LSU's collapse to FSU in opener 'a total failure,' Brian Kelly says

ORLANDO, Florida – LSU coach Brian Kelly referred to his team's 45-24 loss to Florida State on Sunday night as "a total failure," after a second-half meltdown allowed the Seminoles to dominate.

The No. 5 Tigers led No. 8 FSU 31 unanswered points in the second half despite holding a 17-14 halftime advantage. Both wide receiver Keon Coleman (122 yards, three scores) and Noles quarterback Jordan Travis (342 yards throwing, five touchdowns overall) were unstoppable.

Since the advent of the AP poll in 1936, the loss was LSU's biggest loss in a season-opening game while playing for a ranking.

"This is a total failure from a coaching standpoint and from a player standpoint that we have to obviously address and we have to own," Kelly said. "I know that at some point in this game, adversity will hit, but this is the first significant hardship that we have to deal with. I have faith that our athletes and coaches will come together as necessary.

LSU had numerous chances in the first half to take a sizable lead but failed to take advantage of them. The Tigers had four chances to score on their first drive of the game, but they were stopped on fourth down after quarterback Jayden Daniels was sacked. Fourth-and-goal from the 1 presented LSU with another opportunity in the second quarter, but Daniels was once again stopped.

According to Kelly, both involved "standard fourth-down calls and decisions." Despite failing to score from the one, LSU gained ground in the opening period and led 17-14 at the break. However, Florida State imposed its will after the half and started to dominate LSU in the front.

"The buck stops with me, and I've got to get our football team to understand and recognize that you've got to play this game for four quarters with a mentality," Kelly stated. "For some reason, we simply did not. We mistook ourselves for someone else. We believed that we were the Georgia Bulldogs, who have won the national championship twice. I'm not sure what we believed, but we were wrong.

Kelly made headlines on Thursday when he declared, "We're gonna go beat the heck out of Florida State," during his first radio interview of the year. Whether those remarks resonated in the Florida State locker room is unknown; both Coleman and Travis said they were unaware of them when asked about them in their postgame news conference. However, it is clear that Kelly needs to find a way to get his team to play a complete game.

How do we approach this? If we look at this and decide that this isn't the kind of football team we want to be, then are we being true to who we want to be? Kelly asked. "When you suffer losses of that nature, they are frustrating and, in some cases, terrible losses, but what matters is how you handle them. In the second half, they have a chance to bounce back from this incredibly poor effort.

Therefore, the decisions they will have to make will begin tomorrow.