The LSU Tigers (6-4, 3-3 SEC) have lost three straight games and dropped entirely out of the AP poll after looking like they would be prime SEC and College Football Playoff contenders.
Saturday’s surprising 27-16 loss to Florida (5-5, 3-4 SEC) was a train wreck that included head coach Brian Kelly yelling at one of his wide receivers on the sideline.
ESPN’s Hunter McCann conjectured Kelly was screaming at Chris Hilton in frustration over disrespecting him.
The third-year head coach addressed the sideline episode in his Monday news conference from Baton Rouge (h/t Sports Illustrated).
“This is about a guy that’s anxious and wants to make plays and has to let the game come to him,” Kelly said. “Matter of fact, that was the conversation we had on the sideline.”
Kelly wrote the contentious interaction off as trying to calm down Hilton, who missed time with a bone bruise this season, from getting ahead of himself.
“Chris desperately wants to make plays for us. He’s in that mindset,” Kelly continued. “I think it’s much more about letting the game come to you, and part of that has been he’s been out so long and he wants to make an impact.”
Kelly also spoke on LSU’s losing skid amid outside pressure and criticism.
“Look, when you don’t get the right outcomes immediately it’s going to be ‘take this action, do this, bench that guy, fire that guy,'” Kelly explained. “It’s much more about, for us, understanding that we have a process in place.
“We have to stick with our process and then maybe, are there things that you have to tweak within that and that’s how I’ve operated for over 34 years,” he concluded.
After nearly three seasons with the program, LSU is 20-7 with Kelly at the helm but still no return to the College Football Playoff since Ed Orgeron led the Tigers to the 2019-20 national title.
“I’m certainly going to feel the pain of our entire state when we’re not successful,” Kelly said.
LSU hosts Vanderbilt (6-4, 3-3 SEC) on Nov. 23 with little else on the line besides breaking its three-game losing streak and impressing bowl game organizers.
