Brian Kelly praises his team for first-half rally, battling against Auburn

LSU head coach Brian Kelly praised the first-half effort of his team as they battled back from an early 17-point deficit against Auburn. The Tigers versus Tigers matchup saw Auburn threatening to extend their lead in the second quarter before a huge sack-fumble forced by BJ Ojulari on Robby Ashford that was returned for a touchdown.

Brian Kelly on first-half struggle against Auburn

After the huge momentum swing, LSU finished the first half with their first points on offense of the game — cutting the lead to just a field goal. Kelly was interviewed on the field before the break about how the spark provided by his defense helped them come back so quickly.

“Obviously we gave up big plays in the passing game,” started Kelly. “We expected this to be a game where we needed to stop the run and we gave up big plays in the pass game. Broke contain two or three times, we were out of coverage. Undisciplined. And offensively we’ve struggled, we hadn’t made any plays until the last drive.

“But give our guys credit, they battled. They weren’t playing great, they hung in there and we came up with the big play on defense and then a great drive at the end of the half. Showed some great resolve to get back into this, and we get the ball in the second half. New ball game.”

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

Coming into the second half, LSU’s offense will have their work cut out for them after starting the game with five-straight punts. The Auburn passing attack did damage as well throughout the first half — gaining 283 yards compared to just 149 by LSU. Despite the massive difference in offensive output, LSU trailed Auburn by just three points.