Joel Klatt wastes no time in giving LSU Tigers a dose of reality in wake of Week 1 upset win against Clemson
LSU has the swagger of a National Champion once again in the wake of its 17-10 victory at Clemson in Week 1. Between head coach Brian Kelly taking shots at Dabo Swinney and Whit Weeks proclaiming the Tigers are all about that life, LSU is riding high. They earned this moment, and the nation believes […]
LSU has the swagger of a National Champion once again in the wake of its 17-10 victory at Clemson in Week 1. Between head coach Brian Kelly taking shots at Dabo Swinney and Whit Weeks proclaiming the Tigers are all about that life, LSU is riding high. They earned this moment, and the nation believes LSU is an elite team heading into conference play in about a month.
AP voters, coaches, and media in general have been impressed with how LSU has used the transfer portal to unearth four big-time helpers and immediately maximized them. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt is on board, too. He went as so far as to redefine LSU’s upside this season.
“Their win against Clemson was gutsy – it announced themselves as true National Championship contenders,” he started.
“LSU was the most impressive team of the weekend…It’s going to be hard not putting them at No. 1 in the country after that. The D line was suffocating against Clemson. They were fast and they were physical. The secondary was long and fast. The defense fixed a lot of the issues they had. That was a question mark coming into the year and it’s not any more. That’s one of the best defenses I think that we’re going to see this year.”
Klatt wasn’t done, then going to defensive coordinator Blake Baker to heap praise upon.
“Baker, their new defensive coordinator, did a tremendous job mixing up the blitz looks, and Cade Klubnik had zero time all game long. That defensive line was winning, they were fast, they were excellent. I thought some of those transfer portal additions panned out for LSU. In a lot of ways, that’s my new favorite in the SEC just because the way they looked at a really good team.
Offensively, the question was could Garrett Nussmeier cut down on some of the mistakes? The answer was yes. As advertised, he made some big throws, some big plays.”
But what about LSU’s standing in the SEC going forward? Klatt provided a clear answer.
“They’ve got to be the favorite in the SEC at this point. LSU clearly looked like the best SEC team. And Garrett Nussmeier put himself, right now, kind of leading the pack. I know it’s too early for Heisman talk, but that game and that stage is going to go a long way for him come early November and we’re talking about that award.”
LSU hosts Louisiana Tech this Saturday before Florida comes to town on Sept. 13.
