Onward
LSU head coach Brian Kelly had his weekly presser with Baton Rouge media and he talked about his team’s loss against USC Sunday night in Las Vegas and the big emotions he showed in the press conference afterward.
Kelly said Sunday evening that he was “pretty angry” at his team for the first time since arriving in Baton Rouge and said Tuesday that complacency was LSU’s undoing against Southern Cal.
“Under no circumstances can you let somebody take it away from you,” Kelly said. “You just can’t let complacency come in at any time.”
Kelly was asked about the unsportsmanlike conduct fouls that fifth year seniors Kyren Lacy and Major Burns were assessed during the game. Lacy got called for taunting a USC defender after scoring a first half touchdown, while Burns was flagged for taking his helmet off on the field after LSU made a fourth down stop in the fourth quarter.
“Kyren’s working on his emotional control,” Kelly said. “IF you were here, that young man, I love him because he’s working on that every day. That wasn’t malice. It’s just that he is such a high-strung young man, that’s all he works on. He’s in the locker room saying ‘I need to maintain my emotional control. I need to maintain it.’ He is working so hard on that. That’s why I was so angry. I was angry at the circumstances because he’s working on it.”
“Same thing with Major Burns. I mean he was so apologetic and so sorry that he took his helmet off. These are guys that aren’t just like ‘I don’t care. No that doesn’t matter to me.’ These guys work so hard at it. That’s why I want so much for them.”
Speaking of Lacy, Kelly was asked about Lacy’s role shrinking in the second half of Sunday’s loss. Lacy had seven catches for 94 yards and a score in the first half, but in the second half had no catches and was only targeted once.
“That’s clearly something Joe (Sloan) and I talked about. We need to get our best players the ball when it means the most.”
Kelly also made a point to mention specifically that redshirt freshman wide receiver Shelton Sampson must emerge from here on out, especially now that Kyle Parker is doubtful for the Nicholls game with a UCL injury.
“The guy we’ve got to get ready is Shelton Sampson. This is a big week for him. He becomes kind of a focal point for us moving forward.”
The new hot topic debate in the LSU world is if the Tigers need to change their schedule and get off these marquee season opening games. LSU has, of course, dropped all three openers of the Brian Kelly era, and hasn’t won an opener since 2019. Kelly said this in regards to needing a change in scheduling philosophy.
“I don’t think so. We’re going to be a better team for what happened. OUr margin now is razor thin, but we’re developing a football team. We know what we need to do better as coaches. I don’t think winning an opener 73-0 gives you much benefit.”
All in all, Kelly sounded optimistic about his team’s future despite the disappointing start in Las Vegas.
“It’s going to be a good football team. We’ve got some work to do. When we compliment each other offensively and defensively, it’s going to be a good football team.”