Brian Kelly embracing the challenge of facing Alabama: 'This is why I came to LSU'

After their bye week, LSU is now days away from the biggest game of their season. The No. 15 Tigers have worked their way to a 6-2 record and will now host No. 6 Alabama in a game that will have plenty to say in determining the race in the SEC West. With so much on the line, Brian Kelly says this is why players and coaches want to come to Baton Rouge.

Kelly spoke about this weekend’s game against the Crimson Tide during his press conference on Monday. He says it’s a great opportunity for him and his team but that the Tigers can’t let the outside noise get to them.

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“That’s why you come to LSU. It’s not pressure. It’s a privilege to play in games like this. That’s certainly why I came to LSU…To play in games like this,” said Kelly. “All of the noise and all of the other things are just distractions. This is about preparation. This is about focusing on our process this week and preparing to play our very best.”

LSU has come a long way this season to get to this point. Some hit the panic button after the Tiger’s opening loss to Florida State. Then they did it again after their blowout loss to Tennessee. However, Kelly and his team have followed that up with big wins at Florida and over a Top-10 Ole Miss team. Now, they will have the Tide in their sights inside Death Valley on Saturday night.

If they’re going to come out on top, though, Kelly says they’ll need to trust the process that has them at this point. They have to quiet the distractions in order to focus on being the team they need to be this weekend.

“The first thing we need to do is just understand that you have to this game and think about how you got there. We’ve done it by preparation. We’ve prepared well, we have focused on playing our best when our best is needed,” Kelly said. “We can’t be distracted by ‘this is a big game’ or ‘this is Alabama’. That’s not going to help us in this situation. What’s going to help us is playing our best when our best is needed. Our best players are going to have to play well. We’re going to have to play consistently for four quarters. We must get off to a good start…We have to play well for four quarters. We have to play consistently. One play at a time.”

With LSU already having that win over the Rebels, both LSU and Alabama sit at 4-1 in conference play. That makes this a de facto SEC West title game on the opposite side of what’s going down between Georgia and Tennessee in the East. This is a moment for Kelly to get a definitive win in his inaugural season at LSU. We’ll have to wait and see whether he and his team are ready for the moment that comes with it, though, come kickoff in Tiger Stadium on Saturday.