LSU interim coach Frank Wilson pulling out all stops against Alabama

LSU interim coach Frank Wilson has named Garrett Nussmeier the starting quarterback but hinted at a significant role for backup Michael Van Buren Jr.
Van Buren Jr. is a dual-threat quarterback who previously played at Mississippi State and is being compared to Florida State’s Thomas Castellanos.
With LSU out of championship contention, the coaching staff has little to lose by experimenting with the quarterback position.

The noise is all that’s heard. The odd soundbite, the strange analogy. 

Frank Wilson compared his four games as LSU’s interim coach to Pearl Harbor. Really, he did.

But look deeper. When bombs drop and sirens blare into the fog of LSU war, it’s time for everyone to come together.

It’s also a time for the unexpected. 

“Garrett (Nussmeier) is our starting quarterback,” Wilson said Monday at LSU’s weekly news conference ― and then, well, the bomb dropped. “We do think that Michael (Van Buren Jr.) brings some special things to the table that makes a defense have to defend him.”

And away we go. 

Make no mistake, if you’re given the keys to one of the top five programs in college football with four games to play, coach like there’s nothing to lose. Because there sure as hell isn’t. 

LSU can’t win the SEC, can’t reach the College Football Playoff and the season — and fired coach Brian Kelly’s tenure — is already a spectacular fail. The grease board is clean, go dirty it up with something no one expects. 

Something that may just give bitter rival Alabama fits.

Van Buren Jr. isn’t your typical backup. He played extensively last season at Mississippi State, and proved he could play at a high level in the SEC. 

Here’s the best way to describe Van Buren Jr.: Thomas Castellanos, with the ability to throw accurately. 

If that comparison sends PTSD down the spines of all things Crimson Tide, it’s doing exactly what Wilson wants. Put the idea of what could be into the minds of the Alabama defensive staff, which had no answers for Castellanos in the season-opening loss to Florida State. 

It’s no coincidence that Alabama’s defense has looked among the nation’s best in ranked games against Georgia and Tennessee, and looked susceptible against Florida State, Vanderbilt, Missouri and South Carolina.

Or more to the point, susceptible against Castellanos, Diego Pavia, Beau Pribula and LaNorris Sellers. Those four dual-threat quarterbacks combined to rush for 264 yards (that number includes losses because of sacks) and three touchdowns.

Now you see the allure of Van Buren Jr., and why Wilson says the backup will be more involved in the game plan this week.  

So while Nussmeier is LSU’s starter, while he was paid NIL millions to stay in Baton Rouge this season and not leave for another school or the NFL, Wilson has already been shown what cost of doing business means to LSU. 

If the school — and state, according to The Gov — are on the hook for $54 million to tell Kelly his services are no longer needed, what’s another couple million to see what you’ve got with Van Buren? 

The quarterback who had 16 touchdowns (five rush) in eight starts last season for the worst team in the SEC. Who threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns at Georgia, in a 41-31 loss that was dangerously too close for Georgia coach Kirby Smart. 

The quarterback who went right down the field on the last drive of the Texas A&M blowout loss that got Kelly fired. Nussmeier got sacked and dinged, and Van Buren entered and the next thing you know, he hits tight end Trey’Dez Green for a 28-yard gain. 

Van Buren runs four times for 18 yards, takes a couple of sacks, and completes two more passes, the last a 12-yard dart to Kyle Parker for LSU’s only score of the second half. 

A 75-yard drive where he accounted for 68 yards. Now that’s a bomb — figuratively speaking, of course. 

Wilson knows what he has in Nussmeier: a talented thrower who is getting punished because the LSU offensive line has struggled all season. When protected, Nussmeier can make every throw and the pass game is dangerous. 

When protection breaks down (as it often has), Nussmeier’s accuracy dips and he forces reckless throws. And — here’s the key — he doesn’t have the ability to extend plays downfield with his legs.

Like Castellanos. You remember him, right? 

The quarterback who ran 18 times for 78 yards against the Tide, numerous runs on second or third and make a play to extend drives. It’s simple math: The more your quarterback runs, the more the defense must account for him. 

From accounting for five, to accounting for six. And if the sixth has dynamic run ability from the quarterback position, everything changes on defense. 

Especially in the fog of war. 

“We’ll look at the opportunities that present itself for them, for us,” Wilson said. “And when they present themselves, we’ll take advantage of it.”

There’s nothing odd about that soundbite.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.