In Brian Kelly’s first season as the head coach of the LSU Tigers, he has taken a team that was 6-7 last year to an 8-2 record so far and an appearance in the SEC Championship game against Georgia.
So, what changed? Kelly brought a whole new staff of coaches to the Bayou with him and a top-ten recruiting class that included [autotag]Harold Perkins[/autotag]. Add to that a ton of transfers on both sides of the ball to try and revamp a depleted team.
Even with all of those changes, the Tigers looked rough in the first game of the season against the Florida State Seminoles as LSU lost 24-23 in New Orleans.
Kelly was asked this week what have been the keys to the Tigers’ success this season.
“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.”
The Tigers have certainly come a long way since that loss and now sit in College Football Playoff contention heading into the final two games of the regular season.
LSU will welcome the UAB Blazers to Baton Rouge this weekend for Senior Night.
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