Brian Kelly answers key question on Garrett Nussmeier fans and media wanted to hear and points out critical flaw for LSU Tigers
LSU Tigers don’t have any excuse for loss to Ole Miss Rebels
The LSU Tigers struggled immensely to find much success on offense in their 24-19 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels. That much was painfully obvious as Garrett Nussmeier and company managed just 24 plays of offense in the first half, just 16 first downs the entire game, and failed to eclipse 10 yards on any rushing play.
The failures weren’t necessarily all just on Nussmeier, but that didn’t stop the questions from pouring in on the LSU Tigers’ supposed star offensive player. Brian Kelly surprisingly answered the key questions media had on Nussmeier in a pretty straightforward way, but pointed out the one critical flaw that killed LSU’s offense (and has all year).
Brian Kelly confirms Garrett Nussmeier is healthy, but offense clearly isn’t
Kelly kicked off the press conference by complaining about his team’s complete inability to play complementary football. When the offense would find success, the defense would commit four penalties on one drive (yes, that seriously happened). When the defense would do enough to keep LSU in the game, it was the offense’s turn to fail miserably. He made sure not to point the blame towards just any one player, but given all the questions on Nussmeier, he had to address his quarterback:
“Garrett Nussmeier has got to play better,” Kelly said. “Every player on offense has to play better…We weren’t very good on third down, and that’s not just Garrett…and look, you saw it. We struggled with completing the deep ball…This is not a Garrett Nussmeier problem. This is an entire football team of guys doing their job at a higher level…The QB is going to get micromanaged when you lose. All I can tell you is, he’s healthy. Again, we need to play better and more consistent on the offensive side of the ball.”
Nussmeier had been struggling with some minor injuries just ahead of the season, and concerns had been brewing that, given his lackluster play, those problems might be lingering. However, according to Kelly, Nussmeier is healthy and just “needs to play better.” That might be the case, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it anymore, considering how poorly Nussmeier has looked generating his typical power and completing the deep ball in 2025.
Through five games, Nussmeier has completed just seven passes beyond 20 yards on 170+ pass attempts. Compared to last season, his deep ball rate has dropped by nearly half. Against Ole Miss on Saturday, he completed just one pass that could be considered anything near a deep ball, and that came on a shot up the seam to Zavion Thomas, but even that ball just went 27 yards down the field.
Nussmeier might be healthy, but he certainly isn’t playing well either way. His receivers are surprisingly struggling, too, given their speed and alleged skill set. After Saturday’s abysmal performance, when Nussmeier failed to average even six yards per pass attempt, this is becoming quite alarming. He entered the weekend ranked outside the top 50 power conference quarterbacks in overall efficiency. Now it will be even worse.
Why is that? According to Kelly, multiple times in the team’s press conference, it does come down to the theme of failure with the deep ball:
“Yeah, I think one of the things we saw today is the inability to hit the big play down the field,” Kelly said. “Ole Miss did a great job in a couple of one-on-one matchups. They got a couple of plays that really extended their drives and gave them scoring opportunities. We didn’t make the big catch down the field outside the numbers.”
It’s a long season, and the loss on Saturday to Ole Miss is just one game. However, if Nussmeier and the offense can’t get on the same page in the deep passing game, find some more rushing success, and perhaps (just maybe) get healthy at QB, then the LSU Tigers will have a long rest of the season in SEC play.
We’ll be back with more LSU Tigers coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
