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LSU has made a bunch of changes during September.
Some were forced by players becoming unavailable. Some were designed to fix problems.
For the most part, head coach Brian Kelly and his staff weathered the absences and lessened the problems if they didn’t completely fix them.
Now the start of October brings a significant milestone in the 1st SEC road game for Kelly’s 1st team.
“This 1st month was kind of like, ‘Let’s put this together,’” Kelly said. “Now we’re going to have to apply it to the SEC, and that is a step up.”
Since the lackluster 1-point loss to Florida State in the season opener, the Tigers have put together what Kelly called “a modest” 3-game winning streak.
It’s modest not just because it spans a mere 3 games, but also because the bookends in the are games against outmanned opponents (Southern and New Mexico), though the middle game was the SEC opener (at home against Mississippi State).
Along the way, Kelly and his staff have tried a series of combinations on the offensive line. They’ve adapted to multiple changes in personnel at running back, rearranged the pieces at wide receiver a bit and shepherded Jayden Daniels through an ongoing evolution at quarterback.
They withstood the season-long loss of star defensive tackle Maason Smith, created an expanded role for freshman linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. and worked through personnel shuffling in the secondary, some out of necessity, some by choice.
They have consistently had to shore up special teams units that have had major breakdowns, but have become at least serviceable.
The team that takes the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday is different than the one that took the field in the Caesars Superdome on Sept. 4. It appears to be a better team.
But just how much better remains to be seen.
“I told our team I was really proud of the way they have just embraced change,” Kelly said. “It’s hard. It’s hard for everybody to change.
“They’ve done the things that we’ve asked them to do to become more consistent on a day-to-day basis and within our process and their preparation and their mindset, their habits, the way they think.”
All of these changes have produced incremental progress in the least challenging month of the season.
Now the schedule gets much more difficult. LSU visits Auburn on Saturday as it enters the teeth of its SEC schedule.
One of the biggest questions about this team entering the season was its depth. Kelly’s roster doesn’t even feature the maximum number of scholarship players allowed.
In addition to Smith’s season-ending knee injury, safety Major Burns is expected to miss at least 3 weeks because of a neck injury.
LSU has some capable backups. But it’s most lacking when backups become starters and then others lower on the depth chart are elevated to rotational positions that require them to handle roles they might not be able to handle.
It’s the trickle-down that could become problematic, if the injuries add up.
“We know where our issues are,” Kelly said. “It’s a team that will fight, but we’re thin in some areas.
“So we’ve got to make sure we keep our team rested. We’ve got to stay away from injuries, things of that nature. But there’s no doubt about the fight. These guys will fight for the right reasons.”
Initially, it seemed injuries might be a major issue this week. But Kelly had good news about a few key players that got nicked up against New Mexico.
Daniels appears fine after leaving the game for good in the 3rd quarter because of a lower back strain. Safety Jay Ward should return, and running back Armoni Goodwin is day to day.
LSU will practice ones against ones more this week because it needs its starters to simulate the skills of SEC opposition.
“The next month, there’s going to be some good days, and there’s going to be some bad days,” Kelly said. “You know the old Mike Tyson line, ‘Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the mouth,’ right? We’re going to have to stick with our plan and stick with our process every single day because we’re going to get hit in the mouth.”
Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.
