Marcel Reed found the scab, but Jalen Milroe created a wound.
Running quarterbacks have been a problem for LSU football's defense since the second half of the Tigers' loss to Texas A&M, when Reed -- a redshirt freshman -- replaced the less-mobile Conner Weigman and ran for 62 yards and three touchdowns despite completing just two passes.
Two weeks later against Alabama at in Tiger Stadium, it was déjà vu. Milroe only had 12 carries but he finished the game with 185 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He had more yards on the ground than through the air.
LSU didn't have to worry about a quarterback ground game last week at Florida. Freshman DJ Lagway is a speedy athlete, but he had just returned from a hamstring injury and might've not been 100% healthy. But this weekend against Vanderbilt, the quarterback run game will be a critical aspect of the Commodores' offense.
And it won't just be read-option that the Tigers will have to stop. Vanderbilt runs its offense around the triple option.
"I think you have to have a different mindset when you go against this offense," LSU coach Brian Kelly said on Monday. "This is truly assignment oriented football, and you have to be disciplined."
For Vanderbilt, the quirky offensive structure has been successful this season. The Commodores are going to a bowl game for the first time since 2018. They took down Alabama earlier in the season and lost to Texas by just three points.
The system works in large part because of quarterback Diego Pavia. The fifth-year graduate senior and New Mexico State transfer has been a menace on the ground.
Pavia leads all SEC quarterbacks in rushing yards (718) and is second in the conference -- Milroe is first -- in rushing yards on designed quarterback runs (483), according to Pro Football Focus.
"He's just a hard runner," senior defensive lineman Paris Shand said. "He doesn't shy away from contact."
Pavia averages 3.56 yards after contact and has 24 runs that have gone for more than 10 yards, per PFF. But the veteran may not be 100% healthy heading into Saturday.
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said on Tuesday that Pavia "is still banged up" and that it'll take a few weeks before he's fully healthy again. He added that the Commodores "put him on the shelf" during their off week this past week.
"If he's limited, we have to facilitate performance in other players that can run the ball," Lea said. "Obviously (backup) Nate (Johnson's) prepared to play too... and if (Pavia's) ineffective, we need to give Nate a chance to run our offense."
But no matter how healthy he'll be, the Tigers can't be overly eager on slowing him down because of all the misdirection and various options he can turn to in this system.
The Commodores aren't afraid to deploy funky formations and concepts, whether it's playing with three running backs or using tight ends in unique ways as blocker in the run game, Shand and senior defensive lineman Gio Paez said.
Shand adds that they're also exceptional at disguising plays.
"I think they do a good job -- when I looked at film -- on running the same plays, but out of different formations and stuff like that, just to make it look different," Shand said.
Vanderbilt as a team averages 4.2 yards per rush, but Pavia is also a threat through the air. He has 15 touchdown passes to just three interceptions and an NFL passer rating of 101, per PFF.
"They want to catch you doing something that's not your job," Kelly said. "So the big focus will be discipline in getting your job done in all three phases, inside, out and on the perimeter."
All of the fakes and motions Vanderbilt is expected to deploy may give LSU issues. Communication problems and poor leveraging have resulted in too many explosive plays for LSU's opposition, particularly on the ground.
For example, sophomore linebacker Whit Weeks explained after the Florida loss that half of the defense thought it was running one play while the other half believed it was running another on running back Jadan Baugh's 55-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
"I think one of the big things that we've learned in this new era of communication and the headset for the players is there needs to be one voice," Kelly said. "And even if you have the green dot, the one voice needs to be consistent and constant. And maybe that occurred. We're trying to get to the end of that too and what happened there, but clearly that's on us as coaches."
Defensive coordinator Blake Baker's aggressiveness has also come back to bite the Tigers at times. Kelly admitted after the Alabama loss that the play it ran on Milroe's 72-yard touchdown run was one it regretted.
The Tigers had seemingly sent a blitz on that play, getting downhill too quickly and allowing Milroe to skirt past the defense and into the end zone.
But whether its untimely play calling or undisciplined play, LSU will have to keep all of that to a minimum in order to earn a victory against the Commodores. The Tigers' current three-game losing streak is already the longest they've had under Kelly.
If it gets to four, it'll be the lengthiest winning drought the program has suffered since 1999.
"If you don't win a championship here, it's a failure, and I agree with that, but we still have a lot to play for," junior left tackle Will Campbell said. "6-6 is a lot worse than 8-4, so we have to go win two more games."