By Hunt Palmer
College Football is an unforgiving sport.
Losses are more penal than in any other major collegiate or professional sport. For programs aiming at conference and national titles, early season losses can be crippling. Four consecutive seasons LSU has opened with a loss.
“Openers are difficult,” Kelly said. “I think every coach has that uneasiness in an opener because they don’t know exactly what you’re going to get when you flip that script. You hope it’s flawless execution. We’re expecting much better execution with this group because of the maturity of the lot.”
Prior to Brian Kelly’s arrival in Baton Rouge the Tigers were stunned by Mississippi State in the 2020 season opener. Mike Leach, KJ Costello and the Mississippi State Bulldogs scorched the Tiger Stadium turf for an SEC record 623 passing yards to knock off the defending national champions.
A year later, UCLA manhandled the Tigers in the Rose Bowl. Chip Kelly’s offense outrushed LSU by 161 yards and won a 38-27 contest.
None of that is of Brian Kelly’s concern. The two most recent losses are.
“Some of the key guys in those games (vs. Florida State) are no longer here,” Kelly said. “In those games you’re getting a quarterback ready in the first year. Wide receivers were inexperienced. You got two freshman tackles. It’s a journey. We’re three years into it, and those guys who played as freshmen now are going to be playing in this opening with all this experience. Those games that they played against Florida State, they’re going to help them in this opener.
“There’s a lot of guys who have some of those battle scars from those openers and know what it takes to win an opener on both sides of the ball. Whether it’s Harold Perkins, or it’s Will Campbell. They both were here for that. They’re going to impact Sunday in terms of how we play.”
Both the 2022 and 2023 teams improved as the seasons went on. After a sloppy opener in New Orleans, the 2023 team won nine of 10 to win the SEC Western Division. LSU offense bogged down a little bit in the 2024 opener. That never happened again. Now there’s a new Heisman Trophy in Baton Rouge.
This time around, Kelly and the Tigers are looking to start faster.
The fix would be simplified if it was a singular issue that caused the losses. That wasn’t the case.
In 2022, Jordan Travis and the Florida State offense carved LSU up on third downs. The Seminoles converted 11 of their first 16 third down chances.
Even so, LSU clawed back into the game only to have a fourth major special teams gaff end the game. Two muffed punts and two blocked kicks were too much to overcome.
Last season, Travis diced LSU no matter the down. The senior signal caller threw for 342 yards and four touchdowns. A secondary made over with transfers and freshmen couldn’t hang with Seminole wide outs Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson.
Offensively, LSU failed to mount any sort of running threat from the tailback spot.
In short, the issues in the two losses stemmed from special teams, defensive back play and offensive line woes.
The poor secondary effort proved to be a harbinger of things to come. The Tigers struggled all season long to defend the pass. Four SEC quarterbacks set season highs against DBU. LSU finished 118th in the country in passing defense.
Kelly knows that must improve. He’s tasked new defensive coordinator Blake Baker with making sure it does.
“I know going in that we’re prepared defensively,” Kelly said. “Our guys are excited about playing for Blake. They get the scheme very well. There’s not a lot of confusion. I’m excited to watch them play.”
