16-of-27 passing with 17 rushing attempts, more runs than completions – this was not the offensive blueprint Lane Kiffin envisioned for his first SEC matchup as LSU’s head coach. Ole Miss beat LSU 32-24 for the second straight year behind a standout performance from Trinidad Chambliss, handing Kiffin his first loss in Baton Rouge. While the Tigers rallied from a 24-7 deficit to tie the game late, it was former LSU legend Tyrann Mathieu who voiced the most urgent concern: quarterback Sam Leavitt’s obvious discomfort operating from the pocket.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Tyrann Mathieu took to his live stream, “In The Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu,” the following day to break down what went wrong. After praising Chambliss for his composure on 48 pass attempts, Mathieu turned his focus directly to Leavitt’s performance and execution.
“Let’s talk about the quarterback on the other side of things, Sam Leavitt. You know, 16 and 27. He had more rushing attempts than he had completions in this game. I don’t know if that’s necessarily what the plan was supposed to be, but that’s what the outcome was,” Mathieu said. “What were you seeing from him back in the pocket? Because it just didn’t feel totally comfortable.”
Mathieu pointed out that Kiffin kept camp light on live team work to protect players from injury, but that lack of full-contact 11-on-11 reps, combined with Leavitt’s late arrival after entering the transfer portal in January, may have left the quarterback underprepared for SEC-level pass rushes.
“And for the most part, you know, you’re trying to keep a team healthy, especially throughout camp. So it’s not a whole lot of ones-on-ones, maybe individually, right?” Mathieu questioned. “Like routes on air, you know, wide receivers, DBs competing, but rarely is it really ones-on-one, full-team scrimmages and those tough critical situations, right? And so I’m wondering, like, is that sort of playing a factor, or is this just who he is?”
Mathieu had watched Leavitt struggle with pocket comfort during early-season blowout wins over Clemson (51-10) and Louisiana Tech (45-14), where the dual-threat quarterback threw four interceptions despite compiling solid overall numbers of 41-of-66 for 574 yards, 2 TDs, 135 rushing yards, and 5 rushing TDs.
Against Ole Miss’s elite defense, Leavitt’s numbers cratered to 158 passing yards, 5.85 yards per attempt, two sacks, and a costly interception, while his red-zone efficiency of 7-of-15 for 37 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions highlighted his ongoing difficulty making tight-window throws.
“Now, if this is just who he is, then we may need to revamp the whole system and the scheme, right, of how we’re doing it, because we don’t have these big 6’3, 6’4 receivers on the perimeter, right, that’s able to sort of block for him downfield, right?” Mathieu added. “We got a lot of guys that are, you know, hyped as like speed demons. And so I’m wondering, like, if this is who he is, right?”
The next is Texas A&M at Tiger Stadium, the first home SEC game of the Kiffin era. LSU sits 2-1 and 0-1 in the SEC. The Tigers dropped from No. 7 to around No. 10 and will look to bounce back.