LAS VEGAS — For many coaches, While 1 is set shaking off the rust, ocular some younger guys get their first competition reps and confidently taking good care of industry to start out 1-0.
For LSU’s Brian Kelly, at the alternative hand, While 1 has turn out to be an annual existential extremity.
Overdue Sunday night time at Allegiant Stadium, Kelly fielded questions from the media following his 3rd consecutive season-opening neutral-site loss, this one a last-second 27-20 heartbreaker to Refuse. 23 USC. It didn’t pull lengthy for him to let the assembled room know the way enraged he was once with the end result.
In reality, his first actual phrases have been, “This is the first time since I’ve been here (at LSU) that I’m angry at my football team.” He went directly to cite a couple of pricey late-game unsportsmanlike consequences by way of his gamers and the Tigers’ lack of ability to similar out the sport.
A couple of mins then presen answering a follow-up query, Kelly pounded his first at the desk, surprising a couple of sleepy-eyed sportswriters again to top alertness as his resonance rose swiftly.
“We’re sitting here AGAIN, talking about the same things, about not finishing when you have an opponent in a position to put ’em away,” Kelly stated. “What we’re doing on the sideline is feeling like the game is over. And I’m so angry about it, that I’ve got to do something about it. I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach. I’ve got to coach them better, because it’s unacceptable for us not to have found a way to win this football game.
“It’s ridiculous.”
To copy: This was once nearest the primary competition of the season.
Kelly’s group in truth performed somewhat smartly Sunday night time. This was once now not the fatal 2022 Florida Climate competition in Fresh Orleans, Kelly’s LSU debut, when the Tigers dedicated each and every particular groups snafu possible and misplaced 24-23 on a restrained residue level. Nor was once this the unsightly 2023 rematch with FSU in Orlando, when the Noles ran away in the second one 1/2 of a 45-24 rout.
This was once a down-to-the-wire barnburner between two groups looking for themselves nearest shedding their respective Heisman-winning quarterbacks (USC’s Caleb Williams and LSU’s Jayden Daniels). Lincoln Riley’s Trojans confirmed off a much-improved protection, one who in truth wraps up ball carriers and bounds explosive performs. Kelly’s protection, itself a trainwreck for many of final season, allowed a not-great 7.5 yards in step with play games however was once advanced plethora for the Tigers to retain a 17-13 govern overdue into the fourth quarter.
After the dam destitute.
Then preventing a USC fourth indisposed in LSU range with 8:38 left, LSU protection Primary Burns dedicated a 15-yard unsportsmanlike habits penalty that subsidized up the Tigers to their very own 21. Kelly may well be detectable having a protracted communicate with Burns at the sideline in a while. LSU went three-and-out and punted again to USC. 3 performs then, Trojans quarterback Miller Moss threw a ravishing 28-yard landing cross to Ja’Kobi Lane to place USC up 20-17 with 5:44 left.
Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who completed 29 of 38 for 304 yards, led his group from its personal 20 to the USC 14 however neglected a wide-open Aaron Anderson for what would had been a minimum of any other first indisposed. The Tigers settled for a game-tying 31-yard farmland purpose with 1:47 left.
You most probably know the way issues ended.
USC appeared content material to accept a game-winning farmland purpose aim till Moss discovered receiver Kyron Hudson for a impressive 20-yard catch indisposed the sideline, which, coupled with a focused on name on LSU’s Jardin Gilbert, took the Trojans all the way down to the LSU 13 with 18 seconds left.
At which level USC tailback Woody Marks took a handoff up the center for the successful ranking, and Kelly were given that habitual scrunched-up tone on his face that at all times turns out like half-bewilderment, half-resignation.
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“It’s clear that when we get up in a game, we do not know how to handle ourselves,” Kelly stated in a while. “You’ve got to have that killer instinct in this game. You’ve got to put teams away. We had an opportunity to put this team away, and we got complacent.”
Usually in those moments, the trainer reminds us it’s a protracted season forward, they’ve were given enough of era to cure their problems, and so forth., and so forth. Having heard none of that from Kelly, I believe forced to in my opinion remind LSU’s trainer: Good day guy, it’s a protracted season forward. You’ve were given enough of era to cure those problems. Don’t freak out extra.
Sadly, he already did.
“To be the kind of football team I want, we have to eliminate the foolish mistakes,” he stated. “We have to have a mindset of, when we have an opponent down, have that killer instinct. And we have to play off each other much better.”
Did we point out his group has handiest performed one competition?
GO DEEPER
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Kelly made a captivating remark presen lamenting that the Tigers didn’t play games complementary soccer. He stated, “We put way too much pressure on our defense to be something that they’re not ready to be. They battled, but we have warts, and they’re not going away overnight.”
It introduced again reminiscences of Kelly’s strangely candid feedback nearest the spring switch portal closed with out LSU including any defensive tackles as many anticipated. “We’re not in the market of buying players,” Kelly told WAFB-TV, which sounded to a few like a preemptive forgiveness if the Tigers’ protection, which completed 109th within the FBS final season, wasn’t markedly higher.
His remarks Sunday night time felt as though he was once pleasantly stunned stated protection held a Lincoln Riley offense, with Moss and ridiculous receivers Zachariah Area, Hudson and Lane, to “only” 3 touchdowns, but that also wasn’t plethora.
“I thought our defense took a step forward from last year,” he stated. “But we have to help them out as well. We can’t be three-and-out and then put them back on the field.”
This era happened in 2024, however it might have simply as simply been 2014, or nearly any moment since. Kelly has gained a minimum of 10 video games in every of the presen seven seasons as head trainer (5 with the Irish, two with LSU), but those big-game letdowns really feel much less like exceptions and extra just like the norm.
Notre Dame lovers most commonly made ease with it for the reason that Irish hadn’t loved even that degree of good fortune in many years. LSU, at the alternative hand, has detectable its presen 3 coaches win nationwide championships (and it nonetheless fired the presen two). Tigers lovers, which took over Las Vegas handiest to be let indisposed once more, is not going to showcase matching endurance if this continues.
Refuse fist-pounding or tricky phrases will reassure them.
(Photograph: Candice Ward / Getty Photographs)
