A Win, A Wake-Up Call and a Defense That Won't Budge: LSU Moves to 2-0

BATON ROUGE, La. — A week ago, LSU could seemingly do no wrong.

Saturday night, the Tigers learned what happens when almost everything does.

Four turnovers.

Ten penalties.

Three interceptions from quarterback Sam Leavitt.

Red-zone opportunities that repeatedly ended without touchdowns.

And somehow, when the clock hit zero inside Tiger Stadium, the scoreboard still read:

LSU 45. Louisiana Tech 14.

It wasn't pretty.

It wasn't the 51-10 demolition of Clemson that introduced the Lane Kiffin era one week earlier.

But it might have been exactly what LSU needed.

Because with SEC play arriving next, the Tigers were reminded Saturday night that talent can overcome mistakes against Louisiana Tech.

It won't always overcome them against the teams waiting ahead.

From 51 Points to a First-Half Fight

Expectations changed quickly in Baton Rouge.

After LSU dismantled Clemson in its season opener, the No. 8 Tigers returned to Death Valley as a massive favorite against an in-state Louisiana Tech team that had just scored 80 points in its own opener.

On paper, this wasn't supposed to be complicated.

For an entire half, it was.

LSU moved the football but repeatedly found ways to stop itself.

A fumble by Eugene Wilson III.

An interception from Leavitt.

Then another.

And another.

The most painful came with LSU threatening to score from the Louisiana Tech goal line. Leavitt's pass was intercepted by safety Jordan McRae, who took it the other way for a 100-yard pick-six.

Instead of LSU adding another touchdown, Louisiana Tech suddenly trailed just 10-7.

That's where the score remained at halftime.

Tiger Stadium wasn't watching the offensive clinic it had expected.

It was watching LSU fight itself.

Meanwhile, LSU's Defense Was Doing Something Ridiculous

The scoreboard suggested Louisiana Tech was hanging around.

The actual football game told a completely different story.

At halftime, Louisiana Tech had:

Zero net yards.

Zero first downs.

Its seven points hadn't come from its offense at all.

Read that again.

LSU had turned the ball over four times in the first half, and its defense still refused to let Louisiana Tech turn those mistakes into offensive production.

That's becoming more than a nice early-season storyline.

Through two games, this LSU defense looks legitimate.

The Tigers eventually held Louisiana Tech to roughly 140 total yards, including minus-3 rushing yards, while recording seven sacks and forcing three turnovers.

Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie offered perhaps the strongest assessment of the night afterward.

He called LSU's unit one of the best defenses he has ever seen.

After what Clemson and Louisiana Tech experienced in consecutive weeks, it's becoming difficult to argue with him.

Princewill Umanmielen Introduces Himself to Death Valley

If Tiger fans weren't already familiar with Princewill Umanmielen, they are now.

The Ole Miss transfer was relentless Saturday, recording three sacks as LSU consistently collapsed the pocket around Louisiana Tech quarterback Blake Baker.

But this wasn't a one-man performance.

TJ Dottery led LSU with nine tackles.

Whit Weeks added seven.

Freshman Deuce Geralds continued flashing the kind of potential that could make him a major piece of this defense.

The speed was noticeable.

The physicality was noticeable.

And perhaps most importantly, the defense never appeared frustrated by the situations LSU's offense kept putting it in.

Turn the ball over?

Go back out there.

Bad field position?

Go back out there.

Another offensive mistake?

Go back out there.

And get another stop.

That's championship-level mentality, even if LSU isn't a championship-level team yet.

Sam Leavitt Had a Bad Night — Then Responded

There is no reason to sugarcoat it.

Leavitt wasn't good enough in the first half.

Three interceptions are three interceptions.

But how a quarterback responds after making mistakes can tell you just as much as how he looks when everything is working.

Leavitt didn't unravel.

He finished the night completing 25 of 38 passes for 344 yards, while accounting for four touchdowns—three with his legs and another through the air.

Afterward, Leavitt called the performance a "big reality check."

That's probably the healthiest way LSU can view it.

The Tigers didn't need Leavitt pretending the interceptions didn't matter.

They needed him to recognize them, correct them and move forward.

And when LSU finally needed its quarterback to help put Louisiana Tech away, he did.

Eventually, Talent Took Over

Louisiana Tech deserves credit.

The Bulldogs fought.

Their defense created turnovers, frustrated LSU in the red zone and kept a game competitive far longer than anyone inside Tiger Stadium expected.

But there comes a point when depth and talent begin taking their toll.

LSU reached that point in the second half.

Leavitt scored on a nine-yard run late in the third quarter.

Then another rushing touchdown followed.

Then Leavitt connected with Trey'Dez Green for a 10-yard touchdown.

Green finished with six receptions for 104 yards, while Eugene Wilson III added 93 receiving yards and Jackson Harris finished with 80.

By the fourth quarter, the game finally looked like the matchup everyone expected before kickoff.

The Tigers had separated.

The scoreboard had become comfortable.

And LSU walked away with a 31-point victory.

But nobody wearing purple and gold seemed particularly satisfied.

Good.

Lane Kiffin Might Have Gotten Exactly What He Needed

Afterward, Kiffin didn't sound like a coach celebrating a 45-14 win.

He sounded like a coach who had just acquired several hours of extremely useful film.

And maybe that's the biggest takeaway from Saturday night.

LSU needed this.

Not the turnovers.

Not the penalties.

Not the red-zone mistakes.

But the discomfort.

After beating Clemson by 41 points, it would have been easy for a young team to believe the hype.

Then Louisiana Tech showed up and made LSU uncomfortable.

Kiffin acknowledged afterward that the performance might have been exactly what was necessary to regain his team's attention.

Think about what that says about the standard LSU is trying to build.

The Tigers won by 31 points.

And everybody left irritated.

That's not necessarily a bad place for a football program to be.

Because Now It Gets Personal

There was always going to be a temptation to look beyond Louisiana Tech.

Everybody knows what's next.

Oxford.

Ole Miss.

Lane Kiffin returning to the program he left for LSU.

LSU beginning SEC play against the No. 9 Rebels.

The storylines will write themselves all week.

Saturday night served as LSU's final warning before the margin for error becomes much smaller.

Four turnovers against Louisiana Tech can become a frustrating first half.

Four turnovers in Oxford can become a loss.

Ten penalties for 101 yards can be overcome when your defense completely suffocates an opponent.

Against an SEC contender?

Maybe not.

LSU now knows that.

2-0, With Plenty Left to Fix

There are two ways to look at Saturday night.

You can see the turnovers.

The penalties.

The red-zone failures.

The 10-7 halftime score against a team LSU was expected to handle comfortably.

Or you can see a team that played nowhere near its best and still won 45-14.

Both are true.

That's what makes this game important.

LSU isn't a finished product.

Lane Kiffin doesn't appear interested in pretending it is.

But the Tigers are 2-0.

Their defense looks downright nasty.

Their offense just produced 528 yards on a night when it repeatedly sabotaged itself.

Their quarterback took his worst punches of the young season and responded.

And now LSU heads into SEC play knowing exactly how quickly mistakes can change a football game.

Clemson showed us what LSU can look like when everything clicks.

Louisiana Tech showed us what LSU looks like when it doesn't.

They still won by 31.

Now comes the real test.

Oxford is waiting.