Everything Brian Kelly said after Saturday night’s win over Florida
Brian Kelly got arguably the biggest win of his tenure so far on Saturday night, winning a shootout on the road in Gainesville over the Gators.
After the two teams traded touchdowns for much of the first half, LSU stretched its lead to 21 points, and it looked like we were heading for a blowout. However, it wasn’t quite so simple. The Gators rallied, and quarterback Jayden Daniels nearly had a costly turnover at the end that was wiped out by a UF personal foul.
LSU survived to win 45-35, moving to 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play ahead of another top-10 matchup in Death Valley next weekend against Ole Miss.
Here’s what Kelly had to say after his colossal win.
Opening statement
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
“Yeah, proud of my coaches and certainly the players, they competed. Tough place to play, give credit to Florida too, they kept fighting, you know. I just couldn’t be more pleased to take a group of guys that obviously didn’t play up to their capabilities the week before and they were able to go back to the practice field and really be more purposeful, be more thorough and come out here and play well and beat an SEC team at their home stadium. So really, really proud of our group.”
On Daniels' leap forward
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Daniels had what was his best game through the air with LSU on Saturday night. He finished 23 of 32 with 349 yards and three touchdowns in addition to three more on the ground. Kelly was asked if the coaches have been expecting this leap.
“Absolutely, of course,” Kelly said. “I mean, we were hoping that he was going to be more assertive with the football and push it down the field. He’s seeing things a lot better and the offense is coming to him. It’s a new offense that he’s in, and it’s it’s slowing down for him.
“And obviously, you know, throwing for three (touchdowns) and running for three. You saw his athletic ability and his ability to move this offense.”
Kelly said that as Daniels gets more comfortable in the offense, you’re seeing the results.
“It’s it’s been a process of him being more confident and comfortable within the offensive structure, knowing where people are,” Kelly said. “And I gotta tell you, the receivers played at a level that I think they’re capable of, that has a lot to do with it.
“But assertiveness is confidence in who you’re throwing to and confidence in yourself. And I think you’re seeing that just happen, you know, through the relationships that he’s building with just players on the team, you know, he’s new to this group, you know, and I just think that’s just the maturation that’s occurring.”
On Jack Bech's status
Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
It wasn’t the best game for Jack Bech, who had yet another muff on a punt that set up a Florida score. Bech later exited the game and was seen in street clothes.
“He has a strain in his lower back, same injury as last week,” Kelly said. “And it just tightened up again.”
It seems the Tigers are optimistic Bech’s injury isn’t serious.
On Kayshon Boutte's breakout performance
Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun
It had been a slow start to the season for Kayshon Boutte, but the projected first-round pick had a breakout game against a struggling Gators secondary. He led the team with six catches for 115 yards, his first 100-yard receiving day of the season.
“I made him a game-day captain, and you could just see that intensity pick up, and I don’t know that that was the reason for it,” Kelly said. “But he played fast, I made him game-day captain because of the way he practiced this week. He, by far, set the standard in terms of how he went to practice, and it showed in the way he played. He was faster than anybody. He broke tackles. He was a difference-maker.
“If he plays at that level, we’re a different football team.”
On the defensive effort
Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun
LSU was far from perfect on defense, allowing 210 yards and four touchdowns on the ground against an elite Florida rushing attack. It allowed 294 total yards to quarterback Anthony Richardson, but it mostly held the passing attack in check after giving up a 51-yard touchdown on the second play from scrimmage.
“They did some really good things,” Kelly said. “We harassed the quarterback tonight, but we have to tackle better. Matt (House) would probably agree with this, we probably got a little bit too conscious of protecting the formations as you know they’re in multiple formations and we tried to protect too many things. And we probably lightened our defensive box a little bit in the running game. If we had to do it all over again, we probably would have been a little bit more stout inside out.
“But having said that it’s the first time that we’ve gone up against this quarterback and having a better understanding of who he is is going to help us moving forward.”
On offensive line play
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
LSU’s offensive line has been a limiting factor this season with five new starters, including two true freshmen at the tackle spots. Florida has some strong edge rushers, namely Brenton Cox Jr., but the Tigers’ line allowed just one sack.
“You’ve got two true freshmen playing against really elite talent off the edge,” Kelly said. “I mean, those kids just battled and battled and battled. [autotag]Josh Williams[/autotag] got the ball because of his running, catching, but he was part of a lot of chipping, where he was doubling up on their defensive ends.
“He did a lot to help us offensively and help those tackles.”
Kelly elaborated on the play of the true freshmen in Will Campbell — who returned to the field — and Emery Jones.
“It’s really unusual,” Kelly said. “Go look at rosters around the SEC and find two true freshmen playing. I don’t know, I haven’t researched it. They’re physically gifted, but they’re mentally strong to handle the rigors of play-in and play-out going against mature physical pass rushers in the SEC. Unheard of. I’ve been doing this a long time to have two true freshmen do that and not crack. They don’t crack. I mean, they come back to the sideline and they sit down. They take Brad’s coaching, and they’re ready to move on to the next play.”
On the offense's progress in general
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
LSU’s offense has been a bit of a work in progress as the players adjust to a new system and quarterback. However, Saturday showed some real improvement.
“Our guys are starting to feel a lot more comfortable with the offense and what we’re trying to do with it,” Kelly said. “The outside zone is complementing now the inside zone and the zone read, you can see the passes off of it now. You saw a lot more seven-man protection, the ability to push the ball downfield, we missed a double move that’s wide open. But you can start to see those things starting to come together. And I think our guys obviously see that and feel more comfortable.”
On his visible emotion on the field
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
We saw an animated Kelly on the sidelines during the game. During his press conference after the fact, he said that likely stemmed from his frustration with some breaks going the Gators’ way.
“I just felt like you know, we didn’t get a lot of breaks tonight,” Kelly said. “It just seemed like you know, every replay went against us. Jack’s our best returner and he’s trying to return one, we maybe should have fair caught it. He’s our best guy and it gets on the ground. Just felt like our guys deserve to win that game. So when something went well, my emotions probably showed and I felt like we deserved a break or two.”
On missed tackles
Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun
Though the defense generally held up, there were some major gaffes. The most prominent of the day came on an 81-yard run from Richardson, who broke multiple tackles on the way to the end zone. That momentum play helped Florida get back in the game.
Kelly said the defense was too focused on trying to strip the ball from Richardson rather than bringing him down.
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve got to get the big guy down on the ground,” Kelly said. “He’s not easy to get down on the ground. I mean, we’re trying to rip the ball loose. You can’t rip the ball loose from that guy. You know, and obviously, you can’t get his arm in motion either. I mean, I guess that doesn’t happen either.
“So no matter what happens, you got to tackle, and we’re trying to rip the ball loose, punch it loose. And you got to get him on the ground. He’s just such a big, big guy. You know, I think that’s part and parcel some of the tackling issues. You got a big quarterback and we’re trying to do too much. We just got to get him on the ground.”
