Postgame Thoughts: LSU 37, Oklahoma 17
A disappointing regular season for the Oklahoma Sooners came to an end in equally disappointing fashion Saturday with a 37-17 loss to the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge.
Here are some of the main takeaways from a viewing of the live broadcast…
*This game came down to the reality that only one of these teams possessed a throwing game that could hit deep shots consistently.
OU quarterback Jackson Arnold did connect with wideout J.J. Hester on a 50-yard bomb in the second quarter. The rest of Arnold’s 21 passing attempts – of which he completed 14 – produced a total of 60 yards. You can’t get much more anemic than that.
Arnold looked unwilling to attempt to throw the ball more than about seven yards down the field. To be fair, his receivers probably weren’t giving him many open targets. Same story from the previous 11 games.
*Conversely, the Tigers happily threw deep when the mood struck them. LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier tossed two pinpoint bombs to receiver Chris Hilton Jr. for touchdowns of 40 and 45 yards. Both TDs helped LSU build what became an insurmountable lead by the middle of the third quarter.
*OU’s defensive front certainly challenged LSU’s heralded offensive line. The Sooners had some success pressuring Nussmeier, including a sack in the first quarter that yielded a scoop and score by edge rusher R Mason Thomas.
LSU’s blockers adjusted well over the course of the game, though, and they provided enough protection to keep Nussmeier clean after surviving the early onslaught. It helps when you have as much size among your receivers as the Tigers do.
*Giving up a kickoff return for a touchdown in the first half clearly looks like a backbreaker in retrospect. From the standpoint of game flow, it neutralized the advantage OU gained from an early defensive score.
The Sooners have largely played well on special teams this season, however, which made LSU’s KOR TD all the more surprising.
*Why didn’t OU run the same offense it ran the week before? Because LSU had scouted it. LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker had his unit ready for all the different wrinkles OU incorporated that worked so well a week earlier against Alabama. The play that summed the situation up was a shovel pass in the first half that almost left running back Xavier Robinson decapitated.
That’s the problem with gimmicks: They have a short shelf life.
*Bauer Sharp has shown enough flashes at tight end this season to make me think he can continue to find his way onto the field in 2025. But any situation in which he essentially becomes the top target in OU’s passing game is doomed to fail. If that’s the case again next year, the Sooners will be looking at a record below .500.
*Of every team OU faced this season in the SEC, LSU felt the most “built different” out of all of them. That doesn’t reflect so well on head coach Brian Kelly’s performance this year when accounting for the Tigers’ record.