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Against a Top 10 team, LSU revealed it's still trying to master basics

Tennessee running back Jabari Small ran for 127 yards and two TDs, including this non-scoring 49-yard run in the Vols' 40-13 SEC win at LSU in Tiger Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Tennessee running back Jabari Small ran for 127 yards and two TDs, including this non-scoring 49-yard run in the Vols' 40-13 SEC win at LSU in Tiger Stadium on Saturday afternoon. (Stephen Lew-USA Today)

How many ways can you say “butt-whipping?”

In a highly-anticipated game that started with LSU handing Tennessee the ball with an opening kickoff fumble and ending with the No. 25 Tigers giving the 8th ranked and unbeaten Vols the ball by throwing an interception in the end zone, the best way to describe the 40-13 Tiger Stadium Saturday afternoon beatdown absorbed by the hosts is through cold, hard facts.

•Tennessee scored its first 10 points in the opening four minutes thanks to two errors from LSU’s consistently awful special teams.

•The Vols scored their next 13 points following three failed fourth-down gambles by the Tigers.

•In a season of slow starts by the LSU offense, the Tigers trailed the Vols 20-0 with the second quarter 21 seconds old.

•Tennessee scored a TD on its opening possession of the second half to match the TD it scored on its first possession of the game.

•UT quarterback Hendon Hooker, a legit Heisman Trophy candidate, only had to throw for just 239 yards and two TDs. That’s because the Vols rushed for 263 yards as they gained more than 500 yards (502) for the fourth time this season.

Tennessee (5-0 overall), 2-0 SEC East) delivered a 3½-hour reality check, giving the Tigers (4-2, 2-1 in SEC West) who were playing their sixth game under head coach Brian Kelly, a clear, honest, stinging assessment of where his team goes from this point after getting thoroughly thumped.

“We don't have anybody walking through that door that's going to change this football team dramatically,” Kelly said. “So, we have to focus on our ourselves as coaches and do the things necessary to make this team better.”

Well, as the old, old, old Buffalo Springfield song says,“There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear.”

Every new head coach taking over a program understands he has to adapt to the talent on hand. But it’s questionable if Kelly, in his previous two coaching stops at Notre Dame and Cincinnati, has ever taken over a program as destitute on talent as LSU.

The Tigers had less than 40 scholarship players available on hand to get embarrassed by Kansas State in last January’s Texas Bowl. Kelly and his new staff had to cobble together a recruiting class of 15 transfers and 15 freshmen.

Like most programs, guys starting for LSU this season may fall down the depth chart in subsequent years as Kelly recruits the talent he thinks can be successful. He understands he and his coaching staff have to constantly think of ways to squeeze every ounce of talent out of this year’s roster until better players are recruited.

If you think it’s absolutely maddening for the average fan watching LSU starting quarterback Jayden Daniels blow hot and cold in the passing game from series to series, imagine how it is for Kelly.

After one of LSU’s failed first-half fourth-down gambles when Tennessee was in an all-out blitz and sacked Daniels for an 8-yard loss, Kelly was seen sternly lecturing Daniels as he headed to the sideline.

“We had one-on-one coverage and he was waiting for the route to open,” Kelly said. “My point to him was it's fourth down, give him (a receiver) a shot to make a play. Sometimes, you're not going to get the receiver separation that you're looking for. You gotta go make a play and put the ball in a position where maybe we get a (defensive pass interference) call.”

For those fans clamoring for Kelly to yank Daniels in favor of backup Garrett Nussmeier, Kelly said, “The one part of the offense that was pretty good today was the quarterback.”

Daniels (who threw for 300 yards and a TD mostly after the game had been decided) was operating behind a makeshift, decimated offensive line.

Starting left offensive tackle Will Campbell “had an episode” according to Kelly during Friday’s walkthrough in which EMT’s drove ambulances on to the practice field to rush Campbell to a hospital where he posted a picture of himself in a hospital bed.

"He’s had a battery of tests and they’ve ruled out any life-threatening medical situations,” Kelly said. “But it affected our team when a young man goes down and you have ambulances on your practice field.”

Also, starting left offensive guard Garrett Dellinger played with a broken hand wrapped in a cast and he eventually was helped off the field with a knee injury.

The biggest disappointment of the day was the LSU defense that entered the game ranked first in the SEC (9th nationally) in turnovers gained (12), third in the league (19th nationally) in total defense (293.8 yards allowed) and fourth in the SEC (14th nationally) in scoring defense (14.8 points allowed).

They eventually wilted against Tennessee’s offense, ranked first nationally in total offense and passing offense and second in scoring offense.

While Hooker had his moments with his accurate passing, it was the Vols’ running attack that ripped LSU to shreds.

“I was talking to the offensive line a lot, just telling them to continue to move the line of scrimmage,” Hooker said.

Tennessee did that and more on both sides of the ball. And at the end of the day, it wasn’t LSU playing a day game instead of night or wearing an all-white uniform or even Campbell’s “episode” that decided the outcome.

It’s the fact LSU’s obvious continued problems – lousy special teams, an offense that looks like it’s playing in mud while the opposition establishes a double-digit lead and defensive backs who get beat deep – were even more glaring against a team of Tennessee’s caliber.

The problem for LSU is the schedule only gets tougher with Florida on the road and Ole Miss and Alabama at home in the next three games.

Kelly is right. There’s no miracles walking through the door for LSU.

Whoever is on the Tigers’ roster has to improve. They might start by not fumbling the damned opening kickoff.

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