LSU Football Defense Must Solve Marcel Reed Problem Against Texas A&M – tigerrag.com

LSU Football Defense Must Solve Marcel Reed Problem Against Texas A&M  tigerrag.com

LSU football’s defense faces Marcel Reed and Texas A&M after Ole Miss exposed its flaws, with Blake Baker adjusting without injured STAR Dashawn Spears. The Tigers are not yet the transformed defense they appeared to be through two games. Now they face the mobile quarterback who has dismantled Blake Baker’s unit twice—and they must do it without Dashawn Spears. Lane Kiffin’s Monday review of LSU’s 32-24 loss at Ole Miss indirectly supported the central conclusion of my postgame column, but the point is no longer what happened Saturday night. LSU has a more urgent problem coming through the front door. The Tigers’ defense is not yet as improved as LSU believed it was after overwhelming Clemson and Louisiana Tech.

Three games into the season, that is the most consequential truth to emerge from Oxford. LSU allowed Clemson 145 yards, including 40 rushing, in a 51-10 destruction that made the reconstruction appear nearly complete. Louisiana Tech produced no offense at all before halftime a week later. LSU arrived at Ole Miss with the nation’s highest pressure rate, two weeks of overwhelming evidence and every reason to believe defensive coordinator Blake Baker finally possessed the personnel required to play his defense without compromise. Trinidad Chambliss punctured that belief in two quarters. Ole Miss gained 289 yards before halftime. Chambliss completed all eight