Brian Kelly reviews LSU’s defensive performance vs. Alabama
Brian Kelly took the podium on Monday afternoon knowing he’d have to answer for LSU’s defensive struggles against Alabama on Saturday night’s loss.
Coming off of a bye week and back-to-back stout showings against Army and Auburn, the hope was that marked a turning of the corner, but instead, LSU’s defense was back to square one. Jalen Milroe rushed for 155 yards, the Tide rolled to 42 points and LSU was once again left in the rearview as the defense failed to get stops.
Milroe’s legs were the primary point of concern as LSU allowed him to single-handedly win the game. During the game, there were no adjustments with spies or changes in coverage and the results remained the same.
“You’re always looking at things you can do over,” Kelly said on Monday. “Could we have spied the quarterback? Absolutely. There were third down situations that clearly we felt like we wanted to be in more coverage and our pass rush could keep him in the pocket, but that proved not to be the case. If we had to do some things differently, we would have employed a spy technique.”
The inability of this defense to adjust has haunted it in every loss this season. After last year’s tangible second half success in games, the same mistakes continue to beat the Tigers this year.
“We have a spy within our package, but didn’t utilize it in situations that in retrospect would have been a great call,” Kelly said. “That’s not a halftime adjustment, that’s just making the call. I remember writing on the board for the defense, specifically for the second half was tackling better. We needed better leverage. Our eyes needed to be better. If we did those things we were going to be in good shape.”
Unfortunately for Kelly, very little changed as Alabama remained a step ahead. In the fourth quarter, Alabama was able to salt the game away with its physicality and run game, as a tired LSU squad once again fell short.
What’s next?
Despite the loss, Kelly sees improvement in the big picture. Before the game, he said he’s seen this defense take strides forward from the Ole Miss and Missouri games and afterwards, he stood by those comments. When asked about assessing the defensive coaching staff, he was quick to defend them for this season.
“We’re playing the players that are best suited to get the time necessary and they’re developing,” Kelly said. “They did a heck of a job battling a big and powerful offensive unit in Alabama. Our defensive line was battling and was physical. They didn’t knock us off the ball. Coming off a shutout against Army and a really good performance against Auburn and the back half of the Missouri game, there’s been progress from the defensive standpoint. We’re making the progress I needed to see from a defensive perspective.”
Now, it’s up to Kelly and defensive coordinator Matt House to try to right the ship with Florida coming to Baton Rouge this week.
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