A student reporter asked Ed Orgeron whether his team's first loss in nearly two years might've lit a fire under the reigning national champions.
Even on the heels of a 44-34 loss to unranked Mississippi State, the coach couldn't help but smile.
"Hey, can I get you to talk to my team today?" he joked Monday. "I love it. It should. It put some fire in me — I guaran-damn-tee you that. And we're gonna have a fire. And this is a big game for us, and we'll take it one at a time. And we're gonna play with some fire, and we're gonna play with some energy.
"And that energy was not there for some reason. For some reason or another, it was not there. And that's up to me to get it done. I may have to take my mask off a little bit more to scream. I felt like I was a little muzzled in my mask there."
Quarterback K.J. Costello and the Mississippi State offense were anything but muzzled, muffled, stifled or slowed Saturday.
The transfer from Stanford completed 36 of 60 passes for an SEC-record 623 yards and five touchdowns in his and former Washington State coach Mike Leach's debuts for the Bulldogs.
And Orgeron pointed to a long list of issues that contributed to that success.
"We spent all day yesterday analyzing the film," he said. "And the truth is we've gotta coach better. It's gotta start with me. We've gotta prepare our team better. We've gotta coach our coaches better. We've gotta execute better. And we've gotta make better in-game adjustments during the game, during halftime. We could've had a better plan on both sides of the football our first game.
"One of the things that we're gonna do today is we're gonna talk about 'Stance, Alignment, Assignment,' get back to fundamentals, get back to playing the LSU standard of performance, which was not there Saturday night. And I take all the responsibility, but we're gonna get it fixed and get it going. I believe in this coaching staff. I believe in this team. I know they're hurting today, but I know they're gonna come back and have a great practice."
Game-day scratches of cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and defensive tackle Glen Logan left safety JaCoby Stevens as the only defensive starter from January's national title game available Saturday.
Three transfers in defensive end Ali Gaye, linebacker Jabril Cox and cornerback Darren Evans and freshman cornerback Elias Ricks each started their first contest in an LSU uniform.
Second-year players such as defensive tackles Joseph Evans and Siaki "Apu" Ika, cornerback Jay Ward and safety Maurice Hampton Jr. meanwhile stepped into some of the most extensive playing time of their careers, while junior safety Todd Harris Jr. saw his first action after missing a year with a knee injury.
"They were hitting us on some pick routes, some over routes," Orgeron said. "Some of it was scheme. Some of it, there's kind of some adjustments we could do — not necessarily play zone, but you can do some adjustments in man, passing guys off, not passing guys off. We may do that, we may do that. It all depends.
"Having Derek not there really hurt us, obviously. But I'm glad that he's healthy. His safety is of foremost importance to us, so that I'm glad that he's healthy and he's OK, No. 1. You know, Jay Ward was out from practice. We didn't even think or know he could play. He played a lot of snaps. I thought he did a good job, but obviously was a little bit rusty there. So I think there's a combination of things."
Orgeron said new defensive coordinator Bo Pelini was the first person to connect with him following the game to begin addressing the more technical shortcomings.
"He said, 'Coach, I should've done a better job,'" "And he was hurt just like everybody else. And we went over the film, and he saw the things that he did well and saw some things that we must and will improve. He's been fantastic today. He's eager. He's an outstanding coach."
The next test will look much different.
For all the hype surrounding Mississippi State's "Air Raid" offense, Orgeron pointed to the other side of the ball for Vanderbilt's strengths.
The Commodores return to Nashville to host the Tigers this week after managing just a conference-worst 255 total yards in a 17-12 loss at No. 10 Texas A&M.
Coach Derek Mason's group finished last in the SEC in total offense and scoring offense in 2019.
"He was an outstanding defensive coach at Stanford," Orgeron said. "I know Derek very well. Kenechi Udeze's on that staff. They have the defensive line playing very well, and I thought the defense played pretty darned good against Texas A&M.
"We're plus-2 in the turnover ratio. They're plus-1. They have what we call a pro-spread on offense. Four returning starters. Only had 12 points against A&M. Ken Seals is their quarterback. Amir Abdur-Rahman is a long and rangy receiver. Pretty good athlete. On defense is where eI think their strong point is right now. They have an excellent defensive line. Dayo (Odeyingbo) is one of the top players we've seen."
