Brian Kelly explains fourth-down decision just before half that cost LSU three points

No. 25 LSU has looked completely out of sorts against Tennessee so far on Saturday, trailing 23-7 at halftime following a bizarre decision by coach Brian Kelly on fourth down just past midfield with less than a minute to play in the half.

The decision to go for it on fourth down backfired.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels took a sack for a loss of 8 yards, giving Tennessee the ball on the LSU 47-yard line with 23 seconds to play. The Volunteers didn’t have any timeouts available but connected on a 32-yard pass from quarterback Hendon Hooker to receiver Bru McCoy to set up a 32-yard field goal to extend the lead as time expired in the first half.

Kelly explained the decision to ESPN sideline reporter Kris Budden.

“It’s a go. We’re down. Obviously can’t give up a sack in that situation,” Kelly said. “We gave up a 10-yard sack, put them in a good situation. Then it’s fourth down there and we don’t reroute an inside. But we’ve got to coach better. We’re getting outcoached.”

One obvious area that Tennessee has outplayed LSU? Fourth down.

Kelly opted to go for it on fourth down on three different occasions in the first half, and the Volunteers came up with a stop on each. That resulted in 13 points for Tennessee.

Self-inflicted mistakes killing LSU early

LSU’s decision-making has been a big part of the problem in a first half that Tennessee stormed out to a 23-7 lead in. Unforced mistakes also contributed.

The Tigers fumbled the opening kickoff when Jack Bech couldn’t handle it, and the Volunteers jumped on top.

It took just five plays for the Tennessee offense to open the scoring, capitalizing on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jabari Small. LSU then opted to go for a fourth-and-4 from the Tennessee 14-yard line later in the first quarter, only for receiver Kayshon Boutte to be denied, stopped short of the sticks by Kamal Hadden and Trevon Flowers.

The Volunteers would turn that into a Chase McGrath field goal.

Later, the Tigers went for it on fourth-and-1 from the LSU 46-yard line early in the second quarter. Again the Volunteers came up with a stop, with Aaron Beasley stopping a Josh Williams run for a 1-yard loss.

Hooker dropped a 45-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jalin Hyatt one play later to extend the lead to 20-0.

The Volunteers led 23-7 at the halftime break, carrying a 154-117 advantage in total yardage. LSU won the time of possession in the first half 8:26-6:34, but the mistakes proved costly.