The Bengal Tiger Mailbag Podcast: Is Brian Kelly connecting with players at LSU?

LSU moves forward this season with a 2-1 record and three straight games at home in the coming weeks with a chance to put themselves back in the playoff picture. Coming off of a rollercoaster win over South Carolina, the Tigers are back to work and preparing for UCLA this week.

On today’s Mailbag podcast, Matthew Brune and Shea Dixon take fan questions on the offense’s explosiveness, Brian Kelly, the defense’s improvements, and much more.

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Brian Kelly said after LSU beat South Carolina

Opening statement: “Yeah, great college football game. (I’m) so proud of the grit and the perseverance of a football team down 17-nothing on the road in the SEC against a veteran football team, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The guys work so hard. They’re not gonna give up – that’s in their DNA. They’re not going to let the rope slip – they’re just going to keep playing now.

“It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s early in the season. We’ve played two really good opponents – Power Four opponents – in USC and UCLA, and we’ve had the lead in the fourth quarter twice. One we let slip away, and this one, we finished off.

“Football teams take on, you know, identities and personalities. This group’s gonna battle. It may not be the cleanest. We’ll continue to coach them because they want to do so well for LSU. They want to do it the right way, and they’re gonna work at it.

“And (I’m) just really proud of, of the way they blocked out the noise because I don’t think anybody picked us to win this game. Everybody had South Carolina winning this game. So, they blocked out that noise this week and just focused on getting themselves ready, to compete on the road against an SEC opponent.

“We had a freshman come in today in Cayden Durham and produce some really important yards for us. Look, it’s the SEC. You got to make people miss. You got to break through tackles – that’s the nature of it. And he did a great job today. Obviously, (Garrett Nussmeier) continues to do great things at the quarterback position. But, again, down 17-nothing, I think tells the story about the grit and the perseverance of this team.”

On LSU players’ demeanor after falling behind early

“I mean, there was no panic on the sideline. We needed to, obviously, get a score and come up with a stop and clean up some things. The group is a positive group. There’s no finger pointing. They know what they needed to do to get back in the game. We needed to get a score, and we knew we were getting the ball in the third quarter. So, it was a matter of getting a couple of stops, and we did. I just never felt like the guys were in a panic mode and didn’t feel like they could come back.”

On the growth Kelly has seen in LSU’s defense since season opener: “Well, we had some complementary football. I thought some of the the big takeaways were the defensive stops that we had that when we turned the ball over. Generally, you would see that turn into a touchdown. We kept in the field goals. So, we showed that resolve defensively. Then, we started to play some complementary football where we get a stop on defense and then we score on offense, and we hadn’t done that the first couple of weeks. So, there’s improvement there.

“But the great thing about it is there’s great fight. They fight like LSU Tigers, and that’s what we want for our fans. That’s what they want for all their family. That’s what they want for their teammates, and they showed that today – if they continue to do that, which I know they will because they’re going to continue to prepare the right way. We just need to execute better. And if we do that, it’s gonna be a really good team.”

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