LSU’s extremely strange season came to an end on Friday with a 29-9 win in the Citrus Bowl over Louisville.
The story of the game is two-fold. On one hand, LSU’s defense was led by linebacker Arden Key and absolutely snuffed Heisman winner Lamar Jackson. Similar to the Alabama game, the Tigers were able to display the fact that when they’re at their best, they can be absolutely elite.
They sacked Jackson five times in the first half and had him running for his life on multiple occasions
In total, LSU sacked Jackson eight times, holding him to 10-of-27, with 153 through the air and only 33 yards on the ground (sack yardage counts against him, and he had “minus 40” at halftime).
On offense for the Tigers, the story was about who wasn’t on the field heading into the game. Leonard Fournette skipped out on the Citrus Bowl to prepare for the NFL draft. For a few reasons, that’s fine. One of which is he’s been playing hampered all season, another of which is Derrius Guice is also an absolute banger. And Guice seized the moment with his own Fournette impersonation.
Guice finished the game with 138 yards on the ground and two total touchdowns.
LSU handled outsized expectations in the beginning of the season which weren’t met, and forced the firing of Les Miles. Our cajun uncle, Ed Orgeron, took over, and debuted a re-tooled offense with the help of former LSU starting quarterback, Steve Ensminger. Then, news of the Tigers flirting with Tom Herman broke while the team was on the field at Texas A&M, and Orgeron ended being permanently retained. The Fournette thing happened, as well, and LSU packed all that wildness into just four months.
Now LSU heads into an offseason where expectations will again rise. Key and Guice should come back to run the show, and we’ll see just how the Tigers can handle them next season.
GEAUX TIGERS!!