LSU must watch out for second-year growing pains under Brian Kelly

Year One of the Brian Kelly Era at LSU went about as well as anyone could’ve expected. The Tigers won 10 games and made the SEC Championship, making for high expectations in 2023 and people possibly asking if Kelly’s team is ahead of schedule.

However, there might still be some growing pains to avoid — some of which fans saw last season.

LSU played in four one-score games, losing one to Florida State in the season opener. But there were other games, such as the 45-20 victory over Ole Miss, when the Tigers rallied after trailing at halftime. LSU went 3-4 after losing at the break, but Kelly’s group has to avoid falling behind like that, according to On3’s J.D. PicKell.

“My question is for LSU, the talent is in a great spot, I believe. The culture itself — what did we see last year from LSU in the games that they lost?” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “It was kinda like you’re watching LSU, and there were times where they just sort of turned it on. I go back to that meme all the time where it’s the guy who’s leaning back in the chair playing a video game and then when he really wants to get into it, when he wants to actually start playing, leans forward. We’ve all been there. We’ve all done that.

“It felt like that was LSU in the second half of the season. It felt like that was LSU a lot of times in the second half of games. Florida State, one of those games. Ole Miss, one of those games. Auburn, one of those games. LSU had this moment where they had to flip the switch. And so my question is, is the [switch flipped] permanently?”

JD PicKell: Is LSU past the growing pains?

Some of the growing pains for LSU were exposed in the game against Texas A&M, which the Tigers lost 38-23 in the season finale. LSU trailed 17-10 at the break, but never rallied back to win. That game is an example of the Tigers having the talent, but struggling to overcome some adversity.

PicKell acknowledged that could happen again this year, but the players have to buy in to what Kelly is selling to win those types of games.

“The growing pains, and we passed all that?” PicKell said. “Are we past the growing pains? Or is it going to be a thing where we still are wondering which LSU team shows up? Because that LSU team that lost the [Texas] A&M last year had no business losing Texas A&M. I think that was LSU taking their eye off the ball, and you saw what happened on the field. So that’s the question for LSU.

“I’m not worried about talent. I’m worried about the psyche. Are we actually past all those growing pains? Is that reflected in the record that we saw last year or is it we’re still kind of trying to get this thing to be doing things Brian Kelly’s way? Spoiler alert, Brian Kelly’s way is going to win you a lot of football games every single year.”