Brian Kelly: ‘We’re not canceling the season’ after second loss

LSU fell to 3-2 on the season after losing Saturday’s SEC shootout against Ole Miss 55-49. Still, Tigers head coach Brian Kelly is assuring fans that the sky isn’t falling after the heart-breaking loss.

“There was some resiliency to the group, but we have a long way to go,” Kelly said postgame. “Listen, we’re not canceling the season, okay? We’re going to be there and work our tails off to get better. It was gut-wrenching. It was a difficult loss and our guys felt it, too.

“We’re going to go back to work, and we’re going to work our tails off to get better. We’re going to work to get our offense even better and hopefully, that’ll be good enough to go up to Columbia and back on the road in an SEC matchup against a really good team to get a win. We’re trying to get through week-to-week now. Day-by-day. That’s going to be our focus.”

It’s not as if LSU played bad against the Rebels, either. They led 49-40 with just over 8 minutes left in regulation before allowing 15-straight points in the final five miuntes. The game was sealed by a 13-yard touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart to Tre Harris with 39 seconds left in the game. With no time left for LSU to work with — Kelly’s team dropped the game and the Rebels’ faithful stormed the field.

Collectively, both teams combined for 1,343 total yards while both quarterbacks, Jayden Daniels and Jaxson Dart, pass for 414 and 389 passing yards and four touchdowns a piece, respectively. Daniels put up an additional 99 yards and another touchdown on the gound.

Despite the offensive fireworks, there was only one turnover during the entirety of the game. That was a fumble by LSU in the first quarter which not only cost the Tigers a possession, it led to an Ole Miss score on the next drive — or in other words, the difference between the final score.

There are a few more instances throughout the game that could be blamed for the game’s final outcome. Regardless, the Rebels emerged victorious and LSU has to move on and forget about the heartbreaking loss.

They now turn their attention toward another ranked road trip, this time against the undefeated Missouri Tigers. After that, they’ll return home for a two-game home stand against Auburn and Army, respectively.

Kickoff is scheduled for Noon ET live on ESPN.