LSU coach Brian Kelly was not too thrilled that his offense’s lack of success was an immediate topic at his postgame news conference following the No. 3 Tigers’ 20-10 win over Florida.
LSU had 316 total yards in the victory and scored just 13 offensive points. The offense was also just 4 of 14 on third downs. Kelly, however, wasn’t ready to dwell on what didn’t go right for a unit that could be one of the best in the country.
“We played the game to win the game, we played the game to win the game,” Kelly said before third downs were mentioned by the reporter who made the initial inquiry.
“It’s one game,” Kelly said. “Last game we were great on third down. You’re micro — you’re looking at this from the wrong perspective. LSU won the football game. What do you want from me? What do you want? Do you want us to win 70-0 against Florida to keep you happy?
“We can run the ball. Did you see the last play of the game? That’s all you need. You just need one. Those are ridiculous questions. And I’m getting tired of it. That football team just worked their tail off to get an SEC win and you want to know what’s wrong. You know what? You’re spoiled. You’re spoiled. This team is 17-1 at night. 17-1. Give them some respect. How about that? Give them some respect instead of micro-analyzing every little thing. This is ridiculous.”
No. 3 LSU beat Florida 20-10 and intercepted DJ Lagway five times on Saturday night. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
(Chris Graythen via Getty Images)
Kelly is absolutely correct. His team got a 10-point win over a conference rival on Saturday night. But it’s also hard not to think that LSU could have won by more. A lot more.
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Florida QB DJ Lagway threw five interceptions and one of them was returned for a pick-six. But the Tigers failed to turn the other four interceptions into points on their ensuing possessions and went three-and-out after two of those picks.
That’s a disappointing performance when your QB is a Heisman contender. LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier entered Week 3 as the Heisman favorite at BetMGM but is now the No. 6 favorite at +1500 following Saturday night’s game. Nussmeier was 15-of-27 passing for 220 yards with a TD and an interception.
The run that Kelly referenced in his quote above came from Caden Durham on the Tigers’ final drive of the game. Durham broke a 51-yard run after he had been bottled up for most of the night. If you remove that run from the equation, Durham had 14 carries for 42 yards and the Tigers had 24 carries for 45 yards as a team.
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The questions about LSU’s relative lack of offense are also fair, whether Kelly likes them or not. And we’re guessing he’s not entirely happy with his team’s offensive production either. But you can understand why he’s not going to nitpick right after moving to 3-0.
