LSU football has everything they want within their grasp, needing only to take it with wins over two struggling programs in Arkansas and Texas A&M.
After the emotional high of beating Alabama and heading on the road against a team that lost to Liberty this past week, it'd be easy to call it a trap game. But Tigers head coach Brian Kelly said that's only the case if his players allow it to be.
"They know that Arkansas is an SEC opponent that beat them last year," Kelly said Monday. "So look, your thoughts affect your actions. ... We've been working on how we think since Day 1. It becomes a trap game if you're not thinking right. We'll get our guys thinking the right way and we'll prepare the right way. This is about consistency. If they want to be a consistent program, they'll think the right way about this game."
Kelly also doesn't expect the potentially cold weather to be an issue. Forecasts for Saturday in Fayetteville indicate that temperatures will be in the range of 40 to mid-60s with some potential rain for the 11 a.m. start. But that's why his team was outdoors practicing in January and February. They know what it takes to play in cold weather.
The bigger issue is consistency. If his team wants to achieve its goals, they need to become a group that isn't affected by the matchup. They're preparing the same way regardless, and that's what Kelly expects even as they go from back-to-back wins over top-10 opponents to a 5-4 Razorbacks squad.
That confidence and consistency is what helped give Kelly the nerve to send in a do-or-die 2-point call rather than playing it safe and kicking the extra point in overtime to stun the Crimson Tide.
"We had a lot of fanfare and sloganisms and changed a lot last week for Alabama -- that, maybe you worry about a little bit, but we didn't do anything different last week than we did for Ole Miss, or we did for any of the other teams," Kelly said. "Our team is just evolving and they're playing with more of the traits necessary to be a consistent team that plays every snap the right way."
Related
MORE FROM BRIAN KELLY
INJURY UPDATES
Armoni Goodwin only received one carry in the win over Alabama, but that wasn't an injury limitation, it was simply how the game was going. Kelly said the team was focused on chipping with their running backs, and that was more suited to Josh Williams and John Emery. That pair combined for 121 total yards and 2 TDs.
Garrett Dellinger didn't play against Alabama despite returning to practice after a knee injury. Kelly said he worked out on Sunday and he's likely to play against Arkansas.
Related
WAS THAT THE BIGGEST WIN OF YOUR CAREER?
Brian Kelly is no stranger to big moments. He coached one of his Notre Dame teams to a national championship appearance and two more times to a College Football Playoff appearance, but all three times lost big. One such loss came at the hands of Clemson, the other two to Alabama.
Perhaps the memory of those near misses is what helped him to arrive at this answer:
"The biggest win of my career is gonna be when we win a national championship," Kelly said. "And so I'm focused on one thing when I came down here, and that's to win championships. That's one game. It was an exciting win, but I don't put it in the category of the biggest.
"I think I've had teams that have achieved great things and I think this team achieved a great victory because of where we were in January and what we've become. And so maybe for me, probably as satisfying as a win for a group of guys that have committed themselves to a process and in that time have achieved a lot."
Related
ON CONTAINING KJ JEFFERSON
It seems like every week LSU has been faced with a big, physical and/or mobile quarterback, and Arkansas' KJ Jefferson is no different.
"He's a guy that they want to run, throw. ... He's gonna be actively involved in the run game. They're not afraid to run him at any time, we've seen him take off at the 5 yard line in the air. I mean, he's a physical player. So again, we're gonna have to do a really good job of containing."
WHAT MAKES HAROLD PERKINS SO UNIQUE?
"He's a bit of a throwback, and a throwback in this sense: 'Just tell me what I need to do. I don't need all the other things. And I'll figure it out as I go.' It's kind of refreshing. He doesn't need to know all the 'whys.' And I'm not saying that we shouldn't give the 'whys' to our guys, and that's part of coaching today, you've got to explain a lot of things. He doesn't need a lot of the 'whys,' just point me in the right direction, I'll figure it out.
"That's Harold Perkins. He knows he's not perfect, but he makes up for a lot of those things with his athletic ability. So, you know, I think I think that Matt [House's] done a great job of kind of meeting him halfway with some of the things that he's not ready to do, but leaning heavily on some of the things that he has that are, you know, innate traits that can come in and help us win right away.
Related
