Brian Kelly's team had better quickly start looking like a Brian Kelly team

Chase Goodbread, Nashville Tennessean
·2 min read
10
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Welcome to SEC Unfiltered, the USA TODAY NETWORK's newsletter on SEC sports. Look for this newsletter in your inbox Monday through Friday. Today, Tuscaloosa News sports columnist Chase Goodbread takes over:

One game into the Brian Kelly era at LSU, here's what the Tigers have gotten on their $95 million investment: two muffed punts for turnovers, a blocked field goal, a blocked extra point and a brutally blatant targeting foul on one of the Tigers' best defenders.

All those miscues, plus a few others, added up to a 24-23 loss to Florida State on Sunday night that was as un-Kelly-like as it could've been.

He built a reputation at Notre Dame, after all, as a coach whose teams were disciplined, fundamentally sound, and wouldn't beat themselves. In other words, everything LSU wasn't in losing Kelly's debut.

Yes, it's one game.

But it's one game that suggests Kelly wasn't quite able to put his stamp on the program in the nine months since his hire. That could take as little as a couple more games, or as much as a couple more recruiting classes. Time will tell.

Eventually, teams have a way of reflecting their head coach, taking on his personality, in the way they play. LSU fans saw both the best and worst of that in the Tigers' rise and ultimate collapse under previous coach Ed Orgeron.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly encourages his team before an NCAA college football game against Florida State in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
LSU head coach Brian Kelly encourages his team before an NCAA college football game against Florida State in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Wins over Brian Kelly teams are supposed to be hard-earned, not gifted by miscues.

The talent on hand in Baton Rouge simply isn't on par with what Orgeron had to work with, or even Les Miles before him. That's an entirely different challenge for Kelly and his coaching staff as they look to recruit their way back into SEC contention. But it doesn't take five-star signees to prevent kicks from getting blocked, or to catch punts cleanly, or to not get ejected on targeting calls that are textbook examples of how to get flagged for it.

For now, they'd better just start cleaning up the errors.

And that starts with the $95 million man.

Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: LSU football looked nothing like a Brian Kelly team in coach's debut