Any new head coaching era is going to bring with it a lot of questions as the team embarks on a season-opener, in this case away from the confines of LSU's Tiger Stadium.
But Brian Kelly says there's only one really big question the team has to answer on the fly when it takes on Florida State at the Caesars Superdome this upcoming Sunday.
"This is really going to be about how we manage our emotions," Kelly said this week, "how we handle either being down or ahead, adversity, things like that."
One of the biggest reasons: This is a team that seems possibly even further removed from the 2019 title season that featured one of the best teams in college football history. It's been a .500 group since, and re-learning how to be a dominant force is a process. It's one he hopes to begin against the Seminoles this weekend.
"This is really about, you know, putting a team in a competitive situation and really finding out about how they handle you know, real competition when they haven't won a lot of games and and haven't done it consistently over a couple of years," Kelly said. "So they're going to be put in that kind of situation where they're gonna have to choose confidence. They're gonna have to stay in a real good zone and not have highs and lows. So that will be the real question that you don't answer until you play the game."
The game kicks off at 7 p.m. on Sept. 4 in the New Orleans.
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MORE FROM BRIAN KELLY
THE PLAYERS KNOW WHO'S STARTING AT QUARTERBACK
It might be a mystery to the media and fans, but Kelly says he let the starting quarterback and the players know during the Monday team meeting who that would be between Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier heading into the opener. He said they made the decision in the weekend prior to the game, but have been withholding the name until gameday to serve as a tactical advantage.
"I wanted the team to know so we don't go out on the practice field and the defense is over there ... 'why wouldn't the coach, let us know?' " Kelly said. "But we told them we didn't want it out on social media, so they did a really good job of keeping it from you guys."
PLAYERS VOTED FOR THEIR OWN CAPTAINS
LSU named its team captains this week, and all three are on the defensive side of the ball in DEs Ali Gay and BJ Ojulario, along with linebacker Mike Jones Jr. And that decision was all made through player vote.
"What you look for in captain is is the ability for us to communicate really well. They're really good communicators of our process and what we do every day. They've been very consistent in that ... and they're really committed," Kelly said. "And so that kind of, you know, that showed amongst our teammates, and so we had our teammates vote, and, and they were the highest vote-getters. Sometimes I don't have our team vote, I decide. I felt like this team needed to weigh in, because they knew the leaders a little bit better. They had been around them longer so I let this group weigh in on it, and went with what they felt was the best captains that would obviously be their voices."
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WHAT GETS YOU EXCITED ABOUT COACHING AFTER THREE DECADES?
"The preparation, you know, Monday through Friday. I mean, I'm nervous every day, wanting to make sure that I prepared my football team in every aspect so they can be the best versions of themselves and a team and so that's what, that's my why that's what drives me. ... And once it gets to the point where practice is not exciting for me, and the preparation is not exciting for me, I'll walk away. But that to me is what drives me. My very first game as a head coach I was 29 years old, and I can tell you that there were maybe 800 people in the stands, and we got behind early and I could hear the people in the press box. Not the stands. I could hear the people in the press box who hired me. So that was a real situation. So hopefully I won't hear that people in the press box here at Tiger Stadium. That that would be a nice thing."
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WHAT'S THE PLAN TO HANDLE FLORIDA STATE'S DEFENSE?
"Florida State's extremely athletic. They have two really big inside defensive tackles that are going to be a challenge to move out," Kelly said. They're athletic on the edge. ... [but] this isn't anything new to us, we've prepared for it. Some of the things that we're gonna have to do really well are really about ourselves moreso than Florida State. Our execution in terms of the offensive line is going to be based upon our ability to run the ball, and look, you're not going to outrun this defense. I mean, they can move sideline to sideline really well. We've got to find opportunities to ... be be in a good position that way."
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HOW HAVE THE TIGHT ENDS HELD UP AS BLOCKERS?
"Improved. ... I will tell you that I was I was not impressed where we were when I got here. I feel really good about where we are right now. And Mason Taylor's obviously done a pretty good job of making me feel that way," Kelly said. "Kole [Taylor]'s done a really good job there, too. I think those two guys in particular have made me feel better about that situation. You know the freshman is really, really going to be a good football player. And I think the combination of the four of them, you know, Jack [Mashburn]'s done a really good job. And then Nick Storz has helped us out a lot, too. He's much more of a physical guy. So you know there's four tight ends there where we didn't know if we had one. So that's making a lot of progress in a very short period of time"