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The past few years in college football have seen more and more coaches going for it on 4th and short rather than punting it away or kicking a field goal.
LSU’s Brian Kelly is one of the coaches leaning more towards being aggressive and going for it on 4th. LSU has already gone for it on 4th down 8 times this season.
Kelly credits the up in his aggressiveness to a few different factors, and he broke down his philosophy in a press conference on Monday.
“I think I use a combination of good sense in terms of what the game feels like,” Kelly said. “We use analytics, so I’m plugged in to what the analytics are telling me relative to 4th down. As you know, most of the analytics are much more aggressive than we are as we watch the game. 4th and 2 or 3 used to be considering a field goal inside the 10, now it’s almost 100% go for it.”
Analytics help, but he also makes a decision based on what feels right at that moment in the game. It also helps that he has a quarterback that can be unpredictable to defenses.
“I think it’s a combination of getting a sense and a feel for the game and how you feel like you might have control or might not have control of the game, plus the use of analytics,” Kelly said. “Then, when you have a quarterback that’s multidimensional, it really puts a defense in a bind. I think we have those 3 factors working for us when we get the 4th down calls.”
LSU is looking for another big win this Saturday as the Tigers take on Arkansas. Last week, LSU got a dominant win over Mississippi State.
