Pass Rush will be key to an LSU Victory Saturday

This weekend’s match-up is an interesting one, considering LSU is worst on total offense in the SEC, while Ole Miss has the worst total defense in the conference.

The question here is as to just which level of “bad” the two teams are on those fronts, respectively.

For LSU, we can make a pretty convincing argument that the numbers lie and that there’s more good to be seen that can’t be found on paper. LSU has had trouble moving the chains at all on offense the past few seasons, and for the first time in a long time they've found a sense of rhythm and a versatile quarterback this year.

It’s hard to do the same with the Ole Miss defense. Not only are the Rebels dead last in the conference, they’re one of the worst in the country at 115th of 129 in the category, according to NCAA.com.

But there’s one key to making Ole Miss fall apart at the seams. It lies in the deep ball. When you look at this year’s Rebels team, the only area they have had true success in - on either side of the ball - is throwing it deep.

They currently boast the No. 10 passing offense in the nation, averaging 17.16 yards per completion.

One of the Tigers’ biggest points of concern this season lies in the pass rush. The loss of outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson dealt the team a bigger blow than they could have imagined.

Head coach Ed Orgeron was recently asked outright if he’d had a harder time than he thought he would in filling the void of Chaisson, to which he responded with an adamant “yes.”

It looks like the team will now turn to sophomore linebacker Andre Anthony in hopes of him matching the impact Chaisson had.

“We did not use (Anthony) like we should against Louisiana Tech,” Oregeron said. “We had a different scheme, so he did not rush as much. He did rush at times, but we think that we can use him more off the edge and obviously use our speed off the edge.”

Anthony will also have the help of other talented members of the team’s defense, joined by the likes of cornerback Greedy Williams, and safeties Grant Delpit and John Battle.

Ole Miss will not be the easiest opponent the Tigers have faced this year, but if LSU can dominate in this one aspect, a win on Saturday should be no difficult task.