What He Said: Brian Kelly on beating Arkansas, more

LSU head coach Brian Kelly met with the media on Saturday following LSU’s 13-10 road win at Arkansas, opening up on a number of different topics as the Tigers moved to 8-2 on the year and remained in control of the SEC West.

Here’s everything Kelly said following the three-point road win over the Razorbacks on Saturday in Fayetteville.

Opening comments…

“It’s hard to win in the SEC. That was evident today. Look, I could go through a laundry list of things we have to do better. The fact of the matter is, our guys wanted to win, they were prepared to win, they were prepared to play a team that was coming off a disappointing loss. We knew they would play hard today, and they did. 

“(Arkansas is a) well-coached football team. Coach Pittman does a great job. Barry Odom called a great game defensively. Their team was prepared and they were a great challenge for us. But, we found a way to win on the road. That’s really what this is about when you play a league like this, specifically in the SEC West, find a way to win. That’s what I am proud of. I am proud of our guys for having the mental toughness to battle and find a way to win a football game when we were challenged the way we were today. That’s kind of my takeaway. I am not sitting here disappointed. I am excited we won the football game in a very difficult environment. Our guys knew that. We are in a different realm now. We are being hunted. We are going to get everyone’s best shot. They understand that. We have some things to work on. We will enjoy this victory, then come back prepared for UAB and Senior Night.”

On freshman linebacker Harold Perkins

“Eight tackles, four sacks, two forced fumbles. He was all over the field. He impacted the game obviously to the level where we win the game because of his final play. Multi-dimensional player who makes a great play in pass coverage getting under a throw late in the game. I don’t think there are enough superlatives to talk about this young man as a true freshman coming into his own. He was awarded the game ball. 

“He got sick before the game. He threw up as we were going into our team meeting. I said ‘Hey, MJ threw up when he had his greatest game’. He said, ‘Who’s MJ?’. I said man, I’m getting so old. But yeah, he’s pretty special.

“He had the flu. No problem. Four sacks.”

On what gave Jayden Daniels and the pass game trouble

“A lot of multiple looks. He was hesitant. He just didn’t have that aggressiveness needed, and he wasn’t sure of some of the things. We have to do a better job coaching him, he has to be more assertive, and they did a lot of things defensively that I thought were really good. Two or three times we had wide open receivers, we would run a play-action (route) and draw the backers inside, then they would rally back out and get a hand on it and knock down some short touchdown passes. They played really well, and we have to get better at coaching the position. But they did a really good job defensively.”

On the improvement Harold Perkins has made from Week 1

“I think his ability to drop in coverage, we saw that today. Being in the right place and gap responsibility. There were times earlier this year where he would just cut a gap loose and you would have some big runs. He’s so much more gap-conscious in terms of making sure he’s fitting the plays the right way. Sometimes he would run around things and be in the wrong gap. That trust factor is really big now.”

On finding a way to grit out another SEC road win

“Look, you still have to find ways to make plays and win at the end. We are far from a finished product. I dont think anyone is in there feeling like we arrived. We have a lot of work to do. But during this journey, we are still finding ways to win football games. The goal coming into this year was to be better in November, to play hard and to teach the team how to win. If you go back to my first press conference, those were the tenants I wanted to instill in this team. And those are there. They know how to win football games. And that’s a great trait to have. They believe they are going to win, and they find a way to win. This is a perfect example of that.”

On the emergence of running back Josh Williams this season

“Just a tough, physical … if you look up strain in the dictionary, he’s the guy. He just strains for everything and has such a great effect on everyone when he’s out there. He got a little banged up and we had to take him out, but he should be ok. He was a game day captain again for like the third or fourth time. He’s just a big influence on our team.”

On preparing for Arkansas with and without starting QB KJ Jefferson

“We still have to prepare for the offensive structure of a quarterback who can run it or throw it, so it didn’t effect it that much. We had to prepare as if he was playing, and then if the backup played we were ready. I thought (Cade Fortin) did really well coming in. He threw a great ball down the sideline and gave them some great energy. And he forced us to do some things we really didn’t practice as much as the other things.”

On Arkansas giving LSU trouble with the blitz

“We ran into quite a few of them. They did a really good job of staying on the edge. They did not want Jayden outside the pocket. We should have been stepping up into the pocket a lot more. We tried to get outside and they were not going to let us outside. They stayed on the edges. There were no four-techniques, these guys stayed in fives. They stayed to the level of the quarterback. I thought they were well-coached in terms of what they were trying to accomplish. I think (Barry Odom) did a great job.”

On winning a game without production from the passing attack

“We’ve thrown for 400 (yards), right? I think you have to run the football to set up some kind of offensive structure, and we played really well defensively. It’s not something we want to make a living at, but there are some circumstances against teams we’ve played that have allowed us to play that way.”

On LSU’s pair of turnovers

“With turnovers, we have to do a better job. Both were off zone-reads. One was a throw and one was a pull. We just have to do a better job, and I will put that on coaching. We have to do a better job of spending more time on some of those conflict reads.”

On the LSU offense allowing seven sacks

“Look, sacks are overrated when it comes to offensive line issues. Sometimes it’s the quarterback who causes sacks, sometimes it’s the back who is not fitting. When you break it all down, you don’t want the quarterback sacked at all. I think they did a really good job of bringing pressure, and I think we probably needed to do a better job overall in pass protection. I’m not giving the offensive line a pass here, but when you talk about sacks you should look at everybody – including the coaching of it. We are all responsible for that.”

On the impact made at LSU by Arkansas transfers Joe Foucha and Greg Brooks

“I would say first and foremost, they fit in really well in terms of the culture. They were in a really good program here at Arkansas where they do the right things. They came in and were good models for doing things the right way, so they really helped me early on making sure we had guys doing things the right way. Joe and Greg were outstanding in that respect. They are good players and have contributed, but their contributions have been as important off of the field as on the field.”

On how Kelly decided when to go for it on fourth downs and when to punt

“I use analytics in making some of those calls. Today, I punted on 4th-and-1 late in the game with two minutes or so. That was a go, analytically, to go for that. I chose not to. They were out of timeouts and I thought we were playing better defense than offense. I thought it was the wise thing. We had a bad snap and poor kick but got a good break when the ball stayed inbounds. We had decent field position, got the subsequent turnover and it ended up being the right decision. So sometimes it’s a gut feeling and sometimes I use analytics to make those decisions.”