LSU Coach Brian Kelly Ridicules His Team After Humiliating, 45-24 Loss To Florida State
ORLANDO, Florida - LSU football coach Brian Kelly did not recognize the team he coached to a 45-24 loss to Florida State on Sunday night.
This resulted in a rant by Kelly similar to, but different than that infamous one by then-Phoenix Cardinals coach Dennis Green in 2006. After losing to Chicago to fall to 1-5 on the season, Green yelled, "The Bears are who we thought they were. And that's why we took the damn field. Now, if you want to crown 'em, then crown their (expletive deleted). But they are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook."
Kelly, on the other hand, said his team was not what he thought it was. The Tigers (0-1) definitely did not play like a team ranked No. 5 in the nation with national title hopes. They allowed 494 yards and let No. 8 Florida State off the hook after LSU led 17-14 at the half. The Tigers allowed a 31-0 run to the Seminoles in the second half to fall behind 45-17.
And the nation saw it on the last Sunday free of the NFL until February. So, it was embarrassing for the Tigers.
LSU coach Brian Kelly's team could not stop Florida State's passing game Sunday in a 45-24 loss in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Joe Petro/Getty Images)
"We certainly are not the football team that I thought we were," Kelly began. "And we've got to do a much better job obviously in developing our football team. But this is a total failure from a coaching standpoint and player standpoint that we have to obviously address and we have to own."
Brian Kelly's LSU Team Appeared To Quit In 2nd Half
LSU finally scored in the second half on a meaningless, 75-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels to Brian Thomas Jr. with 1:15 to play provided the final score.
"We didn't play with a sense of urgency," Kelly said.
Asked about the 31-0 run, Kelly grew testy.
"Yeah, I'm quite aware of the score," he said. "I don't like the way we came out (in the second half). I sensed it. I felt it. It's disappointing, but the buck stops with me."
Kelly then touched on his team's overconfidence after receiving lofty rankings and expectations before the season.
"We thought we were somebody else," he said. "We thought we were the two-time national champion Georgia Bulldogs or something. I don't know what we thought, but we were mistaken."
Daniels admitted the team thought too highly of itself going into the game, though it was only a 2.5-point favorite. Then again, Kelly himself boasted of a lopsided LSU victory on his radio show last week.
"We're going to beat the heck out of Florida State," Kelly said during his opening remarks on the show.
"I agree. We're not the team we thought we were," Daniels said. "We thought we were somebody else. We came out and thought it was going to be easy."
LSU returns to action next Saturday against Grambling (0-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
"So, we've got a minimum of 11 more games, and I'm going to tell you now that we are going to be better," Kelly said. "And we are going to commit ourselves to that."