Leading up to the Georgia-LSU game many people said Georgia was a bad matchup for LSU. This couldn't have been further from the truth. LSU's defense is very oddly built but Georgia is the perfect matchup for LSU. LSU runs a 3-4 but the 3 down lineman are extremely oversize while the back 7 is undersized. This creates an odd pairing off a line that is great at stopping the run and a back 7 that is great at pass defense. However the line provides very little pass rush and the back 7 is not great at coming up to stop the run if it gets past the defensive line. Because of Georgia's offensive style LSU was able to play more with 4 down lineman which made it extremely difficult for Georgia to run on the multiple 320 pounders. Georgia missing their best receivers on an already poor passing attack also couldn't take advantage of the poor pass rush. Nightmare for Georgia.
Oklahoma will have the exact opposite situation. The Ole Miss game was talked about a lot because LSU simply couldn't stop Ole Miss's offense. The media brushed it off as a letdown game but it was because of the style of offense, the exact same style that Oklahoma runs. Oklahoma's talent is also much greater than Ole Miss.
Ole Miss's QB was 9/16 for 123 yards against LSU but where they gashed LSU was running the ball. He also ran for 212 yards on 21 carries. along with the Ole Miss RB going for 141 yards on just 13 carries. You may also recall Sam Ehlinger gashing LSU early in the season. Ehlinger turned out to have a poor year but the same mismatch against LSU showed itself in this game. Ehlinger ran for 60 yards but because LSU couldn't get pressure on him he was able to 31/47 for 401 yards.
The problem is as simple as this, 6'4" 310, 6'3" 350, 6'2" 310, that is the measurements for the starting lineman Glen Logan, Tyler Shelvin, and Rashard Lawrence. LSU rotates a good amount as well bringing in 6'4" 355 Siaka Ika and the smallest lineman who plays Breidan Fehoko at 6'2" 291. Because of the massive size they simply cant rush the passer. Of this group the leading sacker has 2.5 from Rashard Lawrence, followed by 1 from Glen Logan. While it becomes very difficult to run it right up the middle on these guys(like Georgia tried to do) It is very easy for a mobile QB like Jalen Hurts to avoid them. Jalen Hurts is also the most athletic QB they will have seen.
This forces LSU to blitz a lot and having somebody like CeeDee Lamb with single coverage all game and Lincoln Reilly knowing these things will be dangerous for LSU. I have nothing to say for Oklahoma's defense other than it isn't as bad as it is made out to be but if Oklahoma can put up 40+ points who knows what could happen. Do not think LSU is a lock to win.
