Tigers are a reflection of their relentlessly efficient head coach
It was cold.
It was rainy.
It was Senior Night, which is always an emotional distraction.
There were plenty of empty seats in Tiger Stadium.
The non-conference opponent was rather uninspiring.
And No. 6 LSU certainly has bigger fish left to fry with a regular season SEC finale next Saturday at Texas A&M followed by a Dec. 3 date in Atlanta vs. Georgia in the SEC championship game.
But as has been the Tigers’ mode of operation this season under first-year head coach Brian Kelly, LSU never looks back or ahead. It deals with the challenge du jour and nothing else.
Such an approach served the Tigers well in a 41-10 victory over UAB on a football Saturday when the top four teams in the College Football Playoffs rankings escaped with close wins.
Then, there was No. 5 Tennessee. The Vols removed themselves from all CFP discussion as they totally imploded in a 63-38 loss at South Carolina.
As far as UT’s revised postseason plans, you can’t spell Citrus Bowl without UT, especially for a team that became the first top 5 team ever in the history of the Associated Press poll to give up 60 points to an unranked team.
LSU, despite having just two healthy scholarship running backs and playing with a backup center, didn’t take the wrong turn down Upset Avenue.
It played like an 9-2 team that won the SEC Western Division championship a week ago. Aside from two lost fumbles by LSU running back John Emery Jr., the Tigers operated with cold-blooded efficiency on both sides of the ball.
“When you look across college football today, many teams struggle to put their best version of themselves out there,” Kelly said. “This team did that against the team (UAB), that if you listen to people talk, you know you're supposed to beat.
“It requires an accountability that you're intentional in what you do, and you do your job when you're supposed to do your job. And you do it the right way, the way it's been taught.”
Which how the Tigers erased UAB, both offensively with 565 yards and 11 of 13 third-down conversions and defensively limiting the visitors to 259 yards including just 34 yards by the Blazers’ stud running back DeWayne McBride.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, sacked seven times in last Saturday’s 13-10 win at Arkansas when he reverted to his early-season habit of holding the ball too long, returned to form as the slippery playmaker who accounted for 14 TDs in wins over Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama.
He had 408 of LSU’s total offense yards, giving way to backup QB Garrett Nussmeier after deftly guiding the Tigers to six TDs in his nine possessions including four scores in five first-half possessions.
"We knew that going into we can't play down to the level our competition,” said Daniels, who completed 22 of 29 passes for 297 yards and a TD and ran for a team-high 111 yards and a TD on 12 carries. “We have a standard and we need to meet that standard.”
A prime example of Kelly’s mantra “every player doing their job” was reserve running back Noah Cain, the Baton Rouge-born Penn State transfer, who has been buried on the depth chart most of the year behind starter Josh Williams and reserves Armoni Goodwin and John Emery Jr.,
Williams and Goodwin didn’t play against UAB because of injuries and Emery’s first fumble of the night killed LSU’s third possession. Since Cain had already scored the first of his three rushing TDs, Kelly saddled him up heavily the rest of the game.
“It (his lack of playing time) sometimes may get frustrating but you got to you got to keep the right mindset,” said Cain, who finished with 76 yards on 13 carries. “You got to stay positive.”
Which is what the Tigers have done as team, especially after they were embarrassed by Tennessee in a 40-13 Tiger Stadium loss on Oct. 8.
“After the Tennessee game, we had a `players only’ meeting,” LSU linebacker Greg Penn, “and I think that really helped. Each player looked at themselves and tried to see what they could do better.
“After that game, guys started being more accountable. I think that really helped turn around the season.”
Now, the Tigers are a win away from 10 victories, something that didn’t seem possible after self-destructing vs. Tennessee.
“In (preseason) camp, we knew we had the pieces to make a run at this thing,” Cain said. “It all started with the chemistry. Week-by-week, everybody started gelling together more.
"We have a lot of selfless guys on this team willing to do whatever the coaches ask of them.”
In Kelly’s first LSU team meeting after he was hired away from Notre Dame late last November, his first request was simple.,
“You're going to have to trust me and it's not going to happen today,” Kelly told his new squad. “It's going to happen over my words and deeds. I'm going to have to back it up, what I say I mean, and that's going to take time. . .my actions and what I do and how I do it to put you in the best position for you to be successful both as a student and as an athlete. It's going to take time, and my actions will help you trust me.”
Proof that the team bought into Kelly is its five-game win streak and rise from an unranked program reeling from a 27-point loss at home to being on the verge of possibly going to the College Football Playoffs.
“Over a period of time, we've been able to build that trust,” said Kelly of his relationship with his team. “We've gotten to the point where the accountability level is they can come out on a night like tonight and play one of their best games."