Brian Kelly evaluates his team through the first four weeks of the season

LSU head coach Brian Kelly is a third of the way through his debut season as the Tigers’ head coach, and has them off to a pretty good start. The Tigers fell to Florida State in week 1 of the season, but have put together three straight wins, as they head into their week 4 matchup versus Auburn 3-1. Kelly was asked to assess his team through four weeks, and if he is pleased with their progress so far.

“I guess the set up was we’re gonna find out now, this first month was kind of like let’s put this together, and the preface was these guys have worked really hard to do exactly what we’ve asked them to do,” Kelly said.

The Tigers have been playing well, and have even notched their first conference win with a 31-16 victory over Mississippi State, and Kelly knows they’ll have to elevate their play as they head into the thick of their SEC schedule, but not change their process.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“They’ve put themself in the position, they have followed a process, and they’ve been consistent with it. Now we’re gonna have to apply it to the SEC, and that is a step up,” Kelly said. “So the next month, there’s gonna be some good days and gonna be some bad days, and they cannot try to do things differently.”

Kelly is no stranger to turning things around at a program and trusting the process. Central Michigan was 3-9 before his arrival and 9-4 in his last season there, Cincinnati was 4-7 the year before he got there and had an undefeated season in his final year with the Bearcats, and Notre Dame was 6-6 in 2009 pre-Kelly and ripped off five straight 10-plus win seasons in his final years with the program.

LSU was 6-7 in 2021, one of the better foundations for Kelly in his career, but play in arguably the toughest conference in college football history. Kelly understands that year one of his run won’t be the easiest, and that obstacles will get in their way, but overall seems pleased with where the Tigers are at.

“It’s like anything else, the old Mike Tyson line, everybody’s got a plan till they get hit in the mouth right?” Kelly asked. “We’re gonna have to stick with our plan and stick with our process every single day because we’re gonna get hit in the mouth, and we’re gonna have to trust it and keep going. And I guess that was the preface I was trying to make.”