Brian Kelly's Thoughts: Breaking Down What Went Wrong Against the Florida Gators

The Bayou Bengals' struggles continued on Saturday night in Gainesville, losing streak reaches three games.

Nov 9, 2024; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly looks on against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the second half at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers dropped their third straight Southeastern Conference matchup of the 2024 season after falling 27-16 to the Florida Gators in Week 12.

Kelly and the Bayou Bengals struggled in all phases of the game behind lackluster defensive play paired with zero success offensively.

LSU has now been outscored 100-35 in the last 10 quarters of play after carrying the second half struggles against Texas A&M into the last two games against both Alabama and Florida.

On top of being significantly outscored, LSU has punched in only three touchdowns on their last 27 drives on offense.

It's been a challenging stretch for the Tigers over the last three weeks. What happens now?

Kelly dove into the miscues, keeping the program motivated and taking a hands-on approach with the offensive playcalling.

Brian Kelly's Thoughts: Week 12 Edition

Keeping the Intensity Up:

“Do you want to fight or not? Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players that we’re not playing well. We’re struggling right now. It’s life. It’s a myriad of things but it’s a reflection of what life’s about. There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through. We got to do it together.

"So, if you’re not a thumb pointer, if you’re not someone who continues to work to be better, then we don’t have a place for you in the last couple of weeks. But if you want to fight and keep working to get better, then we’re going to be alongside you. At the end of the day, it’s about overcoming adversity and fighting through these last two games that are at home that we desperately want to win.”

Being More Involved in the Playcalling:

“Anybody that has a business or organization and you’re not getting a profit, you put yourself on the street. Everybody is working and putting in the time and the head coach has to be part of that as well. Whether it’s a business or football coaching, you can’t sit there and say it’s the coordinators. The head coach is ultimately responsible for the success of his football team and we’re not successful these last three weeks. You got to get involved.

"Obviously, I wasn’t good enough tonight. We’re going to go back to work and look at the things we need to get better at. We’re going to keep swinging. We’re going to have 22 guys out there that are going to fight for LSU and play hard these last two weeks at home.”

Lack of Execution Offensively:

"If I had the magic bullet, we would have already used it. We're looking at everything. That's what you have to do when you're struggling like this. You find ways to make things simpler. Less offense is more. That's why we got into more of a running game mindset. We'll continue to do that. We have to be able to eliminate the negative plays and convert when we get opportunities in these short fields. In prolific offenses, players make plays in short fields. We haven't made enough plays down there. We're getting the guys to places where they need to be to make those plays."

Offensive Line Struggles:

"We're concerned about keeping our quarterback clean. We have to look at it in its entirety. Did the ball come out when it needed to? Did we protect the way we needed to? Anytime the quarterback gets knocked down, everyone is going to have to look at what we did and what we can do better."

Red Zone Woes:

"It was a myriad of different things, but at the end of the day, you have to have players that make plays in that area of the field. That means everybody, from the quarterback to the left tackle and wide receiver. We haven't made enough plays down in that area."

Keeping the Program Fighting:

"This is really a simple exercise of, 'Do you want to fight or not?' Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players? We're not playing well, and we're struggling right now. It's life. It's a myriad of things, but it's a reflection of what life's about. We are in a rough spot that we have to fight through. We got to do it together.

"If you're not a thumb pointer or somebody that's saying, 'I'm going to work to be better,' then we don't have a place for you. If you want to fight and you want to keep working to get better, we're going to be alongside you. It's about overcoming adversity and fighting through these last two games at home. We desperately want to win."

Final Two Weeks Provides Important Opportunity:

"It's going to point out those who are not fighters. We're going to put guys on the field who want to fight and do everything they can to correct where we are right now, which is struggling with consistent execution. I've pointed out a number of times that it's negative plays, the inability to finish off drives in the end zone and then the explosive plays on defense. They're pretty consistent. We've enough to know what we have to be better at as coaches and players."

LSU will return to action on Nov. 23 against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Tiger Stadium with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

More LSU News:

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