LSU falls to Florida State, 24-23, in chaotic finish to Brian Kelly debut

LSU appeared to have mounted the unlikeliest of comebacks late Sunday to salvage an altogether frustrating debut for coach Brian Kelly, most of his staff and several players.

Transfer quarterback Jayden Daniels and the offense, on what had been a largely stagnant evening, marched 99 yards in the final 1:20 to pull back to within one point as time expired.

But Florida State freshman safety Shyheim Brown broke through the Tigers' line on the ensuing extra-point attempt and blocked the kick to preserve the 24-23 victory and send the Caesars Superdome into pandemonium.

"Mistake, mistake after mistake for us," Kelly said. "Particularly in the first half and, you know, obviously more mistakes in the second half. We started to overcome some of those and played with, I would consider, more of a sense of urgency the last 12 minutes. But our margin for error was so small that we couldn't make any more mistakes.

"I was proud of our resolve. We battled. But we just have to learn how to play the game the right way, and that is for four quarters."

The Seminoles rushed the field in celebration as their fans roared.

And the thrilling heroics down the stretch by Daniels and company instead evaporated into an unfortunately fitting finish to a chaotic contest in which special teams had been consistently problematic for LSU.

Florida State sophomore defensive end Jared Verse had already blocked a second-quarter field-goal attempt.

And the Tigers had somehow survived a pair of muffed punts by sophomore wide receiver Malik Nabers that set the Seminoles up inside the red zone at pivotal junctures.

In the second quarter, LSU forced a turnover on downs to keep within 7-3.

And when the next instance appeared to extinguish already-faint comeback hopes with 2:15 remaining, Florida State instead returned the favor with a fumbled goal-line pitch.

"We didn't lose the game because he dropped those two punts," Kelly said. "We miraculously were able to overcome those. You usually wouldn't. But that's, you know, that's on us. We made that evaluation. We watched him catch punts, and we felt like he was in a position that he could do that for us."

Daniels and company had finally found their spark on the past two possessions, 82- and 75-yard drives capped by a goal-line, fourth-down by Noah Cain and a 22-yard pass from Daniels to senior receiver Jaray Jenkins.

The Seminoles had mounted an impressive 12-play, 79-yard response to Cain's score to extend its margin back to 24-10 with a goal-line run by sophomore linebacker D.J. Lundy with 9:04 remaining.

But the Daniels-Jenkins connection pulled the Tigers back within 24-17, and Florida State's goal-line fumble provided one more, albeit slim breath of opportunity from their own 1-yard line.

LSU made its way 97 yards in 79 seconds where it tempted fate again 2 yards shy of the goal line with no more timeouts.

Daniels had found Mason Taylor loose to his right for a 17-yard gain, but the freshman tight end's knee touched down in bounds before he could complete his attempted dive to the sideline to stop the clock.

Officials initially ruled Taylor out of bounds, but corrected the call after a challenge by the Seminoles.

"They made a first down, so the clock would stop," Florida State coach Mike Norvell said. "But whenever it was stopped, it had to go to review. Obviously, that extends the period of time. So the play would start with a snap. So they were going to get that snap off."

Daniels dropped back, bought time and then fired a strike to Jenkins in the back of the end zone.

But the wild affair had one last wrinkle — and no overtime — left in the tank.

Daniels finished 26-for-35 for 209 yards and two touchdowns, including 14-for-18 for 138 yards in the fourth quarter, and rushed for game-highs of 16 carries and 114 yards.

Jenkins, Nabers, Taylor and sophomore receiver Brian Thomas Jr. each caught five passes with the senior leading the group with 46 yards and his two scores.

And Cain carried seven times for 23 yards.

LSU appeared to be off to the races to start the game.

A 25-yard run by Daniels and additional 15-yard late hit penalty, immediately followed by a near-touchdown strike to star receiver Kayshon Boutte had the Tigers' fans ready to erupt in the opening seconds.

But Florida State junior Akeem Dent recovered to break up the pass, and snap miscue four plays later stalled the drive.

LSU settled for a 36-yard field goal by redshirt freshman Damian Ramos.

The Seminoles began gradually taking control from there.

"As you watch throughout the course of the game, I thought our guys put on display an incredible heart," Norvell said. "You know, the passion which they played with, just the effort, the physicality, I thought we dominated the game for the majority of it."

The Tigers struggled to protect Daniels, establish a running game outside of the quarterback's scrambles or sustain much offensively overall.

LSU finished the half with 119 yards, with 85 yards (71.4%) coming on Daniels scrambles.

Florida State meanwhile began moving the ball with one third-down conversion after another, going 11-for-15 at one point and finishing 11-for-17.

Junior quarterback Jordan Travis completed 20 of his 32 passing attempts for 260 yards and two scores, both to senior Ontaria Wilson who had seven catches for 102 yards.

The Seminoles took the lead on a 39-yard strike from Travis to Wilson deep over the back end of the Tigers' defense.

LSU worked its way into field-goal range during the next seven-plus minutes, only for Verse to block the 30-yard attempt.

Florida State stretched the margin to 17-3 with 10 third-quarter points on a 25-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Ryan Fitzgerald and the second Travis-Wilson connection, 27 yards down the right sideline.

And that margin and the Tigers' own mistakes proved too steep a mountain to overcome.

"Despite all of those things, I stand here in front of you with an opportunity to bring the game into an overtime situation," Kelly said. "So what we did well is we battled. I'm proud of the way we battled. What, obviously, we need to do better is play with a sense of urgency for four quarters, which we did not.

"What we learned is we've got to coach better. We've got to have our kids coached in a manner where they're ready. And I'm accountable for that. And we have to have them tackling better, executing better in all phases."