With LSU coach Brian Kelly out following a 5-3 start to the season, punctuated by Saturday night’s 49-25 loss to Texas A&M, the Tigers have also made a move at offensive coordinator. The team announced it fired OC Joe Sloan on Monday. LSU ranks near the bottom of the SEC in several categories in terms of production and hasn’t matched the success due to faulty offensive line play, lack of a rushing attack and inconsistent execution.
Sloan joined Kelly’s first-year staff at LSU in 2022 as the quarterbacks coach after nine seasons with Louisiana Tech. He helped develop Jayden Daniels into a Heisman winner the following campaign with record-setting production. After previous play-caller Mike Denbrock lefft for Notre Dame, Kelly promoted Sloan to OC before the 2024 season.
Most assumed LSU’s would build on its nine-win finish last fall with veteran quarterback Garrett Nussmeier returning along with ample transfer talent on offense, but it never quite gelled correctly. After starting the season 4-0 and climbing to inside the top five despite lack of explosive plays, the Tigers are just 2-3 in conference play.
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Chris Hummer
They’ve been one-dimensional this season without any semblance of a run game, ranking last in the SEC at 106.2 yards per game. As a result, opposing defenses have teed off on Nussmeier, whose numbers are a shell of his 2024 production when he threw for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdown passes.
Nussmeier’s been slowed by various injuries and hasn’t been kept upright by LSU’s replacements along its offensive line. The Tigers invested in this room during the offseason after losing four starters, but have already given up 16 sacks, one more than last fall in five fewer games.
LSU’s offense under Sloan in 2025
- Total offense: 355.5 yards per game (14th in SEC)
- Rushing offense: 106.2 YPG (16th)
- Scoring offense: 25.5 PPG (12th)
- Third-down conversions: 39% (12th)
- Tackles-for-loss allowed: 46 (11th)
- Red zone TD rate: 58.6% (14th)
TV cameras during Saturday’s broadcast caught Kelly ripping into several staffers during the blowout, including Sloan, following an incomplete pass late in the second quarter. Sloan called a short route to Aaron Anderson on third down at Texas A&M’s 13-yard line with 26 seconds left in the half, after which Kelly came unglued on the headset since LSU was out of timeouts.
Kelly acknowledged LSU’s offensive struggles earlier this month after the Tigers’ 20-10 win over South Carolina included a pair of red zone turnovers and ineptitude across the board on that side of the football outside of a stellar outing from tight Trey’Dez Green.
Sloan, a former quarterback at ECU, was in the mix for the Pirates’ coaching vacancy last cycle before they promoted defensive coordinator Blake Harrell to coach.
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