LSU might be without one of its pawns

Published 6:00 pm Thursday, September 21, 2017

Just call it dueling teleconferences, 1,200 miles apart, as LSU head coach Ed Orgeron and Syracuse’s Dino Babers jockeyed for position in advance of Saturday’s game.

Orgeron said on the Southeastern Conference’s weekly teleconference Wednesday that star running back Derrius Guice is “highly questionable” for the game.

Babers, though not claiming to have any inside information, was skeptical during his appearance on the Atlantic Coast Conference teleconference.

“That guy is a competitor,” Babers said of Guice. “He’s a tough guy. I’m sure he’s going to be there Saturday night.

“They can just turn around and hand that guy the ball and beat people.”

Not if Guice is not there.

Orgeron’s tone had changed completely from Monday, when he called Guice’s injury “minor” and added that he thought he’d be fine by Saturday’s game.

Wednesday, this: “I don’t know if Derrius is going to play. He didn’t dress out (Tuesday at practice) in pads. Very questionable.”

Guice left last week’s Mississippi State game late in the third quarter and did not return. He hasn’t played in the fourth quarter of any of LSU’s three games, although the first two were well in hand and it was likely just to rest him.

The loss of Guice would probably move Darrell Williams into the starting role, with more carries for freshman Clyde Edwards-Helaire and junior Nick Brossette.

The news was better for LSU’s critically thin defensive front, where Orgeron said he expects defensive Rashard Lawrence to return after missing the last two games.

“He’s practiced in pads,” Orgeron said of the Tigers’ most consistent defensive lineman, “and he looks like he’ll be able to give us some snaps. I don’t know how many snaps, but I think he’s going to play.”

Without Lawrence, Greg Gilmore slid over from nose guard to his spot last week. But with nose guard Ed Alexander out this week, Gilmore is the lone healthy nose guard.

Another body up front, defensive end Neil Farrell, will have to sit out the first half Saturday for his targeting ejection in the second half last week.

It’s a spot at which LSU needs depth, especially this week, against a Syracuse team that runs and ultra-uptempo offense while rarely huddling.

But Babers, whose team is 2-1 and coming off a 41-17 victory over Central Michigan last week, didn’t seem to think it mattered who played for the 25th-ranked Tigers (2-1). 

“They’re big,” he said. “They’re physical. They’re tough. They’re fast,” Babers said Wednesday. “If they get out into the open, we’re probably not going to be able to catch them. Their wide receivers look like trees and they run like deer.”

Babers also said the Orange (2-1) didn’t learn much from watching the tape of Mississippi State’s 37-7 dismantling of the Tigers.

Apples and, well, oranges he said.

“We can’t even compare the two teams,” he said. “Those guys are bigger than us. They’re more physical than us. They’ve got a whole bunch of five-stars and four-stars all over that football team.

“The way they played LSU, we can’t play LSU that way. We’ve got to find a different way to have the success they had.”