LSU hasn’t come back from bye week

Published 1:04 pm Thursday, November 19, 2015

It’s easily the biggest mystery of LSU’s two-game fall from grace.

Has anyone seen the Tigers offensive line, the one that performed so efficiently during LSU’s 7-0 start?

It’s suddenly AWOL.

If spotted, call Les Miles at the LSU football office. The heat is on after two straight losses and a belly-flop fall from the College Football Playoff rankings.

Also, check in with Leonard Fournette. He’s surely wondering where all those creases and running holes went, not to mention his derailed Heisman Trophy campaign.

The old, physical line group hasn’t really been seen this whole month, a puzzling disappearance. They apparently vanished during the Tigers’ open date.

LSU hasn’t scored more than two touchdowns since bludgeoning Eastern Michigan on Oct. 24.

Fournette, who was averaging more than 200 yards rushing through the first seven games, hasn’t cracked 100 in the last two, a mere 31 against Alabama, 91 against Arkansas.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. He’s running as hard as ever. LSU has been forced to pass more, even came out in the loss to Arkansas throwing it all over the place.

All that did for quarterback Brandon Harris was get him sacked five times against Arkansas ­­— by a Razorbacks defense that had eight in its first nine games.

In some way, LSU head coach Les Miles seems as mystified as anybody.

“I’ve not seen an offensive line as good as this one go into slumps,” Miles said. “But I think certainly this season this has been a flat spot. We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to make not only the offensive line but that offense more productive.”

The Tigers up front have freshmen at guards in Maea Teuhema and redshirt Will Clapp, with juniors Ethan Pocic (center) and Jerald Hawkins (left tackle) and one senior in right tackle Vadal Alexander.

Hawkins missed much of the Arkansas game after an early injury and backup sophomore K.J. Malone had his hands full with the Hogs’ incoming rushers.

The running game, in particular, has missed injured fullback J.D. Moore and massive tight end Dillon Gordon.

“Our offensive line still needs to heal a little bit,” Miles said. “But frankly, they are intact. It’s the same offensive line. We are youthful, but we are capable.”

Miles said Hawkins has practiced this week and should return for Saturday’s game at Ole Miss.

If not, he suggested the Tigers might try a Plan B in place of Malone if Hawkins is not available.

“K.J. is a quality player, but we’ll have to look around see what we’re going to do there.” Miles said. “You never can tell, you might move a tackle around.”

It’s not like LSU stood pat. After the Tigers’ run-heavy offense went virtually nowhere against Alabama, the Tigers were throwing on the first three first-down opportunities they had against Arkansas.

None were completed, and Miles still can’t help but wonder what might have been different if Harris hadn’t misfired badly from midfield on LSU’s first offensive play to a wide-open Malachi Dupre.

The game’s tone was set when on the next play Fournette was nailed for a 4-yard loss almost as soon as he took a handoff and Harris was sacked for a loss of 6 yards on third down.

It didn’t get much better for the offensive line — or the offense.

“We continually put ourselves in third-and-long situations,” Miles said. “When you do that, you tell that defense to come get you and they did. They obliged us.”

The opening adventures set up the first of eight third downs when the Tigers were looking at 10 or more yards — 6 of the 8 more than 10 yards.

LSU converted one of the eight. By contrast, when facing less than 10 yards on third down, the Tigers converted 5 of 6.

The first three sacks came on third-and-14, third-and-13 and third-and-25.

Four of the five sacks came in the first half before LSU adjusted by often using backs to help tackles by “chipping” rushers.

“If it’s a third-and manageable, you have the opportunity then to call a run and now that defense is not just coming with their ears pinned back,” Miles said.

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said Wednesday on the Southeastern Conference teleconference that, much like Alabama, his defense had a specific plan to limit Fournette and force LSU to play, as coaches say, “from behind the chains.”

It wasn’t as simple as loading up the box at the line of scrimmage.

In layman’s terms, he said the key was to keep Fournette running as east-west as possible. No matter which hole was targeted by LSU, he said, the Razorbacks would try to push the play farther outside.

“Even if the play started wide,” Bielema explained, “we tried to get it even wider where you have more help.”

But Miles said he doesn’t think it’s as simple as abandoning his power running game and spreading the field.

“I think we have an ability to do both,” he said. “ I think we want to have the ability to push them around a little bit with a more physical brand of football … as well as use the finesse and ability to throw and pop some really quality runs.”

But, whichever, somebody has to block.