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At LSU (and elsewhere), Orgeron family makes an offensive impact
By Gary Laney
Published:
The big night for the Orgeron family was so huge, it spread over 130 miles.
In McNeese State’s 38-13 win over Nicholls State, a true freshman receiver named Parker Orgeron had his first career touchdown reception — an 8-yard grab from James Tabary.
It wasn’t the only place where an Orgeron was making an impact on his team’s offense.
A couple hours down the road, Orgeron’s dad, Ed “BeBe” Orgeron, was making his debut as LSU’s interim head coach, and to say the Tigers’ offense looked different with Orgeron and offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger at the helm than it did with Les Miles as coach and Cam Cameron as offensive coordinator is a little like saying Orgeron, with his Cajun drawl, sounds different from Miles, with his Midwestern accent.
It was light years different.
The biggest difference was, of course, the scoreboard and the stat sheet. LSU’s resounding 42-7 win showcased by far the best the LSU offense has looked on offense all year (and really, all around). A Tigers offense that was 12th in the SEC with just 339.5 yards per game was approaching that number by halftime.
Even without star running back Leonard Fournette, who was out nursing an injured ankle, LSU dominated a Mizzou defense that, up to this game, had been at least competitive.
Derrius Guice ran like the Heisman Trophy candidate Fournette is supposed to be in a three-touchdown day. His backup, Darrel Williams, matched him with three of his own. The offensive line dominated, allowing both Guice (17 carries, 163 yards) and Williams (21 carries, 130 yards) to both have stellar games.
And while the dormant LSU passing game was not perfect, Danny Etling had his moments, completing 19-of-30 passes for 216 yards with no interceptions. The LSU offense piled up 634 yards, a school record against an SEC opponent and its best outing since the 638-yard outburst in the Tigers’ 56-27 win over Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl.
That bowl performance was supposed to be a sign that an offense that slumped late last season had turned the corner. That didn’t happen this year, at least not until after Miles was fired and Orgeron took the helm.
But it wasn’t so much that the Tigers’ offense was better that was noteworthy. It was that it was different.
As in, we didn’t see the toss-lead — you know, that Miles play where the quarterback tosses the ball to the tailback, who bullies right down the middle with everybody, including the quarterback, joining in the lead blocking.
We didn’t see it once. And we didn’t see what it symbolized, an offense so one-dimensional that even the quarterback has to get involved in blocking in the wedge.
What did we see?
We saw the Tigers start the game in four wides, something we hadn’t seen much of all year.
We saw LSU in an ace formation with two tight ends, two wides and a single set back.
We saw little-used Jazz Ferguson catch a pass. We saw a deep ball thrown to Russell Gage. Ever hear of them? Maybe not, because they weren’t used much.
We saw, for the first time, an LSU touchdown in the fourth quarter, and two actually.
And what we saw that we didn’t see enough of this season was something that probably comes more from Orgeron, a defensive guy, than anybody on the LSU offensive staff.
Energy.
The offense (and, for that matter, a dominant defense) played with a passion that seemed to be missing in the 2-2 start that led to the firing of Miles a third of the way into his 12th season. In the first four games, the offense often played with indecisiveness. Against Missouri, sure there were mistakes, but they were made full-speed ahead.
It was a different, aggressive bunch.
Let’s not get too crazy about the result.
Missouri did not have the luxury of game film to study the new Ensminger-Orgeron offensive look. Florida will have that next week when Orgeron brings the new-look Tigers to The Swamp.
And the Tigers’ passing offense is still not setting the world afire. Etling didn’t drastically change perceptions (indeed, Parker Orgeron’s touchdown catch was the only TD pass an Orgeron family member was involved in Saturday).
But then again this is, after all, a group that was recruited because it fit Miles’ Big Ten-style power football.
On Saturday, that bland Midwestern flavor was injected with Cajun seasoning from Orgeron.
And for the first time this season, LSU looked like the national championship contender it was supposed to be. Orgeron, who in his first stint as an interim head coach led USC to a 6-2 record down the stretch in 2013, continues to show magical skills at turning teams around.
