Kirby Smart shares LSU takeaways after film prep

The stakes of the SEC Championship Game took a big hit when LSU lost the regular season finale, putting any shot at the College Football Playoff on ice. But the football should still be excellent and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart walked through what he saw on tape from the Tigers.

At his press conference on Thursday prior to the game, Smart explained a litany of things that the Tigers do well. From executing in the red area to strong offensive line play, there’s a reason LSU is representing the SEC West in the championship game.

“They got one of the most physical offensive lines we’ve played,” Smart said. “They’re really, really talented in the red area, defensive area and red area offense, which we work on hard yesterday. Third down, they do a great job offensively on third down because they don’t get in very many third-and-long situations.”

The red zone, in particular, has been a good area of the field for LSU this season.

On offense, the Tigers are No. 27 nationally, scoring on 49 out of 55 trips. And of those 49 scores, 38 are touchdowns — the bulk of which are rushing scores.

Defensively, LSU has a good red zone defense in part because opponents rarely get there against the Tigers. LSU is tied for No. 22 nationally, allowing 31 scores on just 40 opponent red zone trips — fewer than four a game — and has been excellent at keeping opponents out of the end zone, giving up just 17 touchdowns in the red zone all year.

LSU has benefitted from strong play in situational football this season — a decent on-field bell weather of the Ed Orgeron-to-Brian Kelly coaching change — and is not suffering from many self-inflicted wounds, especially as special teams have improved.

And that’s all before getting to the depth of talent in the receiver room and on defense for LSU.

“Yeah, they got a lot of talent, a lot of really fast, athletic players,” Smart said. “You look across, the skill level on both sides of the ball for them, great size, great speed.”