LSU shares footage from Brian Kelly’s locker room speech after Ole Miss game
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
LSU found itself locked in a tight one in Week 5 against Ole Miss in a battle of undefeated teams.
The Tigers trailed 17-13 with 58 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter. And they responded to a Rebels fourth-quarter touchdown drive with one of their own to make it a five-point game with five minutes left in regulation.
But LSU never got the ball back. The Rebels ran out the clock, thanks in part to a late 4th-down conversion, to hand the Tigers a disappointing road defeat. On Tuesday, LSU’s social media team released a clip of Brian Kelly‘s rather frustrated postgame locker room speech.
“This game has to be played with complimentary football. We can’t play a first half like we did offensively and put our defense on the field for 50 plays,” the fourth-year Tigers head coach said. “And then, in the second half, we’ve got to come up with some key stops, especially on third-down situations. We didn’t get those key stops.”
Kelly’s frustration stemmed partly from a first-quarter drive that saw the Rebels hold the ball for 18 plays and seven-and-a-half minutes. Ole Miss then had the ball four times in the second quarter for a total of 29 plays.
Meanwhile, LSU’s defense was 8-of-16 in third-down situations for the game but 1-of-5 in third-or-worse scenarios in the second half, including a failure to stop the Rebels on 4th-and-3 at the Tigers’ 35 with about 90 seconds remaining.
“We can’t perform like (we did on Saturday). Every one of you has gotta do your job to the best of your ability when it’s called upon. And we didn’t get enough of that. It was inconsistent,” Kelly said. “If you want the outcome to be different, our performances have to be better.”
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
