Kelly quizzed heavily on LSU's passing game woes

If LSU head football coach Brian Kelly said it once, he’s said it in almost every media opportunity this season in assessing his team.

“It's pretty clear this team plays with great heart and they'll fight,” Kelly said at his weekly in-season Monday press conference.

But he’s also a realist.

While the Tigers are 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the SEC West and moving into the Associated Press rankings at No. 25 after Saturday’s 21-17 win at Auburn, Kelly knows grit and guts alone won’t help LSU conquer the three ranked opponents on its schedule starting with Saturday’s 11 a.m. SEC battle vs. No. 8 and unbeaten Tennessee.

“Having heart and fighting the way we do is not going to get it done against Tennessee. That's not going to get it down against Florida or Mississippi or Alabama. We're going to have to execute better.

“Our details are going to have to be better technically and tactically. We've got to coach better. We've learned that our preparation is going to have to be so much better, and then bring the heart and fight, because you're going to need that too.

“But you can't just rely on that, play sloppy football and expect to win these games.”

LSU’s glaring weakness as it approaches the midway point in its 12-game regular season is a dysfunctional passing game that produced just 10 completions and 85 yards vs. Auburn, including two second half completions for 5 yards.

Jayden Daniels made his 34th college start at quarterback against Auburn, 29 as Arizona State’s QB and his fifth at LSU. Yet, he still appears skittish to throw downfield to any receiver but Malik Nabers.

There’s also the fact besides Daniels completing just 40 percent of his throws at Auburn, LSU receivers dropped four passes.

“This past weekend was not good enough,” Kelly said. “That's not going to get you a sustainable offense that can win games at the highest level in the SEC.

“We (he and his offensive staff) have to look at at the passing game. Are we doing too much? Are we doing the things that highlight our players? And then in turn, our players have to look at themselves. Are they preparing the right way?

“It starts with putting together a comprehensive plan that can be repeated in the game. We've got to throw it better, we’ve got to catch it better. That also goes to play calling. We've got to be able to look if these are plays that we can repeat.

“We're looking at it in all those areas because this is not going to work. We can't throw for 85 yards with the talent that we have and expect to beat the top 10 teams in the country.”

Daniels has completed 89 of 131 passes for 915 yards (an average of just 7 yards per catch, and has a 6 to 0 touchdown to interception ratio.

“I don't want to throw interceptions,” Kelly said. “That's not what I want to do. I don't want to turn the ball over.

“But we're way too conservative. If you're looking to be aggressive, you're going to throw an interception or two, because somebody made a great play.

“We've got to get that ball down the field and we got to get it into some tight windows sometimes. They're not always going to be wide open. But those guys can make plays. We got to get Jayden to be a little bit more on that edge and be a little bit more aggressive. We will. We'll get there with him.”

Kelly said Daniels left the Auburn game with a bursa sac injury in one of his legs. A bursa is a closed, fluid-filled sac that works as a cushion and gliding surface to reduce friction between tissues of the body.

“He was in pain and he just felt like he was hurting the team being out there,” Kelly said of Daniels, who was replaced by backup Garrett Nussmeier for the last 31 plays (including the entire fourth quarter in which the Tigers had just 28 yards). “But he felt good yesterday Sunday). We did an MRI just to make sure and that came back clean. He's now in a pretty good position where it feels like he's 100 percent.”

Here’s Kelly on other subjects:

On preseason all-American wide receiver Kayshon Boutte being targeted just twice vs. Auburn, his struggles so far this season and if his status as a projected top 5 pick in 2023 NFL Draft is diminishing

“The main part of this is building trust with the new quarterback. Obviously, we're trying to get him the football. He's getting a lot of double coverage. We're still winning. He's happy that we're winning.

“All those guys that make decisions about who the best receivers are in the country are still going to look at Keyshawn and go, `That's a really really good wide receiver, numbers or no numbers.'

’“At the end of the day, he's going to continue to play this game at the next level. And the numbers won't dictate where he gets drafted. It's his ability to continue to play the game at the highest level. And when you turn on the film, he's running full speed and he's beating guys and the ball doesn't come to him for some whatever reason. That's out of his control.

“Kayshon controls what he can control. He does that in practice and he does that in games.”

On how to improve LSU’s defensive secondary coverage busts

“Talk slower, it’s communication issues. Making sure that there's great communication. Making sure guys do their job, not trying to do something that's not part of their roles.”

On LSU’s running game led by Josh Williams

“What you see is what you get. Josh has been kind of the guy for us. He's extremely reliable in all areas of the game. He can pass protect for us. He runs hard, he catches the ball out of the backfield. (John) Emery's coming, we feel like we can give him a little bit more and more each week. Then, (Noah) Cain comes in with fresh legs and he's a big guy. He kind of gives us a nice change. We need all three (running backs)."

On the condition of defensive back Sevyn Banks, who suffered an injury on the opening kickoff at Auburn and had to be immobilized to be removed from the field

“The diagnosis is a spinal cord bruise, which puts him similar to nature (LSU safety Major) Burns' situation where there was a bruise, nothing else, no structural issues. It’s probably going to take five, six weeks before we can get him (Banks) back.

“Burns starts running today. There'll be outside running with us. Next week, he'll be getting non-contact rules drills with us.

“There'll be a similar protocol and procedure (for Banks) provided there's no setbacks along the way.”