By Antonio Morales and Seth Emerson
Fixing the LSU defense has been a multi-year focus for Brian Kelly. It took small steps forward last year. This game showed another, possibly more tangible, improvement.
Two years ago, LSU had one of the worst defenses at the power-conference level, wasting Jayden Daniels’ Heisman season, and leading Kelly to change defensive coordinators. In Blake Baker’s first year, there was modest improvement, up to 14th in the SEC in scoring defense and yards-per-play allowed.
This season started on an even better note: Two straight three-and-outs, with Clemson attaining minus-10 yards. One of those came after the offense fumbled the ball just outside the red zone; LSU’s defense stood.
Clemson finished the first half with 110 yards. LSU’s offense wasn’t getting many results, but its defense kept the offense in the game long enough
The run defense stifled Clemson. The pass rush kept Klubnik uncomfortable, leading to his interception in the third quarter. Harold Perkins Jr., back healthy after missing most of last year, had a sack playing out of his edge role. And LSU held on fourth-and-4 on Clemson’s final drive with a chance to tie the score. LSU has always had talent, it was confounding why it couldn’t have a better defense. The Tigers may finally be getting there.
The Tigers made a concerted effort to improve their defensive personnel with several additions along the defensive front and in the secondary. Transfer corner Mansoor Delane (Virginia Tech) came up with a clutch pass break up on a critical fourth-down attempt by Clemson midway in the fourth quarter. Defensive line transfers Bernard Gooden (USF), Jack Pyburn (Florida) and Patrick Payton (Florida State) have elevated the talent level for LSU with that unit, and it looked considerably improved.