1. Mahomes is still a special athlete. His ability to extend plays combined with a strong arm is a thing of beauty. We've been spoiled with a season and a half of his play, and should get two more. He had several plays where he scrambled and threw across his body off his back foot for a completion. This kid is legit.
2. 1st downs are absolutely key for this offense. Over the season, when they seemed to sputter, there were too many 2nd and 10 or more. In the beginning of the game, this happened and we sputtered. Then in the 2nd quarter, when we started to move the ball better, we were making plays on 1st downs
3. This game was all about the playmakers. Fournette for LSU, Mahomes, Grant, and Washington for Tech. They all left their mark on this game, some more than others obviously. We're going to miss Jakeem and Deandre, 2 of our most elite playmakers we've had in recent seasons.
4. Speaking of playmakers, Grant is FAST. I mean, we all knew it, we have for 4 years now. But now LSU defenders know it. He consistently outran whoever was covering him. All he was missing tonight was a trick play or a big return. It's been awesome to get to write about #11 and what he does for the team and university.
5. When you're getting beat in a certain aspect of the game, such as our OL vs their DL, sometimes it's not what you're doing wrong, but just plain getting beat by better athletes. LSU has some damn good players on defense, and it's not all on you when you're getting beat by better players. Sometimes it's just that, getting beat, and it happened almost all game long.
6. Capitalize on what the defense gives you. Too many times this year, only one side of the ball would be playing well. Quite often the defense would get a big stop and the offense would go 3 and out. There was some of that early in the 3rd quarter, but getting the score after the Dakota Allen INT was big.
7. As much as the defense did tonight, and they showed us a lot of improvement in execution, they still have a way to go. Fournette's 43 yarder in the 3rd was completely untouched. You can't miss a tackle when you don't touch the guy.
8. Everyone knew coming into the game that we'd try and force Fournette to beat us and make Harris beat us through the air. Their drive after the incredibly unlucky red zone INT was almost all through the air
9. The team on the field was awfully young. Ja'Deion High, Cameron Batson, and Tony Brown had several targets but couldn't come up with enough receptions. A year of experience for these guys will really help in the coming seasons.
10. LSU was a team that was a legitimate contender for the playoff early in the season. There's no shame in losing to them. This was a great year for us, especially compared to last year's 4-8 season. We set a record for points scored in a season, and eclipsed 25 points every game, the only team in the Power 5 to do so.