more resistance than they did. The third quarter, after everything went wrong for LSU in the first half, everything seemed to go right. Ole Miss missed a long field goal. Ty Benefield got some pressure on Chambliss, who threw a pick to Jakeem Jackson. The LSU offense got going, but then I thought a very disappointing play call, easy for me to say after the fact, but when LSU lined up on third and goal to possibly take the lead there in the fourth quarter, I told myself they're snapping the ball to Dillon Jones. Ole Miss knows they're snapping the ball to Dillon Jones. They snapped the ball to Dillon Jones, and they tackled him for a loss, and then kicked a field goal to tie things up. I thought that was kind of a loss of momentum there, and then LSU couldn't keep Ole Miss out of the end zone late to what was a game-winning score. So offensively, it's disappointing to only get 332 yards and only score 24 points after you saw what Louisville did in the first game of the season. I don't know what LSU's bread and butter is offensively. It seems to be, let it run around, and either run or improvise and throw it to somebody, but less than 160 yards passing in the game, I think that's very disappointing as well. No rhythm to the passing game, I mean they did find some things to some people, I thought he threw a beautiful touchdown pass to Winnie Watkins, but overall, way too inconsistent and now you lose Stradus Green, which is a huge loss obviously, and yeah, a lot of discussion about Blake Baker and the defense playing too loose in the first half, giving too much cushion. So they gave up more points than they did a year ago, they only gave up 24 last year, LSU did to Ole Miss when they lost 24-19, gave up a little bit more this year. I don't think the crowd really impacted the game all that much, but obviously Ole Miss players and I guess some of the coaches, they had a lot more emotionally invested in the game as opposed to a bunch of 60 new LSU players who I don't think are overly concerned that Lane Kiffin was the coach at Ole Miss a year ago. I'm not downplaying the loss, Ole Miss had the better team, played better, deserved to win obviously, but those are just a few of my takeaways. And on the quarterback front, obviously you've heard from Lane Kiffin on Monday, the player yesterday, I think Winnie Watkins, you put out a great clip of him talking about Sam Leavitt specifically, that throw and then his leadership after the loss. Where are you at on the quarterback standpoint? Because obviously it's three games in, the first one was fabulous and the last two have been a little lackluster for LSU starting quarterback Sam Leavitt, and you know of course through social media you can see the old, the classic line that the backup quarterback is the most famous person on any football team, and you're witnessing that right now from some of the fan base. Where are you at on the quarterback front when it comes to Sam Leavitt and LSU? Yeah, I remember a year ago people saying we'd be 5-0 if Michael Van Buren wasn't the starter the whole time, and I thought that was a wash, if anything, between injured Garrett Nussmaier and a totally healthy Michael Van Buren, and that offense anyway. Yeah, I think that there is something to be said about the pressure on Leavitt, giving him a clean pocket. If your quarterback gets hit a lot and sacked, he starts seeing ghosts, no different than basketball when they put a full court press on you and speed you up and you start throwing the ball away or making bad decisions, and so I think there's plenty of blame to go around. It's funny, right? I mean, the whole offseason, we were like, how's Leavitt's foot? Can he run? Oh yeah, he can run. He might be running too much, you know, with the way things are breaking down. I mean, I think 17 carries is obviously too much, and probably a third of those 17 carries by Leavitt were scripted in the rest, or either he's taking off because he's pressured or he's not letting the play develop, and with him never playing with any of these wide receivers, does he trust them? Is the timing right? This is what college football is today. We throw a bunch of money at a bunch of new players, and they all come in, but we don't really get a chance to, you know, cook the meal in the oven. I mean, we're taking it out before it's ready because that's just what we have to do. I'm hoping that the offense and the timing gets better as the year goes on, and by, you know, that gauntlet in November, they're ready to go for Texas and Alabama, and they can win the games in between. But, you know, and Leavitt is not a big guy. I mean, I've interviewed him. I'm not very tall. I'm like a little below six feet tall. He doesn't feel like he really towers over me. He's not a, you know, 6'5", you know, pocket passer or guy. So he's had some passes tipped and hit some offensive linemen or whatever the case may be. But, yeah, I mean, I think when we're at SEC Media Days in Tampa, I think J.D. Piquel said it well. He's a very, he's a caffeinated guy. Everything is like, you know, everything's kind of sped up. He's running around making things happen or running around making mistakes sometimes. So I think there's a feeling that he is trying to maybe do a little too much. He is, you know, he's got six rushing touchdowns in three games, if I'm not mistaken, which is good. But at the same time, I don't think that's what you can, you know, win with and get to a playoff with. You know, he's running the ball up the middle at linebackers. It's just, you're kind of asking for trouble and an injury. But, you know, Landon Clark, certainly when they put him in the game, they're not killing clock and let's get out of here. They're letting him run the offense. And certainly I think the guy's got potential. But Levitt, you've invested in a lot of money and he's your first round draft pick, so to speak. And so you're going to be patient with him and see what happens. And then now turning the attention to this weekend, Texas A&M comes to town. What is your confidence level that they can take what they were able to do and find success with in the second half against Ole Miss, both offensively and defensively? A little bit of rhythm and finding kind of your identity back on defense again in that second half and roll that into this week of preparation and a Saturday night in Death Valley against a top 25 team, both that are kind of in must-win spots when it comes to playoff hopes. Yeah, I mean, Blake Baker has faced Marcel Reed twice and neither time has gone well. Certainly you hope they've learned from their previous mistakes or losses. I mean, the 24, they put him in the game and LSU was not ready for him, obviously. Last year, I think it was the first time A&M had the ball. He took off and had a long touchdown run towards the south end zone there. And then obviously the game just spun out of control in the third quarter and Brian Kelly was fired the next day. I would hope that the defense does a better job of keeping him in the pocket. Obviously he's had some trouble throwing the ball, picked off twice last week. Offensively, you're at home. Dylan Jones has run for over 100 yards two out of three games. Establish him on the ground a bit and then get your receivers more involved in the passing game and hopefully protect better. You're at home, like I said, so you should be able to not be fighting crowd noise. And then the crowd behind you as well. And this is why you pay coaches big time bucks. I mean, taking nothing away from the coaches who had the team obviously very prepared to play Clemson. But it's the first game of the year. ESPN College game day's there. Everyone's sky high. Everyone's excited about playing. Now you're coming off a loss. It's your responsibility to get the team focused and don't let one game beat you twice. And you know when, which is kind of a de facto playoff game in September because you read, I just read an article yesterday. ESPN said the loser of the game has like a 10% chance to make the college football playoff. So and there's no game on the schedule outside of McNeese. No offense to our friends from Lake Charles that you can look at and say, oh, LSU's definitely winning that game. I mean, it's just filled with landmines from here to the end of the year. So yeah, I'd like to get your confidence back at home, get a good victory. And then against McNeese, you know, maybe rest up, heal up some guys, work on some things before you got to go to Kentucky, who obviously Texas A&M just found out about is a dangerous team. Yeah, that was gonna be my next question to you. When we first looked at the schedule kind of before the season, you kind of split it, you know, you split it into thirds because you have 12 games, three sets of four. And we kind of looked at the first set of four in September with Clemson and Ole Miss and A&M being, you know, a tough power four out of conference matchup. And then two top 10 matchups preseason wise. Then that last four with Texas and Alabama and then Tennessee on the road, as well as a road trip to Fayetteville. And you kind of skip over that middle four with Auburn and Kentucky. And of course, Mississippi State. Well, now through one month of the season, it feels like you can't really look past that middle four with the way Kentucky, Mississippi State and Auburn have played up to this point. Yeah, I think outside of that one game where Dak Prescott ran wild against LSU in 2014, right? LSU's always beaten Mississippi State at home. I mean, it's almost been a given. And this new quarterback they've got is obviously dangerous and can play. You know, there's just great quarterback play all around. Kenny Minchu at Kentucky. I mean, he had a big game at A&M this past weekend. So Auburn's always been Auburn, you know, whether they've struggled or not. I was doing my little Remember When feature and I was looking back, I think it was just the other day, 2012. Perhaps the ugliest game I've ever seen. LSU was number two in the country at Auburn. Auburn did not win an SEC game that year. They went three and nine and LSU won 12 to 10. I think Sam Montgomery had a safety that day for the game winning points, so to speak. But yeah, I mean, that's a loud venue. LSU hadn't been there since, I guess, John Emery had the big game in, was it 22? Brian Kelly's first year. So, I mean, that's always a hard place to play no matter what. And, you know, Kentucky, you know, Joe Sloan obviously would be motivated, I guess, to beat his old team there calling plays for Kentucky. So yeah, you're right. I mean, that's what's happened in this modern day era, is that there's no powerhouse Alabama, LSU, Georgia at the top, perhaps. And there's no bottom feeder, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt. You just got a real strong cluster of teams in the middle to the top that anybody can beat anybody, it feels like. And then you bring up, you know, the last time you played Auburn on the road, 2022, Brian Kelly's first season as LSU's head coach. That's a season that I've kind of been thinking about as this year transpires, you know, because you're in the first year of a new era again. You've got some similarities to that season from a roster standpoint, but some pretty big differences as well. What is it, you know, if we think about that season and consider the way that year played out, what can that kind of tell us about where our mindset should be in this first year of the Lane Kiffin era? Well, I mean, that season really could have been disastrous. I mean, Will Wade has the saying, we dug out some victories, or we dug out a victory. That year, if I'm not mistaken, they were losing by 17 at home to Mississippi State, came back and won. They were losing by 17 at Auburn, and it was about to be 24-20 and the whole thing. They came back and won that one. You know, Tennessee slapped them around in Tiger Stadium on a Saturday morning. I remember that. Ole Miss was beating them 17-3, I think. They came back and won that. So there were numerous times that LSU played bad stretches of football, but came back and won. And obviously, I think that since the 2019 season, the biggest win LSU's had was when they beat Alabama at home in 22 and the two-point conversion and all that. So I think there were some bad stretches of football. I think that that year, LSU hit on their transfer portal guys that they got that came in, including Jayden Daniels and Jorg Bernard Converse and Makai Garner and Tyron Lacy and guys like that. They all played, filled their roles pretty well. And still, you made the SEC Championship game, and you were nowhere in the punching class of Georgia, who, you know, scored 50 points and won the game easily against you. So you want to say that, hey, it's only year one. He's got to build. But what does that mean in times like this? Because nobody is guaranteed to come back the following year. You're really building a team year to year. I mean, when this year ends, they're going to have to go back to the table and redo the deal with DJ Pickett or whoever the case may be and make sure they all come back. But yes, I mean, it is his first year. And you would hope that as the years go on, they build more depth. They are relying less on the portal and then keeping the guys that are on the team to try to build some chemistry, and especially on the offensive side of the ball moving forward. But on one end, you say, yeah, it's the first year and whatnot. But in years past, you weren't saying, well, we spent $50 million on the Raptor. So, you know, those are kind of the things you're balancing out in your head. Last one I've got for you this Saturday, LSU versus Texas A&M, top 25 matchup in Tiger Stadium. What do you anticipate to see play out on the field? And also, what do you expect from an atmosphere standpoint with A&M traveling back to town this weekend? Well, first off, I'm curious who is Lane Kiffin walking down the hill with this week. Set a very high bar in the first two games of the year. So we'll see what happens there. I would expect a very big packed crowd. I don't think there's any rain in the forecast. I think we got a little something coming through tomorrow morning that isn't going to drop the temperatures tremendously, but it's going to lower the humidity, I think, a bit. So it should be a little bit nicer. You know, yesterday was the first day of fall and the high was 96. Welcome to South Louisiana. So maybe the weather will be a little more comfortable. Big crowd on campus. Hopefully they're supportive. And, you know, you want your golfers to get off to a good start and score. You don't want, I don't think anyone's going to boo, but you don't want grumbling about the quarterback and all that discussion about the backup and blah, blah, blah. So hopefully Sam Leavitt comes out to get off to a hot start. And, you know, they are a significant favorite in the game. It's funny how, like a week ago, I thought both of these teams could be undefeated, LSU, A&M, and it'd be a close spread. I think LSU's favorite anywhere from seven and a half to nine and a half points last time I looked. So I'm going to pick LSU to win 31-21, the same score A&M lost last week to Kentucky. All right. Well, we appreciate you, J.D., for making some time for us. What do you have coming up over at WAFB and with Jacques Talk Live this week? Yeah, we're doing Jacques Talk Live, obviously, Monday through Friday, two o'clock in the afternoon. Jay Crane's going to join me today. Perhaps some other guests that I'm going to line up. I think Billy Lucci's going to join us tomorrow. Moving into the weekend, sports on Friday night, week four of the high school season already. 10-10 p.m. on Friday night. We'll have almost an hour of highlights and scores, typically 20 games or more highlights and scores. And I'll be covering the Texas A&M game this weekend. John Eads will be live out at numerous high school football games. Kevin Baptiste will be covering the Southern Jags at Jackson State. And then the Saints home opener against the Las Vegas Raiders in the Dome on Sunday afternoon. So a lot coming up, as usual. And during football season at WAFB. Well, J.D., we appreciate you making some time for us, as always. And we'll talk to you again soon. OK, Noah, thank you. Thank you. There he is, Jacques Doucet, the sports director over at WAFB. The best in the business over there with WAFB.