LSU has found its quarterback, but who is going to be the ‘closer?’

BATON ROUGE, La. — Now that it seems to have found a quarterback, what does LSU need to complete its puzzle?

How about Wade Davis? Jeurys Familia? Zach Britton?

You know, closers.

For LSU football to get where it wants to be, the Tigers need to learn how to finish.

Now 2-1, LSU can blame failing in close games for its only loss — the Tigers allowed Wisconsin a late game-winning field goal and didn’t complete a potential game-winning drive of its own in a 16-14 loss — and made wins over Jacksonville State and Mississippi State a little harder than they should have been by not delivering the knockout blow.

In the 34-13 win over JSU, the Tigers managed just one touchdown after halftime and did not complete a second-half pass. In the most recent win, 23-20 over Mississippi State, LSU seemed on the verge of blowing the game open, but usually trusty Leonard Fournette fumbled twice, and the defense that was so dominant sprung a leak. A blowout turned into a 3-point game with the Bulldogs getting a final drive to win it.

So sure, everything is looking better. The defense has looked elite at all three levels (line, linebackers and secondary). Until MSU’s last-ditch rally, the Tigers had allowed just 35 points in a little under three games. The offense looks better with new starting quarterback Danny Etling and a fast-improving offensive line.

But something is missing. The Tigers had a chance to win the Wisconsin game and got neither the key stop at the end, nor did they complete the last-ditch drive to win it. They had a chance to deliver the coup de grace to Jacksonville State and, instead, went stagnant and sort of muddled through the second half.

And what was a one-sided game against Mississippi State turned into a nail-biter at the end when the Bulldogs, while resilient and competitive, really had no business being in that game.

The culprits? Against Wisconsin, a defense that had been so solid allowed the Badgers to drive 48 yards on eight plays to set up Rafael Gaglianone’s game-winning 47-yard field goal. Then Brandon Harris, usually good at protecting the ball, killed a drive he was a large part of engineering by throwing an interception right to a Wisconsin defender.

Against JSU, Etling relieved Harris and engineered a 27-point second quarter, but then went without completing a pass in the second half. Sure, the FCS opponent never seriously threatened, but it was an underwhelming finish.

The culprits against Mississippi State came in every phase of the game. While Etling remained consistent, Fournette strangely and suddenly stopped securing the ball, dropping two fumbles. The defense failed to quickly adjust when MSU replaced ineffective starter Nick Fitzgerald with backup quarterback Damian Williams, who was able to engineer two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

The special teams allowed an onside kick to be recovered. And the offense, with a chance to run out the clock late, instead went three-and-out and Etling threw an incomplete pass that allowed Mississippi State to preserve valuable clock.

So even as the Tigers seem to be hinting that they’ve finally solved their quarterback problem — at least for the next couple of seasons — and are ready to couple a now-balanced offense with which might be a dominant defense, a new issue has cropped up. It might not be quarterback that’s the issue now, but an issue exists nonetheless.

And how does one fix it?

That’s not an easy question to answer because it’s not a simple problem. It involves all facets of the team that have to be dealt with individually.

To continue the baseball analogy, it’s like LSU lacks not only a closer to keep opponents at bay, but also the clutch hitter who has the knack of delivering big hits in the eighth and ninth inning.

How do you mold the finisher?

That’s a hard question to answer, because a lot of it has to do with intangibles.

And intangibles are supposed to be a Les Miles strength.

When the going gets tough, he picks up a blade of grass, dials up a fake field goal or a fake punt and pushes the right button.

But that’s the past. A quarter of the way into this regular season, LSU looks like a nearly complete team that might only be missing an edge that Miles’ teams typically have.

Poor quarterback play almost cost Miles his job last year. Wouldn’t it have been a shame last Saturday if the Tigers got the solid start Etling delivered but blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead and lost the game? Miles might have lost his job, if not now, at season’s end, over that kind of heartbreak.

It’s something that needs to get fixed, and now.

You aren’t going to collapse late in the fourth quarter at The Swamp and expect to win. Alabama will eat a late-game collapse for lunch. Arkansas? Too good for that. Texas A&M? John Chavis has the defense matching the offense. Ole Miss? Don’t let Chad Kelly have a chance.

Somebody on this team — or somebodies since we’re talking both sides of the ball — needs to develop that instinct to smell blood in the water and devour it. Because right now, the blood in the water is Miles’. And there are still some people in the LSU community that want his job.

But if this team finds that “closer’s” mentality, it could be good enough to not only save Miles’ job but also to beat anybody on the schedule including, quite possibly, Alabama.

Question is, who’s going to step up and finish the deal for this team?

Gary Laney