LSU didn’t play very well in Sunday night’s 24-23 loss to Florida State, but it still had the chance to win at the end.
The Tigers put together what appeared to be a last-minute, game-tying scoring drive. Quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] found receiver Jaray Jenkins in the back of the end zone as time expired, and it looked like we were heading for overtime.
But despite the fact that LSU had the offensive momentum and had made several special teams snafus earlier in the game — a blocked field goal and two muffed punts — coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] opted for the conservative move and kicked the extra point.
Damian Ramos’ kick was blocked, and the Seminoles celebrated a one-point victory in New Orleans. After the game, SEC Network host Paul Finebaum (who had high praise for Kelly this offseason) went scorched earth on the Tigers coach after his debut.
“LSU paid $10 million for that, Greeny? That was my takeaway last night because it makes perfect sense to go for two,” Finebaum told Mike Greenberg on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Monday. “He just went 99 yards. It was a perfectly executed drive and Florida State’s defense is, forget on their heels, they’re on their back. And you want to keep playing when you’ve played that poorly? No.
“And you don’t want to put in the hands of the special teams because you’ve already had two muffed punts, you had a blocked field goal. Of course you go for two. I think it’s the simplest call in the world. Brian Kelly being somewhat conservative, he immediately put up the one. Brian, you’re not in the NFL. This is college football. Put the dagger in.”
Kelly defended the decision in his postgame press conference.
“[I] felt like, in that situation, that it was the prudent and percentage-wise that we were gonna be able to execute it,” Kelly said.
Kelly and his team will head back to Baton Rouge to prepare for the home opener next week against Southern. They will have a short week to process the disappointing loss, which came in heartbreaking fashion to add insult to injury.
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