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Brian Kelly vents over ‘maddening’ mistakes in LSU’s win against UCLA
By Sean Labar
Published:
Brian Kelly has set a high standard for LSU football and the Tigers’ head coach wasn’t thrilled after the 34-17 win over UCLA on Saturday.
The LSU offense struggled in the first half and the Tigers were tied with the Bruins 17-17 at halftime.
“Wish we were cleaner in the first half,” Kelly said of the first half struggles in the postgame press conference. “The mistakes are maddening. We’ve got to clean them up. We’re going to continue to work. Those are the guys we got. There’s nobody getting traded.”
While both sides of the ball could use improvement, the LSU defense struggled mightily in the first quarter as UCLA drove 75 yards in 8 to tie the game 7-7 with its first possession. LSU allowed another 75-yard scoring drive just before halftime, making it a 17-17 tie at the intermission.
“It’s just maddening, some of the silly mistakes we’re making on defense that just have to go away,” Kelly said.
According to Kelly, LSU DC Blake Baker didn’t make adjustments, but the players stepped up in the second half.
“We didn’t make any changes,” Kelly said. “They executed the defenses that were called. And execution is attention to detail. Doing your job. D-Y-J. They did it in the second half. Doing our job on defense in the second half was the biggest difference from the first half.”
Kelly did note the team has made improvements, but has a long way to go if the Tigers are going to compete in the College Football Playoff.
“We’ve made some improvements, but we’ve got a ways to go,” Kelly said. “We have to do the little things the right way.”
Sean Labar is an SEC football contributor for Saturday Down South.
