Winners and Losers: Grambling

Games like LSU vs. Grambling are largely lose-lose contests for a program like LSU. If you win nobody cares because you did what you were supposed to do; if you lose...well it’s best you don’t lose so we don’t even have to entertain that option, you know what I mean?

LSU took care of business, got win No. 1 of 2023 and scored a whole lotta points along the way. Time to shift gears and begin SEC play.

Winner: Jayden Daniels

Here’s the list of LSU quarterbacks to throw for five touchdowns in a half: Joe Burrow twice (Georgia Southern and Oklahoma) and Jayden Daniels last night. That’s it, that’s the list.

Winner: Kaleb Jackson

We love true freshmen scoring their first career touchdowns and Jackson found the end zone twice. But more so than that, the kid looked pretty good! He was the second leading rusher with 11 carries for 62 yards and popped a 21-yard run. He also had 72 yards off kick returns including one for 27 yards.

Winner: Logan Diggs

Diggs made his LSU debut Saturday and showed why he’s probably the Tigers’ most complete back: 15 carries for 115 yards and caught a ball for 18 yards.

Loser: Secondary

Don’t let the final score fool you, Grambling was giving LSU fits in the first quarter. Denver Harris finally saw the field and showed he isn’t fairing much better than his fellow DBs. Grambling threw at Harris twice: he allowed a touchdown on one rep and was flagged for pass interference on the other. If he’s supposed to be LSU’s ace in the hole, this secondary is going to be in for a long season.

Winner: Chris Hilton

Hilton only caught two passes, but one was a 47-yard touchdown. He can take the top off the defense like nobody else on the roster and he’s certainly worthy of more playing time.

Loser: Matt House and Slow Defensive Starts

At the end of the first quarter the score was 14-10 and Grambling had 173 yards of offense. In the first half, Grambling faced situations of 2nd and 12, 3rd and 15, and 3rd and 10 and were able to get first downs all three times by running the ball for 22, 36, and 27 yards respectively. Yes LSU was able to shut down Grambling after the fist quarter, but the slow starts on defense are getting a little tiring.

Winner: LSU’s chances to win the SEC

Is anyone in the league good? Alabama lost to Texas and doesn’t look like Big Bad Bama anymore. A&M lost to Miami and the Aggie defense looks just as bad as LSU’s. Auburn and Miss State survived dog fights against Cal and Arizona last night, and Tulane gave Ole Miss far more trouble than the final score indicates. Arkansas meanwhile had to work up a sweat to put away Kent State, who is maybe the single worst team in all of FBS. Meanwhile in the East, Tennessee played just a weird game against Austin Peay, Florida might be outright bad, and Georgia ain’t passing the eye test. With so many questions for so many teams LSU is by no means out of the SEC hunt, in fact I feel a little bit better about the Tigers’ chances after this week.