BATON ROUGE – To the untrained eye, the near 10-point dip in completion percentage for LSU football starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier ― total mark at 64.7% and 55.2% in Southeastern Conference play ― looks to be a steep dropoff.

Competition between, say, Ole Miss and Nicholls State is obviously different in both talent level and requirements of execution, earlier recognition of coverages and more conviction on throws.

The numbers are deceptive, LSU coach Brian Kelly. The reduction of completion percentage actually has a pretty straightforward reason.

"Our passing game, we're not a team that takes some of the bubble screens, the quick entry pass throws as part of what we do on a consistent basis," Kelly told reporters Monday during his weekly press conference ahead of the Tigers' meeting with Texas A&M on Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC). "I've had some offensive structures that we would it 70 percent because we were throwing easy throws out on the perimeter. We don't have a lot of those. We'll have some free access throws on the perimeter but we're through pass game progression which is some more complex throws."

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Nussmeier is more of a traditional, drop-back, pocket passer and while his individual percentage appears to suggest a deficiency against SEC teams, his stats are more in line with how LSU runs its offense under coordinator Joe Sloan.

"Our percentage is going to be a little bit lower. We're not going to be in the 70 to 75 percentile," Kelly said. "We're going to be probably in the 60s. It's really what our choice is relative to the kind of passing game we're running with Garrett."

How it's beneficial for No. 7 LSU (6-1, 3-0 SEC), which is second in the conference standings and has won six straight games heading into College Station this weekend, is Nussmeier's game fits the offense's approach.

Nussmeier has completed at least one pass to 14 different receivers this season. The "full-field progression" that the Tigers' signal caller works through, Kelly says, keeps defenses on honest and gives them more to work into preparation of LSU's offensive attack.

"The distribution of where the ball goes is much more difficult to defend because you don't know where the ball is going. It could go to Aaron Anderson, it could go to (Kyren) Lacy, it could go to Mason Taylor, it could go to C.J. (Daniels). We're able to move the ball all over the field and it makes it more difficult for you to roll coverages, isolate particular players. You need a full field progression and when you're in a full field progression, there a little bit more there relative to opportunities," Kelly said.

"With that, you're not getting some of the cupcake throws that keep the chains moving in some other offenses. Percentages tend to dip a little bit because of that. But we feel like that is a better fit for Garrett in terms of what he does. It's worked pretty good for our offense."

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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: Why LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier's completion rate has dipped in SEC games