Dear Coach Kelly:
Tough loss Sunday night. I commiserate. It must be embarrassing to suffer your third straight season-opening loss as LSU’s head coach, which was the fifth straight season-opening loss for LSU. Might need to start scheduling Cream Puff U for the opener to get over that hex.
Nonetheless, it’s admirable that unlike most of the power conference schools, LSU offered college football fans a game on the opening weekend of college football worth anticipating and watching. LSU vs. Florida State the last two years. USC this year. Good stuff. That’s why it was the only college game on network TV Sunday night.
But 0-for-3 in opening games? What gives?
This team, we kept hearing in the preseason, will not likely be as explosive offensively as last year’s team led by Heisman Trophy quarterback and first-round draft choice Jayden Daniels, but the defense, which was horrible last year, would be improved, especially after spending $16.11 million to bring in an entirely new defensive staff. Ask not what your checkbook can do for you; ask what your defensive coaches can do for your checkbook.
Granted, the defense is better. The 447 yards your Tigers gave up to the Trojans’ offense looked like Eggs Benedict compared to the molded mini sausages served up by the defense in recent years. Holding a nationally-ranked team to just 10 first-half points is an all-too-rare positive.
But, Coach, one sign of a disciplined team, a well-coached team, is one with few penalties, especially stupid unsportsmanlike penalties. Do you and your assistants not coach the players to act with class? Do you forbid unbecoming celebrations after big plays and touchdowns – something, unfortunately, all too prevalent in the NFL? Why provide your opponent incentive to dig deeper for stamina and resiliency? That’s what receiver Kyren Lacy did after his talented 19-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter that merely tied the game, by pantomiming shooting a gun at the USC defender he had just beat.
Those kinds of penalties can take a toll. It forced LSU to kick off from its own 20 instead if its 35, and helped Zachariah Branch, a dangerous return specialist, to motor 46 yards, setting up a 22-yard field goal.
Coach, it was cool that Jayden Daniels was one of three Heisman winners on the sidelines, along with Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart from USC, and it was also cool that Daniels’ replacement at quarterback, did so well. Garrett Nussmeier completed 29 of 38 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, he had that one interception virtually at game’s end, when Tiger fans could only dream of a “Bluegrass Miracle” type play, but he was impressive, not only with his passing but with his coolness under fire and his leadership.
He cannot run like Daniels did so often, but you assured us he didn’t need to, because the running backs would take care of business. Now, when LSU drove to its one lead of the game, running back John Emery Jr. looked good, slashing for runs of 39 and 10 yards. Made Tiger fans glad he came back after testing the waters in the transfer portal. But, other than that, where is the vaunted running game?
And where is the offensive line that was supposed to be among the best in the nation? And what’s up with senior preseason All-American Will Campbell being flagged for a false start?
Speaking of false starts, Coach, are you channeling former coach Les Miles, whose teams were infamous for that kind of thing? And speaking of penalties (10 for 99 yards), what about the unsportsmanlike (there’s that word again) penalty against senior defensive back Major Burns?
After a fourth-down stop by the defense in the final quarter, with LSU leading 17-13, Burns removed his helmet on the field, apparently to celebrate, and LSU was penalized 15 yards to start its ensuing offensive series. Which went nowhere.
And what happened to junior star linebacker Harold Perkins, who made just one solo tackle against the Trojans? And is the target in proper tackling coached by your staff the runner’s torso, or shouldn’t it be the legs, which seems a better way to cut ’em down?
Yet, I do sympathize with you, Coach. Some of the same fans who hailed you after you boldly went for 2 in overtime and it paid off against Alabama two years ago, are saying they’ll never forgive you after Sunday night’s loss.
The same folks who criticized you for going for the TD, without success, and not taking the sure field goal on the first offensive drive are the ones who berated you for “settling for a tie” when you sent Damian Ramos in on fourth-and-8 for a 31-yard field goal with 1:47 left.
It’s a tough racket, big-time college coaching, especially at a big-time football school like LSU. But, then again, Coach, you get paid big bucks to produce wins. Once again, you’ve got an uphill climb to earn your keep, which at LSU translates to reaching NCAA football’s promised land.