Early on, it sure looked like LSU football was going to give the hometown fans a night to remember. Yup, the Tigers were going toe-to-toe in their heavyweight matchup with No. 3 Texas A&M. At halftime, Brian Kelly and Co. were up 18-14 and things were looking solid.
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Then, everything that could have gone wrong in the second half did. It didn't take long for the Aggies to retake the lead and then dominate the rest of the way. In the end, a 49-25 loss was posted and people are left wondering just what in the world Kelly told his team at the halftime break.
LSU looked lifeless in the second half and the fact that the Tigers played with zero urgency on both sides of the ball is fully on Kelly and his coaching staff. After the game, Kelly has even more people upset with him and his coaches with some comments that fans surely are not loving.
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LSU fans are losing patience and fast with head coach Brian Kelly
“Guys are playing hard and I know they were (tonight),” Kelly said after the loss to A&M. “They prepared their tails off this week and if that’s not happening, then that’s a football issue. The football buck starts with me. I have to take a good hard look at what we’re doing and how we’re doing it both from a personnel standpoint and from a coaching standpoint.”
Unfortunately, the LSU faithful is getting pretty darn used to these kinds of statements from Kelly after a loss. What's so frustrating from this latest defeat is that the Tigers looked like a totally different team in the first 30 minutes of action.
The defense was making plays and while quarterback Garrett Nussmeier was dealing with a ton of pain from his abdomen injury, he was still stepping up and delivering at times on offense. However, again, nothing looked the same in the second half.
Was that just Mike Elko and Texas A&M making some key adjustments for the final 30 minutes of play, while LSU decided to keep things the same? That'd be a safe assumption. Now, though, people in Baton Rouge are once again wondering what the Kelly buyout is, while chants inside the stadium were calling for him to be fired.
It wasn't long ago that Kelly, celebrating his birthday on Saturday, had LSU supporters dreaming of this team potentially pushing for a national title, with Nussmeier in the Heisman hunt. Fast forward to present time and the Tigers are out of the CFP hunt and the season feels like a waste. It's all on Kelly, who is not delivering for the program and university.