Florida State's defensive line will be key to beating LSU

One of the most highly anticipated early-season games is going to be the Florida State–LSU rematch, which is set to take place at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. This is, technically a second neutral site game in two seasons for these two iconic programs. However, with last year’s taking place in New Orleans and this year’s in Central Florida, neither game was entirely neutral.

Despite playing in Louisiana, the Seminoles got a huge early season win against the Tigers in a year when both teams proved ready to return to prominence in the sport. That means that a ton of emphasis is going to be placed on this early season game.

With that in mind, and plenty of time before the game, On3’s JD PicKell broke down the game, including why the Florida State defensive line is going to be key to beating LSU.

“Let’s start with Florida State, you’ve got some dogs up front now,” PicKell said. “Anybody who watches this team, you know Jared Verse [is] probably going to be a high draft pick this time next year. Fabian Lovett, he is a dude for that defensive line. Then you went and got Darrell Jackson, who during spring practice, he transferred over from Miami to Florida State, spring practice the reports out of Tallahassee were he’s a borderline game wrecker. Like if he does what he’s capable of doing, if he plays to his potential, and he’s healthy, like that’s three bad dudes on the defensive line for you.”

PicKell emphasized that if these players step up for Florida State, then the Seminoles should win.

“You control the line of scrimmage in this game, you win. Alright, it’s as simple as that. If you control the line of scrimmage, Florida State will win this football game.”

The problem for Florida State is that LSU’s offense is designed to take talented defensive linemen out of the play.

“Now, the other side of that, LSU, when they were dangerous last year, there’s a lot made about Jayden Daniels and him pushing the ball downfield, and I am 1000% in agreement there, that was a big step for the LSU offense. But when LSU was really humming, when Jayden Daniels was able to push the ball downfield, one of the base points of that in my mind was them being able to be multiple in the run game,” PicKell explained.

“When a defensive end, didn’t matter if he crashed or just stayed put and forced Jayden Daniels to give the ball there, whenever it was a conversation around they’ve got to deal with Jayden Daniels and Josh Williams. This coming season if it’s Jayden Daniels and Logan Diggs, Notre Dame transfer running back, that’s when you can really give a defense fits because Jared Verse, he’s so dynamic, he’s such a good player, but you can take a really good defensive lineman out of the game if you’re able to read him, meaning whichever way he wants to go on that read option, he’s wrong.”

Because of this, the entire Florida State defensive line is going to have to step up and stop the red option for LSU. That way, the Tigers become more one-dimensional defensively.

“So, if you don’t have an answer for that as Florida State, that’s where this becomes a headache.”

How Jordan Travis and Harold Perkins could impact the game

On the reverse, Florida State is led by an experienced quarterback in Jordan Travis while LSU has a game wrecker in Harold Perkins on the defensive side of the ball. Together, those two could dictate how the game goes.

“The first matchup that I am looking at very very closely is Harold Perkins, the defensive weapon for LSU [and] we’ll call him a linebacker for the sake of this conversation, and Jordan Travis, Florida State’s quarterback. So the thing that I’m watching really closely with this match up is Harold Perkins. Remember how he was utilized last year for LSU? He was like a magic eraser. They wanted to try and take out of the game from a gameplay standpoint,” PicKell said.

“Hey Harold, quarterback is hurting us with his legs. Harold Perkins, spy on him. Done, Harold, this running back has been an issue for us, he’s so versatile, he’s multiple, that’s the answer right there. Done.”