Tigers are hungry for a victory at Vanderbilt

Photo By: brproud.com

​10/1/2020
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports!

​ The Tigers (0-1) will look to rebound from last week's shocking upset to Mississippi State as they travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores (0-1). Vanderbilt gave Texas A&M all they could handle and more as they nearly pulled off a huge upset themselves, but a late turnover aided the Aggies to a 17-12 win.
LSU's defense will face a new Vandy offensive coordinator and a true freshman quarterback, Ken Seals. Seals played very well against A&M last week going 20-29 for 150 yards, 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions. Seals never seemed to get rattled and made good decisions all game long until late in the contest, forcing a pass into tight coverage which was tipped and picked off at the Aggies' six yard line killing the Commodores chance to take the lead. Seal also spread the ball around to nine different Commodore receivers with wide out Amir Abdur-Rahman leading the way with 72 yards on five catches and a TD reception. Cam Johnson is also expected to have a big year as well as tight end Ben Bresnahan who is a nice big target. Vanderbilt's leading rusher last week was junior running back Ja'Veon Marlow who rushed for 68 yards on 16 carries. However the Commodores plan to go running back by committee, with Jamauri Wakefield and Keyon Henry-Brooks being in the mix. The Vanderbilt offensive line lead by, Tyler Steen, Grant Miller and Drew Birchmeier did a solid job against the #11 Aggies only giving up two sacks and helping the Commodores' finished with 255 total yards, (105 rushing, 150 passing)...
The LSU offense will hopefully show some improvement this week after a very inconsistent performance last weekend. Poor decisions by Myles Brennan, dropped passes by receivers, seven sacks given up, and a sputtering running attack plagued the Tigers all game long between flashes of a few nice plays made. The Vanderbilt 3-4 defense is lead by a very strong front line with depth. Defensive ends, Dayo Odeyingbo and Raashaan Wilkins Jr. along with defensive tackle Cameron Tidd provide a strong push. Their two senior outside linebackers, Kenny Hebert and Andre Mintze are athletic and fly to the ball, while inside Anfernee Orji and Dimitri Moore (last season's leading tackler) play the run tough. Last season the Vandy secondary finished last in the SEC in interceptions and passes defended, however the entire secondary returns with more experience and should show improvement. Seniors Frank Coppet, Elijah Hamilton, and Tae Daley along with juniors Allan George, Randall Haynie, and DC Williams have been impressive in fall camp and played extremely well against Texas A&M last weekend.
For LSU to rebound and come away with a win this weekend, they will need to establish a strong running game. It's obvious that this season's passing attack is no where near what it was in 2019. Myles Brennan need to get rid of the football quicker and show better accuracy, while the receivers need to make the big catches. and please get Arik Gilbert the ball as much as possible. The Tigers will need to have a more balanced attack. The defense will need to play with more energy while winning the turnover battle, keep constant heavy pressure on Seals, and hopefully with the return of Derek Stingley, the coverage from the secondary will improve tremendously for the Tigers. This is a must win for Coach Orgeron and his team.

MY GAME PREDICTION: LSU 31, Vanderbilt 20


**TALKING TIGERS with Jordan & Craig will be released Friday night as they will talk about the Tigers upcoming contest with Vanderbilt.. Tune in to see what the guys have to say.....


​Below is Coach Orgeron's press conference from Thursday afternoon.

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Photo By: LSU/SEC