Brian Kelly looking to see how LSU handles success after second straight win

A season-opening loss to Florida State is beginning to become a more distant memory at LSU as the Brian Kelly era continues to unfold. How LSU handles success, though, remains to be seen.

And that’s what Kelly was focused on in his Monday press conference with reporters.

“Our expectations and our standards are that we have a great week of preparation regardless of who our competition is, whether it’s an SEC competition or not,” Kelly said. “We need to be consistent in what we’re doing, and that will be the challenge this week. The maturity will be on display in terms of how mature we are as a football team and can we handle success? We had some success this weekend, how do we handle it this week in our preparation?”

That preparation will be for a game against New Mexico.

The Lobos will head to Tiger Stadium with a 2-1 record, having beaten UTEP and Maine and lost to Boise State. If there’s one area New Mexico has been very good it’s on defense.

Currently, New Mexico ranks 11th nationally in rushing defense, 15th in total defense and 20th in total defense.

Can LSU handle success properly?

After the season-opening loss to the Seminoles the Tigers have looked considerably better. The defense has really begun to emerge the last couple weeks, evident in a shackling of the Mike Leach Air Raid offense that came to Baton Rouge last weekend, particularly in a pivotal fourth quarter.

“I really liked physically and mentally how our guys stayed with it the entire game,” Kelly said. “The sense on the sideline for me was really good that our team was, at no time, anxious panicking, didn’t believe that they were going to find a way to win the football game. That’s a very good trait to have moving forward and we’ll look to build on that.”

Still, Kelly is fully aware how fleeting success can be. That’s why he’s primarily focused on process, particularly with an opponent coming up this week that might otherwise be easy to overlook.

“As we move forward now, getting another home game, excited to be in Tiger Stadium again for a third consecutive week,” Kelly said. “But now we have to look towards persistence and consistency. Looking at a football team now that has a chance to be a good team, you have to have consistency. And that means coming back after a good win and putting together a complete performance.

“That is mental and physical and that is in how they prepare. So we start that preparation today, we work through the week.”