Brian Kelly reveals how LSU is preparing to handle Mississippi State's cowbells

Brian Kelly is in his second season as an SEC head coach, having learned a lot during his first year at LSU. But there’s still a few trials for the Tigers head man to navigate: Enter the cowbells at Mississippi State.

LSU opens the SEC schedule with a trip to play in Starkville in front of the cowbell-toting — and ringing — Bulldog faithful. Kelly offered some of his usual wry humor on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday when discussing the preparations LSU is making.

“We’ve got all of our managers working on a cowbell,” Kelly said.

Jokes aside, Kelly does know the potentially overwhelming noise is something LSU has to be prepared for, be it silent counts, quieting their own minds and, ideally, eventually quieting the crowd and deadening the atmosphere with their own play.

“If you get used to it during the week of practice, it then becomes your job to make sure that they’re not as active in the game by playing well. So, certainly, early in the game we expect a really enthusiastic crowd. And it’ll be up to our play to manage that. But, again, I think you have to prepare for the eventuality of silent counts and things of that nature. But now, it’s the first time that I’ve gone into an environment with the cowbell,” Kelly said.

Either way, Kelly knows he’s heading into a cacophony of cowbells and a road environment with no peer.

“We had them out at practice yesterday and they are — they create a different environment, that is certain,” Kelly said.

Kelly previewed the other challenges of going on the road

Ahead of the game, Kelly previewed the challenges of starting SEC play on the road.

“Now, we turn our attention to SEC play and certainly this is what gets everybody’s attention,” Kelly said. “And not only do we play Mississippi State but we play on the road, and playing on the road in the SEC is obviously a great challenge. Playing an SEC opponent obviously doubles that.”

Mississippi State is 2-0 this season, having survived a tight overtime game with Arizona over the weekend. This year has been a challenging transition for the Bulldogs as they moved on from the late Mike Leach to a new era under Zach Arnett.

“Then you’ve got to deal with all of the things that go with travel, playing at 11 a.m., cowbells, all of those things, but you do it first and foremost starting with great preparation this week. Then, your performance. If you play really well, you don’t have to deal with those distractions. Like any other opponent, if you’re not playing very well, you’re going to hear any team’s band, slogans, whatever they have.” Kelly said.

“So, this is really about the challenge of playing on the road, handling the 11 a.m. start, playing a really well coached football team. Zach Arnett has done a great job in his really short time being a head coach. They’re really well coached.”