Brian Kelly was asked on Wednesday on the SEC coaches media teleconference about similarities to last season, since LSU has lost to Florida State in both of Kelly’s season openers.

Kelly believes that the circumstances are different.

“This team certainly recognizes that their performance level in the second half was not at the level or standard that they want, nor anybody wants and they feel like they’ve got something to prove. I think the game last year it was a matter of missed opportunities,” Kelly said.

Both experiences have led to anxious feelings, and a sense of urgency.

“If you look at how we started so slowly against Florida State, we talked about a sense of urgency in terms of the need the next week, we’re talking about that as well this year,” Kelly said. “Because we lacked that in the second half.”

Kelly admits that with 14 transfers and several first-time starters, with freshmen, Kelly is still learning his team.

“But we’ll get to know our team and know the things we need to do to get them in the right mindset for each and every game. We haven’t lost touch with who our players are,” Kelly said. “We’ve been with them all year. But when it comes to performance, we had a lot of new players out there, and so it’s incumbent upon us to put them in the right position to teach them and maybe we got to do less, maybe we’ve got to do some things a little bit differently, and that’s where you get a chance to really grow and learn about your football team.”