LSU’s Brian Kelly blames himself for tough loss to Alabama

BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Brian Kelly repeatedly blamed himself for Saturday night’s 42-13 loss to Alabama, a defeat that almost certainly ended any hope the Tigers had of a spot in the College Football Playoff.

They fell to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in SEC play as Kelly admitted they face an uphill climb if they want a chance at a conference title.

Asked how he and the team will approach the final three weeks of the regular season knowing a CFP berth is now a long way off, Kelly said: “We are disappointed with our performance. These guys don’t say, ‘Hey, we’re out of the playoffs.’ They’re disappointed. And I’m disappointed that we didn’t live up to the standards of LSU football. This affects us more than the damn playoffs.

“When you put on a jersey for LSU, there’s a standard in football: Those three letters on the jersey are a requirement, and we didn’t live up to that. That’s the disappointment.”

LSU had an open schedule to prepare for the game against Alabama, but struggled to slow down quarterback Jalen Milroe and made costly mistakes on offense that let the game spiral out of control. Milroe has now broken through the LSU defense in consecutive seasons – on Saturday he ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns after rushing for 155 yards in a 42-28 win over the Tigers last season. This time, Milroe had more rushing yards than passing yards (109).

The Tigers have struggled to contain rushing quarterbacks this season. In a loss to Texas A&M in their final game, backup quarterback Marcel Reed replaced Conner Weigman and ran for 62 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Aggies pull off a comeback victory.

“When you watch the game, you’re like, ‘What did these guys do for two weeks?'” Kelly said of his team. “We have a plan to stop the quarterback. We didn’t get that done, so I take responsibility for that. But we also need to put our players in the right position to take advantage of what they’re capable of, it’s ours together and we need to get it fixed because it’s been a few weeks now.”

When asked what needed to change defensively, Kelly didn’t want to go into too much detail.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel when it comes to quarterback defense,” Kelly said. “There are only a few ways to defend them. We have to be able to get our players – we’re not trading any of them. There is no waiver. We’re not taking anyone out of the demo squad. We” “We have to find the right answers, what works best for the guys we have, and that hasn’t worked very well the last few games.”

LSU linebacker Greg Penn III said he thought the Tigers had a good game plan to prevent Milroe from getting into the game.

“Obviously he has great speed, and we can’t really explain that in practice or on film until you’re in the game,” Penn said. “He’s just a great player. I thought our game plan was really good, but they just went out and executed better than we did.”

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier struggled to get the Tigers into the end zone, especially in crucial moments. Late in the second quarter, LSU stopped Alabama on its fourth and final score, trailing 14-6. But on the next play, Nussmeier was sacked and fumbled. Alabama recovered and three plays later Milroe scored on a 10-yard run to give the Crimson Tide a 21-6 lead.

At the start of the third quarter, the Tigers drove down the field trying to get back into the game. But Nussmeier threw an interception in the end zone from the 4-yard line. Milroe scored again on the ensuing drive to make it 28-6 and virtually put the game out of reach.

Nussmeier ended up losing three balls. He has now lost six turnovers in his last two games.

Losing the ball hurts, but so do penalties.

On that game-winning Alabama scoring drive in the third quarter, LSU thought they could let Milroe get away with a crucial third-down stop and a sack. However, officials issued a penalty for face masks, which LSU fans objected to after seeing them on the video board, with some debris thrown onto the field.

“If I was in the stands, I wouldn’t be happy,” Kelly said. “I don’t advocate throwing anything on the field. But I think it’s like any other venue: I think you should use good judgment. But I wouldn’t be happy watching us play either. I wasn’t happy with the way I trained or played.

The win keeps Alabama (7-2, 4-2) in the hunt for a playoff spot. Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer called it “probably the most complete game we’ve ever played” and said Milroe has a “superpower” when it comes to running the football.

“Not just someone getting first downs, but getting in the end zone,” DeBoer said. “So he got the ball rolling with what he did early on.”

Alabama offensive tackle Tyler Booker added: “We gave every team the message that Alabama can run the football. Even though it took us a few games to get going, that’s what we’re capable of every week.”

Milroe celebrated after the game with Alabama fans in the stands who had traveled. At the other end of the field, an LSU fan, visibly upset by the performance, yelled that Kelly had to find a way to get out of Baton Rouge. LSU players said afterward they would find a way to regroup and refocus before playing at Florida next week. Kelly reiterated that he would get back to work.

“The bottom line is we didn’t play at the level of LSU football,” Kelly said. “That’s up to me. I need to make sure we put our players in better positions to be successful and that’s the work I’m going to do.”