Brian Kelly reveals the keys to LSU's success this season
If you told most LSU would be where they are after the Florida State loss, they would probably call you crazy. Outside of a home loss to Tennessee, Brian Kelly has been able to help his team bounce back in impressive fashion and will appear in the SEC Championship game on Dec. 3. Not many coaches in the conference can say they’ve done so in their first season in charge.
Kelly reflected on the Florida State game in New Orleans, saying there was a reason LSU looked out of sorts. However, he took the blame for not doing his job of getting the team prepared to play.
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“I think it’s pretty clear that when you look at where we were against Florida State,” Kelly began. “We had a lot of new players playing. Transfers, freshmen, new quarterback, new system. And, it’s no excuse. My job is to prepare them and get them ready and I didn’t have them ready to the level that they needed to be for that game.”
From then on, it’s been a steady line of trending upward in Baton Rouge. Kelly explained why LSU has gotten closer of the past few months, saying an identity was built by focusing on everything play by play.
“They showed a fight,” said Kelly. “We knew we had something after that game, that these guys had a special trait of resiliency. So, we worked hard on just building an identity within and that was having a better focus from play to play and that’s grown throughout the year.
“The development of this football team has been getting to know each other better, playing together, coming together as a team because there were a lot of new players. A lot of new pieces to this team. I think it’s just the natural progression of a group of guys coming together over time.”
LSU is a classic example of a college football team getting better as the season goes on. However, once again, not many are giving them a chance in the SEC Championship game. Kelly will have another opportunity to prepare his team for a big moment, hoping to bring back a conference title.
Until then, UAB and Texas A&M are next up on the schedule. The Tigers can continue the positive trendline by closing out the season with two wins.