Brian Kelly says LSU looked tired in win vs. Nicholls, but "this is gonna be a good football team"

[Music] well I'd start off with um saying uh how impressed I was with um uh nickel State I thought they played their tails off um they were physical uh you can tell how much it meant to those young men to play here in Tiger stadium um and have a chance to uh to play LSU um they were physical um and and they controlled the clock um made it made it um made it a a great football game from that perspective um you know again I I I I'm I'm I'm happy we won the football game but but certainly there's a lot of areas that um you know I'm I'm looking at uh the things that we have to do better certainly that was a team that was tired did not play its very best um and you know we had a long week uh it was a short week we had to go back out and and practice on Tuesday and and it showed uh it did they worked their tails off this week but they just did not have the the same energy the same snap um the same kind of um physicality uh that they had against USC um and again I start started my comments with with um saying a lot of that you know Nicholls State just did a great job they they were physical they controlled the football they let did a lot of great things um so you know from that perspective uh um you know again 4421 at the end of the day um we have to be able to look at the film and say listen you this is this is who we are and these are the things we have to go to work on this week getting ready for a South Carolina team that um you know look really good against uh Kentucky but look each week is a week in itself so be careful about the narratives of this team is this this team is that um I know what this team can be I watched them play against USC they did not finish very well against USC um they need to be a complete four quarter football team um we've got to run the ball more effectively uh certainly I thought we did some really good things late I thought um Z Alexander came in and competed for the football had some pbus um and I thought we settled down you know obviously we had the one touchdown where we had a missed assignment on a wildcat um offensive play but again um you know my perspective again is this is going to be a good football team this was a week that uh this team was taxed and didn't play its very best and still won you know 44 to 21 so with that open up to questions coach you threw for 300 yards you threw six touchdowns but you said you need to run the ball better can you elaborate on what you're seeing down there and why aren't the runs popping free yeah I mean I got I got to look at the film more closely um you know to really evaluate you know the Run game uh more effectively um you know obviously they gave us an opportunity with with a lot of man coverage opportunities to to throw the football um so it it's so hard to kind of you know come in here and say well you know we should have done this we should have done that in the running game we want a running game that that balances our our offense but I know there were a lot of plays that we checked out of at the line of scrimmage because of the you know the extra hat so to speak U which is is part of our offense coach over here and then in that same vein what about your rushing defense how did Nicholls sort of open up um a few rushing Lanes particularly in the first half I I I think the the one that you know we were disappoined with was the one that we didn't you know execute was the long run by the quarterback um what did they have 150 yards and on that one run uh the quarterback ran for what was it uh 67 yards so I mean you know 38 carries for you know 96 yards less than four yards a rush I mean so you know they came in to to to run the ball you know the the the two things that bothered me was the the the long drive right before the half you know not getting off the field there and then the long quarterback run after that we kind of you know settled in um you know pretty good you know and and again you know we have to be more physical clearly um on both sides of the ball coach could you tell you that your team was maybe a little bit fatigued heading into this game and um and if that's not the case then when do you sort of try to sort of figure that out then no I mean you get back at 5:00 a.m. on Monday and and then you you we played on Sunday you know and and so you play on Sunday you know you you don't have the normal recovery you know you know against a very good opponent that went right down to the to the last second and we got long travel back um look I'm not here to make a million excuses but that was a team that was fatigued and and it affected them now that's not going to be their best work and and we still were able to you know you know win by you know 23 points um and you know they're they're not going to say that that's that was their a work um we have to do a lot of things better so we're going to watch the film we're going to critically evaluate it we're going to say look we we have to bite down harder next time if you're in that kind of situation um but you know again that wasn't our best best work and with Jacobian gillery uh how's his how's his ankle I I didn't get a report yet we'll we'll get a little bit more I'm sure they're going to have some Imaging and make sure that uh they get all of the information before we make any you know decision decisions on what what it exactly was yeah bri can you talk about the the Boost Savon Thomas gave you in the return game seemed to really pick youall up a lot no doubt and you know I think you know his his presence back there obviously you know allows us um you know better field position you know we struggled a lot last couple of years with with the punt return game you know he's been able to get us great field position's obviously is a weapon for us um and and again I I I think that that's what we were looking for when when we went into the you know the portal um somebody that could do that obviously they he he got that one opportunity maybe got a little too aggressive in terms of taking that out of the end zone he's probably a little too deep um but yeah he's he's been a uh an important part of our special teams and you talk about the narrative and being careful with it how do you gauge what your team is capable of when they seem to be a little bit all over the place um well I I think I think you have to look at you know the the bits and pieces of it right I mean um putting a consistent performance together is what we're looking for um and we haven't done that yet um but it's early in the season and look you know you got to go on the road against a South Carolina team that's going to have a lot of momentum you know coming off a great win against Kentucky so um you know the clock's ticking right uh you got to be able to put these things together now for four quarters you know we had some some nice um momentum there offensively uh but we've got to get balance running the ball and then defensively I thought we got some really good series in the second half you know after we cut the quarterback loose on the long run you know they really never threatened again um so it's again it's kind of what I talked about last last last week we never really complimented our defense at any time when they started to play well we went three and out three times in a row and actually went backwards so um we've got to get to complimentary football and we've got to be you know more physical uh on both lines and and when if that doesn't happen soon then we will be talking about you know things that we don't want to talk about Coach um just knowing Bo Davis can imagine he was very happy with the 65 yard rushing touchdown or just the way that you know you defended the run today I'm just wondering uh just can you kind of describe what he said to the team what his message was what specifically he wants him to work on yeah I I mean his guys played pretty good inside um you know our safey fits are part of the run our linebacker fits are part of the run our Corners um they're all responsible um you you know again and and that's that's the whole thing right you know every everybody assumes that it's the defensive tackles there were two times that we had a stunt on for our defensive end and you know he didn't squeeze it um so you know it's it's it's 11 guys doing their job on the defensive side of the ball and and and that's kind of what we have to look at right is is is getting is getting the job done consistently and we got a lot better at it later in in the third and fourth quarter but then then we have some um mental errors so we've got to clean those things up uh coach can what did you make of the younger group that you sent out on defense tonight specifically with Spears and Jackson um and going forward I guess did those guys show you something that you can you know run away with a positive into next week uh yeah I got to watch the film I mean like I said the only guy that really jumps out at me I know I was I was pleased with with weeks um his his active role and um Z Alexander th those guys jumped out at me and and again it's I I got to watch the film to to give you a really good answer to that but those are the two guys that that jumped out to me and I'm sure probably you guys too what did you see from Garis especially after he went down and came back and battled yeah I mean Garrett is he's a really effective and efficient thrower of the football and we saw tonight that you know when when he gets the opportunity he he he can run the football for us you know he had a couple of opportunities when they were in drop eights uh they were in drop eight a couple times and played some TW man and uh you know he he used his legs he's he's he's very athletic he can certainly do do that um he is Garrett nesm is nowhere near any of the issues that we have I mean we got to run the football and he's not the running back he's not the offensive line um and and and again I I think that that's you know if there's anything things that we need to kind of you know settle is we got to really look closely at what we're doing in the Run game and and the players are good enough we got to coach better and and that is on me um defensively we are who we are I mean there's nobody else on like I can't like we're not benching anybody I mean the guys we got are the guys we got I mean we played without our best defensive tackle the whole game um so the guys we have in there we got to keep coaching them we got to get them better and they're going to have to play next week against South Carolina just better than they played this week two more coach right here I know you said you're going to have to go back and look at the film with a lot of different things but could you just talk a little bit about uh what you saw from how well prepared mentally guy like Jawan Johnson and Kaden were when their number was called I believe like jaan's first snap he came off the field and I think you had some words for him just what did you see out of those guys and going forward how they can I love those guys I mean I think that they're you know Jan in particular had like 48 hours to pick up a number of different things and he picked them up naturally he's he's going to continue to grow within our offensive structure and um love coaching him you know he's just wideeye has a great sense of the game um and he'll pick things up Qui quickly you know Kaden Kaden is a is a guy that you know we have a lot of faith in his speed is electric um and and he's going to continue to get better but you know he's a true freshman and he's and he's competing with some other guys as well you know I thought we saw Kaleb run with better Vision tonight um you know so there's a lot of young players in there getting some work and I I think they're improving got the last coach so Jaan you just talked about him and his move to offense what were just some of the qualities knowing that he was a quarterback also at LCA and what were some of the thoughts that you've seen from him in practice that as a staff that made yall want him to move that position to running back well I I think first of all he was he was going to play on all of our special teams and and so it was important that we got him involved on one side or the other whether it was defense or offense and you know with with the way we're playing our defensive structure he wasn't going to get a lot of playing time there so we knew on offense there were enough roles that we could get him involved and so he's going to play some running back some slot receiver he can do a lot of different things and we can craft an offensive structure around him um and and what we found out is he picks things up really well so it was a decision that we were going to play him as a freshman he was already involved in a lot of special teams and he was able to pick things up really quickly [Music]