It was a tough evening for the LSU football Fighting Tigers. After a largely positive offseason and plenty of confidence, coach Brian Kelly and his team ultimately fell to a Florida State team that simply outplayed them. With a final score of 45-24, it was a less-than-ideal way to start the 2023 season, and coach Brian Kelly was not shy in expressing his opinion of the week one performance.
LSU football coach Brian Kelly didn’t hide his disappointment when speaking on the week one loss
In week one of the 2023 season, LSU football fell to Florida State for the second season in a row, with a final score of 45-24. The game was largely competitive through the first half, but the second half was an entirely different story.
The Seminoles came out swinging after the break, and the Tigers looked lost. Ultimately, FSU would go on a 31-7 run to end the game, and coach Brian Kelly had some questions to answer.
Following the game, coach Kelly addressed the media and wasted no time speaking about his disappointment.
“Congratulations to Florida State. They played a great second half; they were the better football team tonight, and we certainly are not the football team that I thought we were. We’ve got to do a much better job, obviously, in developing our football team. We clearly were short in a lot of areas tonight, and that falls on me to get our football team to be better in most of the competitive areas that you saw tonight.”
“Execution in the first half, the inability to convert in the red zone. Second half, didn’t play with a sense of urgency. All of those fall on coaching and getting our players to recognize that and make those kind of choices in practice. And then defensively, obviously, our inability to slow down the running game in the second half, you know, the counter play was problematic for us. We knew they were going to run it. They had a two-back counter play, and we couldn’t fit the play, and that’s unacceptable from a coaching standpoint. You’ve got to be able to make those adjustments, and we failed to get that done.”
Earlier last week, coach Brian Kelly specifically pointed out run defense as a point of emphasis heading into the matchup. However, that clearly wasn’t enough. The Seminoles ran the ball for 135 yards and two touchdowns, with the bulk of that production coming in the second half.
Because of this inability to stop the run, the Florida State offense had complete control. They were able to keep a level of inconsistency that kept the LSU football defense on its toes the entire second half. If you can’t stop one aspect of the offense, chances are, it will follow suit in other parts, and that’s precisely what happened last night.
“So, again, I take full responsibility for not having our team playing the kind of football they would, and our players have got to make a decision,” coach Brian Kelly continued. “They have to get back to the practice field and double down on their efforts and their attention to detail and their focus and the things that they need to do as well. But, this is a total failure on a coaching standpoint and a player standpoint that we have to, obviously, address and we have to own.”
However, despite the apparent disappointment, Kelly finished his opening statement with an ounce of hope heading into the remainder of the 2023 college football season.
“I know adversity is always going to strike at some time in this game, and this is our first real piece of adversity, if you will, that we have to address, and I’m confident that our guys and our coaches will rally in the manner that they need to.”
The Tigers have an opportunity to get right this coming Saturday, as Grambling State will make its way to Baton Rouge for the Tigers’ 2023 home opener. If coach Kelly is right and the team can rally, this game could prove to be pivotal through that process.
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