Brian Kelly Sounds Envious Of Alabama’s Approach To LSU

LSU's loss to Alabama Saturday marked the third straight season that three-year coach Brian Kelly lost three regular season games. (Photo by Michael Baciagalupi)

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

As LSU coach Brian Kelly discussed his team’s 42-13 loss to Alabama Saturday, he seemed to be saying, “We should’ve done that.”

It was a somber tone. That’s what happens when your team is out of the “damn playoffs,” as he said Saturday night with the Tigers dropping to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference before falling seven spots No. 21 in the Associated Press poll.

The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, which had LSU No. 15 last week, will drop it in similar fashion Tuesday night. The Tigers play at Florida (4-5, 2-4 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC.

Alabama (7-2, 4-2 SEC), meanwhile, jumped to No. 9 from No. 11 and will likely do that again in the CFP rankings.

“They were consistent,” Kelly said with emphasis at his weekly press conference Monday. “They did a really good job of self-scouting and making a decision as to who they were going to be in this game.”

Self-scouting is what most teams do during an open week, which both teams had last week.

“They came out with a purpose and wanting to control the line of scrimmage, which they did,” Kelly said. “Ran the football effectively, obviously, and were consistent in what they did.”

Alabama rushed for 311 yards on 48 carries – a 6.5-yard average – with quarterback Jalen Milroe getting 185 of those on 12 rushes for a 15.4-yard average. They were not RPOs (run-pass options) either. Most of his rushes were designed runs, including the 72-yard touchdown for a 35-6 lead early in the fourth quarter and the 39-yard TD for a 7-0 lead on the first possession of the game.

“We were inconsistent, and that really is the difference,” he said. “So when you’re scratching your head and thinking about what happened, you had a really good football team in Alabama that went back in the bye week and said, ‘You know what, this is what we’re going to be.’ They came out and were consistent with what they wanted to be in this game. They took care of the football.”

LSU had a plan, too. Part of that was to run the ball, which it did effectively early, gaining 55 yards on five carries for an 11-yard average. That was better than Alabama’s at the time, which was 64 yards on 12 carries for a 5.3-yard average. But LSU settled for field goals. Bama took touchdowns and led 21-6 at halftime.

And as the game wore on, Milroe couldn’t be stopped.

“At times, we weren’t in the right alignment,” Kelly said.

Alabama also never turned the ball over. LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier lost a fumble and threw two interceptions, and the Tide scored 14 points out of those. Nussmeier fumbled while being sacked, and Alabama recovered at the LSU 32-yard line with 3:30 to go in the first half. Three plays later, Milroe scored on a 10-yard run for a 21-6 lead.

But the killer turnover was Nussmeier’s interception into the end zone after LSU drove to the 5-yard line to start the third quarter. Seven plays later, Milroe scored on a 19-yard run, and it was 28-6 late in the third period.

“So, it’s 21-6, and we’ve got the ball all the way down at the 5-yard line poised to score, and unfortunately we have a turnover,” Kelly said. “We’re ready to make it a one-score game. We don’t score a touchdown on the first drive of the game. We made a multitude of mistakes. We know what we need to do. There’s no like, ‘What happened?’ We know exactly what happened.”

But it keeps happening.

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