Tag: Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly shares thoughts on facing former assistant Clark Lea

Here’s what Brian Kelly had to say about facing his former assistant on Saturday

For the second time this year, LSU head coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] will face a former Notre Dame assistant. The first round came at Texas A&M when Kelly’s old DC Mike Elko got the best of LSU.

Now, LSU is set to face Vanderbilt, led by Clark Lea.

Lea was linebackers coach at Notre Dame before Kelly promoted him to defensive coordinator. Lea was with Kelly at Notre Dame from 2017-20 before taking the Vanderbilt job in 2021.

“Clark is extremely locked into what his process is,” Kelly said, “He’s stayed steadfast with that even through some of the rougher years, and that’s why they’re on the other side of this.”

Kelly elaborated, talking about Lea’s time at Notre Dame.

“That’s the way he ran everything. All of our meetings were in lockstep. Everything that we did was a consensus, which I’m certain he’s getting that same consensus within his program at Vanderbilt,” Kelly said.

All of Lea’s defenses at Notre Dame ranked top 15 nationally in scoring defense. Two units ranked in the top 10.

Brian Kelly explains his increased involvement in play calling

LSU head coach Brian Kelly explains why he’s gotten more involved with the playcalling

Ahead of the matchup with Florida, LSU head coach Brian Kelly talked about using his experience to help offensive coordinator Joe Sloan call plays.

The offensive woes continued for the Tigers in a 27-16 loss in Gainesville, a game in which the Tigers allowed seven sacks and settled for four field goal attempts.

Kelly took the fall while addressing the media following the loss and described his offense as “ineffective” as it mustered just one touchdown despite possessing the ball for 42 minutes.

“We can’t keep taking points off the board,” Kelly said. “Drives have to be converted. You can’t just continue to move the ball up and down the field and not convert it to points. That is, to a large degree, making sure that everybody is doing their job. And that’s why I have to be more involved in what’s going on.”

The offensive struggles began in the second half of the Texas A&M loss. As the struggles continued, Kelly’s involvement increased.

“When things don’t go well, the head coach has got to be involved,” Kelly said. “That’s not to say that I don’t have trust in my staff. I do. But the buck stops with me. When we lose a game, I have to be able to look at the reasons.”

Kelly tabbed “execution and consistency” as the keys to the Tiger offense, which aims to better protect quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and convert in early downs.

LSU produced on the ground at an above-average rate against the Gators, but stalled-out drives at midfield allowed the home team to take over.

With two games left on the schedule — both in Death Valley — Kelly emphasized the importance of his involvement with the offensive game plan.

“The head coach is ultimately responsible for the success of his football team and we were not successful these last three weeks,” Kelly said. “I wasn’t good enough tonight, but we’re going to go back to work and we’re going to look at the things that we need to get better at.

“We’re going to keep swinging and we’re going to have 22 guys out there that are going to fight for LSU and play hard these last two weeks.”

Tyrann Mathieu hints at how many years he plans on playing pro football

Tyrann Mathieu hinted at how many years he plans on playing pro football, at which point he’ll trade in his cleats and, hopefully, coach his LSU Tigers:

Tyrann Mathieu isn’t about to retire from pro football and hang up his cleats, but the New Orleans Saints does have a plan in mind for what’s next. He was as frustrated by his LSU Tigers’ loss to their longtime rival Florida Gators as any other fan on Saturday night, and that got Mathieu to drop some hints about his future.

In a couple of since-deleted tweets on Twitter, Mathieu said he “cannot wait to get to Baton Rouge & coach,” and that he’s eager to “trade in my cleats for turf shoes.” But he has some unfinished business with the Saints to deal with first. Mathieu added he wants to “play at least 2 more years” before making that transition.

Patience has worn thin with much-hyped LSU head coach Brian Kelly, who was seen arguing back and forth with players on the game’s broadcast. The proud program had lost four or more games in only seven seasons dating back to 2000, but Kelly has done that twice in his first three years on the job. He isn’t meeting high standards, and famous alumni (with ambitions of  coaching themselves) like Mathieu are taking notice.

Hopefully Mathieu’s retirement is still on schedule and a couple of years away. He’s been the most consistent playmaker in the Saints secondary since he came back to town, and they don’t have a long-term replacement lined up to take his spot. But when the time comes, Mathieu has clearly put in the work to continue on to the next stage in his football life.

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Brian Kelly’s streak of 10-win seasons ends with LSU loss to Florida

Now who’s laughing?

While Notre Dame is fighting to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation, that dream already was dead for Brian Kelly and LSU. They still could get into a decent bowl game though if they ran the table for the rest of the regular season. That won’t even happen now.

The Tigers suffered a 27-16 loss to a Florida team simply trying to get back to .500. That brought their losing streak to three, and they most certainly will drop out of the rankings now. There’s even more to this though.

With this loss, Kelly’s personal streak of seven 10-win seasons will come to an end. The last time Kelly failed to earn that distinction was during the Irish’s dreadful 2016 season in which they finished 4-8.

Kelly’s decision to bolt for Baton Rogue is looking more foolish all the time. This is the second time in three years Kelly has lost four games with the Tigers, something he didn’t do once over his final five seasons with the Irish. Does he still think he put himself in a better position to win a national championship?

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Stock Up, Stock Down: Tigers get bitten in the Swamp

LSU’s offensive line struggled and the Tigers fell flat in the fourth quarter as LSU dropped one on the road

Last weekend, the LSU Tigers were embarrassed at home by the Alabama Crimson Tide. I was curious how the Tigers would respond this week as they hit the road to take on the Florida Gators.

The Gators entered the game with a losing record and have been trying to find who their starting quarterback will be. With the questions Florida faced, I thought LSU would come out with a spirited performance and take care of business. I was wrong.

Tonight, we witnessed the LSU offensive line give up seven sacks to the Gators’ defense. [autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] never got going and the offense only got into the endzone once as Florida won this one 27-16.

Stock Down: Offensive Line

[Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]
The vaunted LSU offensive line gave up SEVEN sacks to the Florida Gators in the Swamp. The Tigers offense has been struggling as it is and this only compounded the problem.

Stock Down: Bad rebound after losing to Bama

Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

LSU got embarrassed on their home turf by Alabama last weekend so Tiger fans were looking for a good response from this team and coaching staff. Needless to say, they did not get what they asked for.

Stock Down: Garrett Nussmeier

Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Nussmeier has not been playing at his highest level for the past three games. He struggled again tonight going 27-for-47 for 260 yards and only one touchdown. He could never get in a rhythm.

Stock Down: No 10-win season

[Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]
With the Tigers’ loss to Florida, [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] will not win 10 games for the eighth season in a row. This loss also killed the hopes of LSU playing for the conference championship.

Stock Down: 4th quarter disaster

[Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]
Going into the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 13. The Gators would go on to outscore LSU 14-3 in the final quarter to pull away with a 27-16 victory.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Florida football trolled LSU’s Brian Kelly with a polite request after losing to the Gators

Good one, Florida!

In a wild but not entirely unpredictable upset, Florida took down No. 22 LSU, 27-16, at home on Saturday, dealing the Tigers their third SEC loss and fourth loss overall. For the first time since 2018, the Gators topped LSU, and they have plenty of reasons to celebrate.

On the other side, Tigers head coach Brian Kelly was obviously not happy with how the game turned out, and sometimes when Kelly is furious, he slams his fist on the press conference table he’s behind. After LSU’s loss to USC earlier this season, Kelly’s angry table-slamming went viral.

So after the Gators’ upset win, their football Twitter account very politely trolled Kelly, asking him to refrain from damaging their tables.

Kelly reportedly complied, whether or not he was aware of this funny jab at his temper.

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Tyrann Mathieu with caustic tweet about Brian Kelly after LSU loses to Florida

Tyrann Mathieu isn’t happy LSU football is 6-4

Brian Kelly isn’t thriving at LSU. The Tigers are 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the SEC after Saturday’s loss to Florida.

The troubles were noticed by a former LSU and current NFL player, Saints DB Tyrann Mathieu.

The tweet probably sums up the feelings of Tiger Nation because they expected far more success when Kelly came South.

Here’s what Brian Kelly said about fixing LSU’s issues in the red zone

LSU has struggled in the red zone this year. Here’s what Brian Kelly had to say after the loss to Alabama.

LSU’s offense ran into countless problems in the loss to Alabama. Among them: trouble in the red zone. It’s something that’s plagued LSU all season long.

After the game, [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] was asked about LSU’s struggles to turn red zone chances into points.

“You know, the red zone, is about, at the end of the day, having a great running game,” Kelly said, “Where you just chew people up in the running game or you’ve got a veteran QB that is smart, savvy, experienced, and I’ve had both.”

Kelly said [autotag]Garrett Nussmeier[/autotag] is getting there, but he’s still learning.

With a struggling run game and a first-year starter at QB, LSU ranks 82nd nationally in red zone scoring.

Inability in the red area killed LSU’s momentum early against Alabama. The Tigers were driving with a chance to tie the game after Bama’s opening score, but LSU settled for a field goal after it couldn’t convert on third and goal. After that, Alabama went up 14-3 and LSU couldn’t keep up.

When you’re rebuilding a defense like LSU is, you can’t have an offense that fails to cash in on these chances.

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Paul Finebaum blasts Brian Kelly, ‘irrelevant’ LSU after loss to Alabama

Paul Finebaum went off on Brian Kelly and LSU after an ’embarrassing’ loss to Alabama.

Not much went right for the LSU Tigers in their 45-13 blowout loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday night.

Jalen Milroe had a lights-out performance in Tiger Stadium, rushing for 185 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries for Alabama’s latest win in Baton Rouge. All-time, the Crimson Tide have lost nine times at Tiger Stadium since it first opened 100 years ago this season.

On Sunday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum teed off on the Tigers and third-year coach Brian Kelly. Finebaum labeled LSU’s performance against Alabama as “embarrassing” during an appearance on ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter.’ He also said the Tigers’ “relevancy is over.”

“Dearly beloved, let us say goodbye to LSU for the season. Their relevancy is over. Truly one of the most embarrassing performances I have seen from a major contender in a long time. They had everything. How many times did we hear (that) Brian Kelly hasn’t lost at night in Tiger Stadium? Well, that happened (Saturday). I mean, they were only down 42-6. I’m sure they had a chance to come back and they did — with 11 seconds to go to make the score, well, not really respectable.”

Finebaum said the game was “all about Jalen Milroe.”

“Nobody is burying him,” Finebaum said. “He is alive and kicking, and so is Alabama’s chances of getting to the playoffs.”

RELATED: How far did Alabama climb in new Coaches Poll after throttling LSU on wild Saturday?

Alabama will host the Mercer Bears from the FCS ranks at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on SEC Network+/ESPN+.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama news and notes, plus opinions. 

Pat McAfee made LSU’s Brian Kelly blush by singing ‘Neck’ on College GameDay

This what Kelly gets for calling McAfee ‘PG’

Maybe Brian Kelly shouldn’t have challenged Pat McAfee.

While appearing on the Pat McAfee Show ahead of ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast from LSU’s campus on Saturday, McAfee brought up the long-running and currently-banned LSU tradition of singing Neck during big moments.

The lyrics are extremely NSFW, so it makes sense the school wouldn’t want to actively promote it.

Yet when McAfee brought up the chant to Kelly on Friday — but stopped short of singing the full lyrics — the Tigers’ coach joked that “this must be a PG show now”.

Kelly obviously can’t outright condone the chant given the school’s stance, but he had to be honest about the fanbase’s affinity for it. Which came back to bite him Saturday when McAfee couldn’t stop encouraging fans to sing along during College GameDay.

When McAfee invoked a rendition while Kelly was making an appearance on ESPN’s flagship college football show, the coach immediately began blushing, uttering “I’m out” before the students kicked into the NSFW lyrics.

Let that be a lesson to everyone who appears on Pat McAfee’s shows: Do not challenge this man to say things he’s been told by others not to.