BATON ROUGE – Perhaps the best way to describe the first win of the 2024 season for LSU football is uninspiring.

Nicholls, in its first time ever, came into Tiger Stadium Saturday night and stood up to the No. 19 Tigers (1-1), trailing 23-14 at halftime and cut the lead back down to two points, 23-21, for the third time in the game after its second-half opening drive.

LSU did finally seize control from there, scoring the game's final 21 points en route to the 44-21 victory. LSU coach Brian Kelly told reporters following the game he felt his team was "tired" coming off the short week.

As players Greg Penn III and C.J. Daniels said after the game that it's good to still have things to work on coming off a win. But there's a lot for the Tigers to try and correct, which they need to fix fast as they open SEC play at South Carolina (2-0) Saturday (11 a.m. CT, ABC).

Here are three burning questions for LSU after Week 2.

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What's going on with the LSU football run game?

It'd be easy to just point to injuries, as senior John Emery, the team's leading rusher against USC in the season opener, did go down for the season with an ACL tear during practice last week. But really, Emery didn't blow the lid off Allegiant Stadium with just 61 yards.

There was no secret that LSU was going to be thin at running back this season before Emery's injury. Now that offensive coordinator Joe Sloan and LSU has two games under its belt in 2024, it appears there's not much trust in the tailbacks to get anything established, in all aspects. The most run plays called in any drive against Nicholls was three, happening three times before the game was in hand. There's no commitment to the run game as of now.

The Tigers ranks 113th in college football in rushing yards per game at 88.5 through two games. That's going to be a major problem for LSU if it doesn't find balance as conference play arrives.

Is it time we talk about the offensive line?

Not getting much of a push against USC, there's a world where that isn't alarming. Not getting any drive off the ball against Nicholls is a different story.

LSU's vaunted offensive line hasn't performed very vaunted-like through two games. It's disappointing start has caused plenty of the issues in LSU's run game struggles. This offense under Sloan this season was designed and going to contain a lot of misdirection and counters. All positions were going to be tasked with pulling and there wasn't going to be as much zone blocking schemes as there's been with a more mobile quarterback.

There has been some shakeups in the lineup, as Garrett Dellinger didn't play against Nicholls Saturday due to a concussion and freshman Tyree Adams. But the group struggled with him in the game.

The story isn't written on the offensive line and the more in plays in the scheme, naturally it should improve. But the Tiger offense needs to see that improve soon.

Is LSU defense in trouble if Jacobian Guillory misses extended time?

This may be the most pressing question surrounding the Tigers right now. Senior defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory went down early in the second quarter against the Colonels with an apparent left ankle injury. He left the field in a wheelchair and an air cast on his leg.

Nicholls chewed up plenty of yardage, especially on the ground after Guillory exited the game Saturday. There's no reason to believe that better competition will do the same, gashing runs up the middle of LSU's defense.

If Guillory misses extended time, freshman Ahmad Breaux will be asked to play more as well as other younger, inexperienced players. That won't be ideal for LSU and if the middle of the defense can't push back the line of scrimmage, teams will feast.

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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football mailbag: What's wrong with the run game, offensive line?