LSU's win over Clemson on Saturday night saw plenty of positives. Most notably, the revamped Tiger defense was incredible and Garrett Nussmeier showed great poise and veteran leadership. However, there is still room for improvement. Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Brian Kelly admitted one area where he could have been better.
Kelly admits error in aggressive 4th down decision
In a big decision with 15 seconds left before halftime, LSU had a 4th and 2 from the Clemson 12-yard line. Trailing 10-3, Kelly opted to not take the points with a chip shot field goal that would've made it a 10-6 ballgame. Instead, he made the aggressive decision to go for it, which immediately backfired. The Tigers failed to convert and gave Clemson more momentum heading into halftime.
Some fans liked Kelly's aggressiveness, wanting to try for the end zone and a shot at tying the game. However, most Tiger fans saw how great the LSU defense was playing and shouted at their TVs for Kelly to take the points.
But what made the decision even more peculiar is that LSU had zero timeouts remaining. With such little time remaining in the half, even if they converted the fourth down attempt, the Tigers would have been scrambling to get the next play off.
Furthermore, the play they ran was designed to get the first down and not to get into the end zone. If they rushed to the line and spiked the ball, in theory, they would have had another shot at the end zone. But those are difficult circumstances to navigate with very little room for error. Plus, with such little time left, it's possible that even if everything went right on the conversion, there would not have been enough time for a play to the end zone and Kelly would have needed to kick the field goal anyway.
Kelly acknowledged this in his press conference on Tuesday, stating that he made a mistake in opting to go for it with such little time remaining in the half.
. @LSUfootball Brian Kelly says he made a mistake, #LSU should’ve kicked a field goal to end the first half. There wasn’t enough time to go for it.
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) September 2, 2025
Hats off to Kelly for admitting he made a mistake in this situation. It was a peculiar situation that left LSU scratching their heads at the half.
The decision to not take the three points loomed large in a closely-contested contest. But thankfully, it didn't prove to decide the outcome. Moving forward, if LSU's defense continues to play at the same level it did on Saturday, look for Kelly to take the points more often than not.