‘Angry’ Kelly slams fist on table after LSU loss

• Paolo Uggetti, ESPNSep 1, 2024, 11:45 PM ET

LAS VEGAS– Brian Kelly slammed his left fist down on the press conference table so hard his water bottle nearly fell over.After No. 13

LSU held a four-point lead with just under six minutes left in their season opener and lost 27-20 to No. 23 USC on Sunday night, Kelly didn’t hold back when discussing his frustrations.

“We had some guys play their butts off tonight and we’re sitting here once again, we’re sitting here again discussing the very same things!” Kelly said as he slammed the table. “About not finishing when you have an opponent in a position to put them away. However what we’re doing on the sideline is seeming like the game is over.”

Kelly said this is the first time during his period at LSU when he has actually been “mad” at his group and added that it did not have a “killer impulse.”

“I’m so upset about it that I’ve got to do something about it. I’m refraining from doing a good enough task as a coach,” Kelly said. “I’ve got to coach them much better since it’s undesirable for us not to have actually found a method to win this football game. It’s ludicrous. It’s crazy.”

In spite of amounting to 421 yards of offense and controlling the time of belongings by six minutes, Kelly’s team stopped working to capitalize. Their first drive of the game took a trip 74 lawns on 13 plays in over 7 minutes, yet it led to zero points. Though they routed for most of the very first half, LSU was able to get the lead twice in the third quarter.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated”Unfortunately, it’s clear

that, when we get up in a game, we do not know how to handle ourselves,” Kelly stated.” You have actually got to put teams away. We had a chance to put this team away. We get complacent, we make more errors when we’re ahead instead of having a, you know, better focus and a steely eyed killer instinct. That’s disappointing.”

To Kelly’s point, the Tigers had 10 penalties for 99 yards to the Trojans’ six and a few took place in crucial moments. On USC’s game-winning drive, a targeting penalty on LSU put the Trojans inside the red zone, where they immediately scored with eight seconds left.It wasn’t just charges that put LSU in a position to come up brief. The Tigers’ ground game also had a hard time. Earlier in the week, LSU offending lineman Will Campbell had said the Tigers would run the ball against the Trojans.

“That’s not something we’re trying to keep quiet,” Campbell stated Tuesday. “I’m informing everybody today. We’re going to run the football.”

By the end of the night, nevertheless, LSU had only 117 lawns on the ground and needed to rely on quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to fuel the offense. Nussmeier almost did, tossing for over 300 yards and 2 touchdowns, but after scoring the go-ahead TD in the third quarter, LSU’s offense stalled and allowed USC’s new-look defense under organizer D’Anton Lynn to keep the Trojans in the game with a number of crucial third-down stops.

“They had every right to be positive,” Lincoln Riley stated of LSU’s offending line. “But so did we. We simply didn’t discuss it in the media.”

Of the 13 3rd downs the Tigers faced, they transformed a first down only five times. After they scored a go-ahead touchdown in the 3rd quarter, the next four LSU drives led to 2 punts, a field goal and an interception by Nussmeier that sealed the outcome.

“For us to be the sort of football group I desire, we need to eliminate the silly mistakes,” Kelly said. “Lastly, we need to be able to play off of each other much better.”