LSU hosts McNeese Saturday evening

The LSU Tigers return to Baton Rouge for their first home game of the season, as they host the McNeese State Cowboys on Saturday evening.

How to watch or stream

Time: 7 p.m. CT

Streaming: This game is only available via ESPN+, which you can sign up for HERE. It is not available on traditional television.

After struggling through a historically bad defensive season in 2020, the hopes that things may have improved this season took a hit last week as LSU allowed almost 500 yards of total offense to UCLA in the Bruins’ 37-28 victory. UCLA had no problem ripping off chunks of yardage, averaging 7.5 yards per play against the LSU defense. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson went just 9/16, but three of his nine completions were for touchdowns. The big thing UCLA did well was run the ball. Zach Charbonnet and Brittian Brown combined for 213 yards and two touchdowns on 28 attempts. Simply put, the LSU defense needs to be better. The good news is that for the first time since early in their 2019 championship season, LSU faces a low-level opponent and has a chance to take a deep breath, regroup, and start getting it together.

Max Johnson wasn’t particularly bad against UCLA, going 26/46 for 330 yards and three touchdowns to one interception, but he will have to find more consistency in completing his passes to be successful. LSU will also need to get its rushing attack going in order to find success, after gaining just 49 yards on the ground against UCLA.

A fun wrinkle to this game is the fact that McNeese quarterback Cody Orgeron is the son of LSU head coach Ed Orgeron. In McNeese’s season-opening 42-36 loss to West Florida last week, Cody Orgeron went 31/47 for 367 yards and two touchdowns.