LAS VEGAS -- Brian Kelly slammed his left fist onto the press conference table with such force that his water bottle almost toppled over.
After No. 13 LSU squandered a four-point lead with under six minutes remaining, losing 27-20 to No. 23 USC, Kelly didn't mince words about his frustrations.
"We had some guys who really played their hearts out tonight, and here we are again, discussing the same issues!" Kelly said, hitting the table again. "We’re talking about not finishing when we have the opponent in a position to be put away. Instead, it feels like we’re on the sideline thinking the game is already won."
Kelly expressed that this was the first time during his tenure at LSU that he felt "angry" with his team, criticizing their lack of a "killer instinct."
"I'm so angry about this that I need to take action," Kelly said. "I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach. I need to coach them better because it's unacceptable that we didn't find a way to win this game. It's ridiculous. It's insane."
Despite accumulating 421 yards of offense and controlling the time of possession by six minutes, Kelly's team failed to make the most of their opportunities. Their opening drive covered 74 yards on 13 plays over more than seven minutes but ended with no points. Although LSU trailed for much of the first half, they managed to take the lead twice in the third quarter.
"Unfortunately, it's clear that when we have a lead, we don't know how to handle it," Kelly said. "You've got to put teams away, and we had a chance to do that. Instead, we got complacent and made more mistakes when we should have been more focused and had a killer instinct. That’s disappointing."
Kelly’s frustration was underscored by the Tigers' 10 penalties for 99 yards compared to the Trojans' six, with several penalties coming at critical moments. On USC's game-winning drive, a targeting penalty against LSU placed the Trojans inside the red zone, leading to the decisive touchdown with eight seconds remaining.
Penalties weren’t the only issue; LSU’s ground game also faltered. Earlier in the week, LSU offensive lineman Will Campbell had confidently stated the Tigers' intention to run the ball against the Trojans.
"That's not something we're trying to keep quiet," Campbell said on Tuesday. "I'm telling everybody right now. We're going to run the football."
However, by the end of the game, LSU had managed only 117 rushing yards and had to rely heavily on quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. Nussmeier threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns, but after giving LSU the lead in the third quarter, the offense stalled. USC's revamped defense, under coordinator D'Anton Lynn, managed key third-down stops to keep the Trojans in the game.
"They had every right to be confident," Lincoln Riley said of LSU’s offensive line. "But so did we. We just didn’t talk about it in the media."
Out of 13 third downs, LSU converted only five. After their go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, their next four drives ended in two punts, a field goal, and a game-sealing interception by Nussmeier.
"For us to be the kind of football team I want, we need to eliminate the foolish mistakes," Kelly said. "And we need to play off each other much better."
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