LSU football, Brian Kelly snaps losing streak vs. Vanderbilt | LSU

The pocket began to tighten around Garrett Nussmeier as he worked his way through his progressions.

Brian Kelly had left the offense on the field on fourth-and-5 in a one-score game, and Vanderbilt covered the first few reads. Nussmeier stepped up. He saw CJ Daniels running across the field on the backside of the play.

Nussmeier fired a throw over the middle for a first down Saturday night inside Tiger Stadium. And on the next play, LSU quarterback Kyren Lacy found himself alone in the back corner of the end zone. He threw an off-balance touchdown that was the difference in a 24-17 victory over Vanderbilt that snapped LSU’s losing streak.

There have been so many times LSU didn’t finish this season. That was part of the reason the Tigers (7-4, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) dropped out of College Football Playoff contention, losing three straight games before beating Vanderbilt (6-5, 3-4). But this was not one of them.

After falling behind early, LSU outscored Vanderbilt 24-10 midway through the first quarter. The defense harassed quarterback Diego Pavia, causing Vanderbilt to go 2 of 10 on third down, and the offense produced for the first time in a month.

LSU had scored 17.3 points per game. game during his losing streak and averaged 4.6 yards per carry. games over the last 10 quarters. It had been allowing pressure, struggling to run the ball, committing turnovers and not finishing enough drives.

It wasn’t perfect, but those issues improved against Vanderbilt. Although left guard Garrett Dellinger missed his third straight game, Nussmeier was only sacked once. The Tigers had two negative offensive plays, two pre-snap penalties and rushed for 139 yards. Although they still had some issues in the red zone, they averaged 7.1 yards per carry. game before they knelt down.

Nussmeier completed 76% of his passes (28 of 37) for 332 yards and a touchdown. Senior running back Josh Williams had 151 total yards and two touchdowns on 18 touches. Defensively, edge rushers Bradyn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones never let Pavia get comfortable.

LSU got off to a slow start, a troubling sign after losing three in a row. It committed a false start penalty and went three-and-out on the opening drive. Then Pavia threw a 63-yard touchdown. Cornerback Zy Alexander got beat on a go route and had no safety help over the top, giving Pavia an open receiver down the sideline.

But after the opening touchdown, Vanderbilt averaged 5.2 yards per carry. Pavia completed 54% of his throws (13 of 24) for 186 yards and a touchdown. Although he did rush for 43 yards, 36 of those came on one play. Other than that, LSU avoided the busts against running quarterbacks that have hurt the team all season.

Vanderbilt had just 10 points until late in the fourth quarter. LSU even forced another three-and-out to seemingly put the game away, but it was caught off guard by a fake punt. Pavia completed a 39-yard pass in tight coverage a few plays later, then rushed for a short touchdown that cut LSU’s lead to 24-17 with just under six minutes remaining.

But Nussmeier threw a 21-yard toss on an out route while being hit on LSU’s next play, setting the tone for the rest of the drive. LSU drained the clock to prevent any chance of a comeback by leaning on the run and making timely throws.

The offense did its thing most of the night, finishing with 471 total yards. It went 3 of 5 in the red zone, but it didn’t bite the team in this game.

After Vanderbilt took a 7-0 lead, Nussmeier led a game-tying drive on the next possession. Williams capped it off with a 20-yard touchdown run, breaking a pair of tackles and bursting through a crowd of people.

LSU reached the red zone again on its next drive, and Nussmeier was sacked for the only time. A few plays later, LSU went for it on fourth and goal from the 3-yard line a couple of times. With his other receivers covered, Nussmeier threw too high to freshman tight end Trey’Dez Green along the back of the end zone.

The score remained at 7-7 until the end of the second quarter. Then Nussmeier kept a drive alive by finding Daniels twice on third down. Williams picked up 16 yards and then rushed for a 21-yard touchdown to give LSU its first lead.

Vanderbilt picked up a short fourth down to keep its opening drive of the second half going, but LSU forced a field goal from its own 29-yard line. Nussmeier then threw the touchdown to Lacy on the next possession, and LSU held on from there.

It’s been a rough month for LSU. It lost three straight games, knocked it out of the playoffs and created unease in the fan base about the direction of the program, especially after losing a commitment Thursday from 5-star quarterback Bryce Underwood.

But in danger of losing a fourth in a row for the first time this century, LSU did enough to win again.