In Brian Kelly’s two-plus seasons as the head coach of the LSU Tigers, he’s done several good things.
An SEC West title in 2022, developing a Heisman Trophy quarterback in 2023 and potentially signing a top-five recruiting class when National Signing Day arrives next month.
But the last ten quarters of LSU football have been dismal. Since leading Texas A&M at halftime by ten points, the Tigers have been outscored 100 to 35.
An offense consistently scoring 30-plus points a game has scored just three touchdowns over the last 10 quarters.
LSU’s inability to finish off drives and the defense giving up big plays was on full display in Gainesville as the Tigers lost 27-16 on Saturday.
It’s hard to win on the road in the SEC, but good teams figure out how to beat a team hampered by injuries and have a coach who has yet to produce a winning season at Florida.
But LSU is not a good team.
They invented a new way to lose on Saturday in the Swamp. The Tigers dominated in nearly every statistical category but still lost by double digits despite having 25 first downs to Florida’s 13.
Once again it comes down to consistent problems that this coaching staff has not been able to fix all year, finishing off drives offensively and limiting the big play on defense.
On Florida’s 55-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, linebacker Whit Weeks told reporters after the game that there was miscommunication, as half of the players thought they were running another play on defense.
How does that happen during week ten of the season?
And now we are seeing new problems cropping up. Garrett Nussmeier was sacked a season-high seven times, doubling his sack total for the season.
You also have disciplinary issues creeping in as two of your senior starters, defensive lineman Bradyn Swinson and safety Sage Ryan were benched in the first quarter for “not meeting team standards,” according to the broadcast on ABC-TV.
There’s also video of senior wide receiver Kyren Lacy screaming at Brian Kelly as LSU’s offense is coming off the field. Kelly screaming at receiver Chris Hilton for miss timing his jump on a deep ball.
It’s just a mess.
To Kelly’s credit, he’s trying to put the rail cars back on the train tracks. He had the offensive play calling sheet in his hands and kept looking at it regularly, something he had not done during his time at LSU.
Kelly understands the responsibility for what’s happening on the field starts with him but are the players buying what he’s selling?
We’ll find out more over the next two weeks as there is no longer a slim chance of playing in the SEC Championship game. Winning ten games this season is no longer possible.
It’s all about pride from this point forward and Kelly will be watching to see who really wants to be a part of this program and who doesn’t.
“There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through and we got to do it together, so if you are not a thumb pointer, if you are not somebody who is not going to continue work to be better than we don’t have place for you the last couple of weeks, but if you want to fight and you want to keep working to get better than we are going to working alongside of you,” Kelly said.
Questions about the direction of the program will only get louder this week and with a hungry Vanderbilt team coming into Tiger Stadium this Saturday the free fall of the 2024 season may continue.
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