Brian Kelly criticizes team over sloppy first-half play vs Mississippi State

LSU looked like it was going to go into halftime scoreless before Jayden Daniels took over to lead a second-quarter scoring drive. During his interview heading into the break, Brian Kelly made one thing clear: His team has to clean some things up.

LSU trailed Mississippi State 13-7 after the first half of play, and Kelly pointed to some sloppy play as a reason for the deficit. The Tigers had some trouble with penalties in the first quarter and committed a turnover, which stalled a drive on Mississippi State’s 29-yard line. Kelly said he knows it won’t be easy for LSU to pull out a win against Mike Leach and the Bulldogs.

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“Well, we had too many penalties in the first quarter. We had four penalties,” Kelly said. “Turning the football over. It was not really good execution. They responded, though, with a great drive at the end of the half. Our defense played great, their defense is playing great. It’s 13-7 at the half. We’re going to have to play better in the second half. Both teams are scrapping for every yard right now.”

Brian Kelly details his preparation for his first run through the SEC gauntlet

Kelly is coaching his first SEC game as LSU head coach on Saturday. It seems like quite a change from the independent schedules Notre Dame plays, but Kelly said that’s not the case.

He sounds ready for his first run through the SEC gauntlet.

“The previous job I had, it was an independent schedule,” Kelly said. “It was somebody new each week, in a sense. We had non-conference games every week. It just feels normal, like, this is a new opponent. But I was so used to having new opponents on the schedule. It doesn’t feel that much different for me in terms of the preparation.

“We have advanced scouting. Our advanced scouting does a really good job of coming up with their personnel and their tendencies. It’s just a matter of how we’re going to attack offensively and defensively. But it doesn’t feel foreign to me from that perspective.”