LSU Football: Report Cards for Tigers' 3rd Game

The LSU Tigers came one step closer to a National Championship season with an impressive 19-6 win over Mississippi State on Thursday night.

Despite a slow start for both teams, LSU dominated the contest in every aspect of the game. 

Senior quarterback Jarrett Lee was quick and efficient with his throws, the running game continued to shine with Spencer Ware and Michael Ford and the defense once again proved why they are the top unit in the country.

With that said, let's take one last look at this game and hand out some final grades for the Tigers' big Week 3 win.

1. Quarterbacks

Jarrett Lee is quickly making LSU fans forget about Jordan Jefferson and his off-the-field issues that led to his suspension.

Lee was quick with his decisions and precise with his passes, picking Mississippi State's defense apart with tremendous accuracy.

He finished the game 21 of 27 for 213 yards and a touchdown. 

The only criticism here is that of those six incompletions, four of them came on third down and one was an interception early in the four quarter.

Outside of that, Lee was brilliant yet again and should remain the leader of this team, even if Jefferson does get reinstated.

Grade: A-

2. Running Backs

The running game has been outstanding for LSU in the first two games, and it carried right over into the Tigers' Week 3 victory.

Spencer Ware led the way in this one, carrying the ball 22 times for 107 yards—an average of 4.9 yards per carry.

His backfield mate, Michael Ford, rushed for 50 yards on 13 carries.

This two-headed backfield is slowly gaining some consideration as the best one-two punch in America.

They have come up huge against two strong opponents in the Tigers' first three games.

This trend should continue going forward and only get stronger with time.

Grade: A-

3. Wide Receivers

Rueben Randle continues to shine in his role as the No. 1 receiver on this team.

The junior wideout hauled in six catches for 98 yards and had the game's lone touchdown on a beautiful 19-yard fade rout from Lee early in the fourth quarter.

As good as Randle was, a pair of freshman receivers were equally as impressive.

Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry have provided a great spark in the absence of Russell Shepard.

The freshman duo combined for 10 catches for 91 yards in the win.

Beckham had a number of impressive catches, including one that he snagged just before it hit the ground, keeping the Tigers' scoring drive alive.

This group continues to impress and will only get better when Shepard returns.

Grade: A

4. Offensive Line

LSU had some trouble with injuries to its offensive line early in the game, but the Tigers put that aside and continued to pave the way for another dominant rushing performance.

When your starting running back is averaging 4.9 yards per carry, you know darn well that the offensive line is getting their job done.

As far as pass protection, Lee was sacked only once in the game and rarely seemed fazed by any type of pressure.

This group is one of the best in the country.

Grade: A-

5. Defensive Line

If anyone doesn't agree with this statement, they obviously have not been watching LSU football this season:

The Tigers have the most dominant defensive line in America—no questions asked.

Chris Relf and Vick Ballard were thought to be one of the top quarterback-running back duos in the SEC, but the Tigers defensive line made it a point to shut them both down.

Relf finished the game just 11 of 17 for 96 yards and an interception.

It seemed like he was pressured every time he dropped back in the pocket to throw, which was a credit to this unit. In fact, he got so flustered that he was pulled midway through the fourth quarter.

Ballard was completely shut down as well, running for a season-low 38 yards.

Any team is going to have a tough time competing with LSU when the defensive line plays like this.

Grade: A+

6. Linebackers

The linebackers continue to play strongly for LSU, although you can tell that this unit does miss Kelvin Sheppard at times, who is now playing in the NFL.

Nonetheless, the fact that they held Vick Ballard—who was considered by some to be a dark-horse Heisman candidate heading into this season—to just 38 yards rushing is beyond impressive.

In fact, Mississippi State did not have an offensive play for more than 23 yards in this game. 

Grade: B

7. Secondary

As outstanding as the Tigers defensive line was in this game, it could be argued that the secondary was equally, if not more dominant in the win over Mississippi State.

Mo Caliborne has cemented his name as the top defensive back in college football after the first three weeks of the season.

His two interceptions in this game added more fuel to that fire.

Tyrann Mathieu is a No. 1 corner on pretty much any other team in the country, and he was in lock-down mode all night as well.

As a unit, the Tigers held Mississippi State's receivers and tight ends to just nine total receptions in this game.

Just take a look at Chris Relf's face in this game to know just how awesome this unit really was.

Grade: A+

8. Special Teams

You would think that Les Miles would have to find some type of negative in this game, but it isn't going to come in special teams, either.

First-year kicker Drew Alleman was perfect on the night, hitting all four of his field goal attempts, including two from 40-plus yards.

Freshman punter Brad Wing was out of action again, but replacement D.J. Howard filled in admirably, averaging more than 37 yards per punt.

As for the return game, there's nothing special. Mo Claybourne had a 33-yard kick return, but that was about it.

Perhaps they can find some more spark there against West Virginia. But can you really ask much more of Claiborne?

I think not.

Grade: B

9. Coaching

Les Miles came into this game with what seemed like a pretty standard, conservative game plan.

Make short, high-percentage passes and establish the run early on the offensive end. And get pressure on the quarterback and shut down the run on the defensive end.

All in all, the Tigers did just that, which allowed them to control the game and improve to 3-0 on the season.

Certainly can't fault Les Miles for a pretty much flawless game plan here.

Grade: A

10. Intangibles

To be able to go into any visiting stadium and win a college football game is impressive.

To be able to go into Mississippi State's stadium on a Thursday night game in front of nearly 60,000 crazy fans banging their cowbells and come out win a 19-6 win—that's beyond impressive.

LSU was never fazed by the crowd, which is tough to do in any hostile SEC environment.

Instead, they flustered Chris Relf and the Mississippi State offense to the point where it looked like they didn't even want to be on the field anymore by the time the fourth quarter rolled around.

The Tigers' 2-0 record looked pretty good heading into this game, but 3-0 with two huge wins looks a whole lot better.

Grade: A