Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers shine as LSU dismantles Mississippi State
This was the game LSU fans have been waiting for. After their disappointing season opener against FSU, the Tigers were written off by most of the national media. They completely blew Grambling out of the water last Saturday, but they remained at No. 14 in the AP poll. With their 41-14 win over Mississippi State, the Tigers showed they're still a force to be reckoned with in the SEC West.
Watching the game, the first thing that jumped out was Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers connection. Daniels threw for 361-yards and two touchdowns and connected with Nabers 13 times for 239-yards and both scores.
Daniels heard the noise all offseason about his unwillingness to push the ball downfield, and we saw glimpses of it last week, but he finally put those doubts to rest after hitting on eight passing plays of over 15-yards, half of which went for 30+ yards.
Mississippi State played a lot of press man coverage to try to force Daniels into pushing the ball downfield. Brian Kelly said after the game that Jayden Daniels was "up to the task," and he made State pay for their mistakes on the backend.
Daniels was one of the Heisman trophy favorites heading into the season, but his odds quickly dropped after LSU's loss to Florida State. With his performance against Mississippi State, I think it's safe to say Daniels has put his name firmly back into the Heisman conversation.
Nabers was regarded as one of the best receivers in the nation after posting 1,000-yards last year. Through two games, the star wideout had just 154-yards on 11 catches. A lot of attention has been put on Nabers, but Mississippi State seemed to be content playing man defense against LSU. Nabers made proved that was a bad decision by posting his career high in receptions, yards and touchdowns against the Bulldogs.
The Tigers had a big day through the air, but they quietly rushed for 163-yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Logan Diggs saw nine carries in the game and rushed for 41-yards, but freshman running back Kaleb Jackson made the play of the day on the ground by bulldozing a State defender for a first down.
The offensive line also had an exceptional day. Mississippi State only got Daniels on the ground one time and they gave him all day to survey the field and find an open receiver. They were effective in the against the pass rush and opened a lot of holes in the run game, helping the Tigers average 4.2 YPC against a Mississippi State team that has been very good against the run this year.
The offense will get a lot of praise for this game, but the defense deserves their flowers as well. They helped the offense jump out to an early lead by forcing the Bulldogs to punt on their first five drives of the game. State only accumulated 79-yards of total offense in the first half and finished the game with just 201-yards of total offense with 1/4 of that coming on one big run.
Brian Kelly said after the game that "it was only a matter of time" before LSU's defense had the type of performance they had Saturday. He always knew he had the guys, but they finally put it all together and had a truly dominant performance Saturday.
Freshman linebacker Whit Weeks earned the start with Omar Speights sidelined and he finished the game as the Tigers leading tackler with eight tackles and a QB hurry. Harold Perkins seemed to have his best game of the season, totaling four tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup. As a unit, the Tigers defense racked up four sacks, seven tackles for loss and four pass breakups.
The Tigers made everything look easy against Mississippi State. They excelled on offense, defense and made no mistakes on special teams. Any questions that people had about this LSU team after the FSU game have quickly been laid to rest as the Tigers look like one of the best teams in the SEC West.