RUSTON, La. – Many college football pundits and analysts have vilified LSU’s offense, labeling the product the group under new offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger has run out there as vanilla or bland.
Louisiana Tech head football coach Skip Holtz dissected the Tigers as a low-risk offense Tuesday during his weekly press conference. While No. 6 LSU (3-0) has averaged 26.6 points per game, with many circling the unimpressive 31-point performance against FCS’s Southeastern Louisiana in its home opener two weeks ago, Ensminger and head coach Ed Orgeron’s conservative schematics have spit out huge returns.
The Tigers, who started the season ranked 25th, have risen to the top-10 with victories over then-No. 8 Miami, 33-17, in the opener at Cowboys Stadium and an even larger win on the road at No. 7 Auburn, 22-21.
For Tech (2-0) to have a shot Saturday night at Tiger Stadium, it’ll have to beat the Tigers at their game. Redshirt junior quarterback J’Mar Smith will have to out-careful his counterpart, Ohio State junior transfer junior Joe Burrow.
“(Burrow’s) not making mistakes right now. He’s throwing the ball away, he’s not putting it in danger if it’s not there,” Holtz said. “They’ll punt it away and their defense will get the ball back for them.
“People think successful offensive football it how many points you put up. Successful offensive football is playing solid, fundamental football and I think they’re doing a great job of right now.”
Through three games, including two against Miami and Auburn, both top-40 defenses, the Tigers haven’t turned the ball over, the lone FBS team still without one. Burrow has kept a clean sheet in the interception column, but has completed less than 50 percent of his throws, 36-of-78 (47.7 percent) for 540 yards and one touchdown. A fourth of Burrow’s completions have gone for 20 or more yards, including a 71-yarder to Derrick Dillon last week at Auburn that went for a score that helped in the Tigers’ comeback efforts.
“Burrow is a pressure player. People want to talk about his numbers, he’s only completing ‘X’ percent. But when you look at his numbers in pressure situations, I think he’s been spot-on,” Holtz said. “Watching the way he stood up in critical situations last week on the road in a difficult situation, was really impressive.”
Smith bounced back from three picks, the most in his career in a single game, in the Bulldogs’ season-opening, 30-26 win, at South Alabama, to put up a career night versus Southern two weeks ago. The redshirt junior signal caller passed for 380 yards, completing 24 of 37 attempts and two scores. In the early going, Smith has 589 passing yard and four touchdowns.
Something Holtz wanted to see out of his quarterback in his second season starting, Smith has improved his completion percentage 7 points from 2017, connecting on 65.2 percent of his throws.
“The offensive line,” said Smith on what he attributes the uptick in accuracy. “We took it hard coming from last year. We didn’t do as good as we wanted to. We stressed on it in spring, summer and fall camp, just trying to be a better offensive unit, trying to be a better passing unit. And that’ll lead to be a better running unit.
“I give it all to the offensive line and our receivers making great plays, running their routes at great depth, timing. The running backs are blocking whenever they have to. And the coaches, they put me in a great offense and great situations to have good plays.”
Holtz said Smith has demonstrated more comfort in the offense and more poise in the pocket so far in 2018. That increased control of the scheme will need to be near flawless Saturday against a stingy LSU secondary that relies heavily on press-man coverage from corners sophomore Greedy Williams, junior Kristian Fulton, senior Terrance Alexander and freshman Kelvin Joseph.
“It gives the read a little easier way to go. It’s also a challenge because you know if it’s man, he’s going to get pressed and that timing is not going to be where it needs to be, so I have to be good with my timing and my accuracy to put the ball in a place that I know my receivers are going to be,” Smith said. “Everything starts with the offensive line. And then it’s going to lead to me. I have to be on time, I have to make the right reads. I have to put the ball where my guys get it, or nobody gets it.
“They challenge the offense to complete the ball. ‘How are you going to challenge us when we go press-man or off-man?’ It’s going to be a challenge, but I think as an offensive team we’re ready for it.”
Another aspect that will has required major attention-to-detail for Louisiana Tech’s offense has been communication. Holtz and his offense have worked on silent cadence throughout fall camp in anticipation of needing it for this week inside Death Valley.
The team’s last two visits to SEC stadiums, the silent snap count has worked well and allowed the Bulldogs to be in both games late before ultimately losing – they lost at South Carolina last season, 17-16, on the final drive, and fell 21-20 at Arkansas in the 2016 season opener, Smith’s first career start as a freshman.
LSU’s plus-seven turnover margin is tops in the SEC and good enough for sixth in the nation. Smith’s three interceptions rank in the top half of Conference USA. To potentially pull off an upset at LSU, Tech’s quarterback and the offense can’t balloon the Tigers turnover tally.
“Ball security, that’s the big thing we’ve emphasized to make sure we don’t have turnovers, we don’t put the ball on the ground whenever we run the ball or in the pocket for myself. Make sure our timing is right with our receivers, with the linemen also,” Smith said.
“It’s going to be a loud crowd at LSU, so we have to make sure the communication level is key. It’s going to be hostile environment. We’re all we got and we have to support each other as brothers.”
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Louisiana Tech (2-0) at No. 6 LSU (3-0)
Kickoff: 6 p.m.
Location: Tiger Stadium
Watch: ESPNU
Listen: KXKZ – 107.5 FM (Ruston)