Brian Kelly feels good about LSU’s execution vs. Grambling State

LSU got the bad taste out of its mouth after losing by three touchdowns to Florida State by blasting Grambling State 72-10 last weekend.

It was an impressive performance all-around, particularly by the offense, as the Tigers scored touchdowns on their first 10 possessions.

LSU coach Brian Kelly spoke after the game about the way his team executed and bounced back from the loss to the Seminoles.

“To have 10 straight possessions to score, in this game, when somebody doesn’t want you to score, is really hard. You have to execute at a very, very high level,” Kelly said. “That doesn’t happen very often, and I’ve been doing it for over 30 years. You have to have focus, you have to have an attention to detail. You have to have playmakers. You have to have guys making good choices, good decisions. Very few penalties, miscues, with that first unit, in particular.”

While Kelly is pleased with the way LSU played against Grambling State, he isn’t exactly declaring that everything is now solved.

The schedule gets much tougher from this point forward, beginning with Saturday’s game at Mississippi State.

In total, the Tigers have five consecutive SEC games up next.

“I mean look, are there things that we have to do better? Absolutely. And the competition picks up,” Kelly said. “I’m not going to leave here going, ‘Hey, we’ve got this thing figured out.’ I mean the competition’s going to be steep. We’re going to go on the road.”

Kelly then mentioned particular areas where LSU needs to improve. It’s no surprise that he started with defense.

The Tigers gave up 494 yards of offense and 45 points in the opener against Florida State. That was too many, and Kelly wants to see young players continue to develop.

“We’ve gotta tackle better on defense,” he said. “We missed too many tackles. And we’ve gotta continue to develop the players. You saw first-time starters out there again tonight. Denver Harris is a first-time starter for us. We saw Ashton Stamps out there for the first time. These guys are going to have to play key roles for us. And you saw Harold Perkins in a new position again. So there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

LSU is a 9.5-point favorite for Saturday’s road game at Mississippi State. After that matchup, the Tigers return home to face another tough team in Arkansas. Following the game with the Razorbacks is a tough road test at Ole Miss.

Kelly’s club still has a ways to go, but he likes the progress that is being made.