NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
LSU was college football’s most explosive offense in 2023. It wasn’t that close either with 17% of the Tigers’ plays accounting for 20+ yards or a touchdown. The next best was USC at 13.5%.
LSU’s level of explosiveness came somewhat as a surprise. The unit was expected to be good returning players like Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers and Will Campbell, but LSU made its money in 2022 by being efficient, even when it wasn’t explosive.
2023 was a different story. LSU came out firing and Daniels’ became the best downfield passer in the sport on his way to winning the Heisman trophy.
But a lot of the elements that made last fall’s offense dangerous are gone. Daniels, Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. are playing professional football while offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock returned to Notre Dame. All that means LSU will have a new playcaller, a new quarterback, and new go-to receivers this fall.
Explosive plays are variable from year to year. There’s some correlation, but the metric isn’t as stable than success rate and EPA. Some of that has to do with sample size. With explosive plays, you’re only looking at a select few plays across the entirety of a season.
That can make explosiveness tough to predict, especially in LSU’s case with all the turnover on offense.
However, this offense appears capable of keeping the big-play trend going in Baton Rouge. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, despite trying to shake the label at times, is a gunslinger. He’s not afraid to let it fly.
Receiver is perhaps a bigger question. Nabers led the country in 20+ yard catches while Thomas led the nation in touchdowns. That level of big play creation from a receiving duo is rare and nearly impossible to repeat. In all likelihood, LSU won’t get that level of production in 2024, but Kyren Lacy and CJ Daniels are no strangers to the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/explosive-lsu-offense-2024-171015586.html
Author : LSU Tigers Wire
Publish date : 2024-06-14 17:10:15
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
