Scooter Hobbs column: Kelly has no regrets about big openers

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Amidst all the anguish and finger-pointing, not to mention the calls for Brian Kelly’s head in the wake of LSU’s last-minute loss to Southern Cal, a new remedy apparently has been proposed by a select group of fans.

They have a simple solution to what is a program-tying five consecutive losses in season opener.

Namely: Quit playing good teams right out of the gate.

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Sure, there’s that can-do American spirit at work. A committee must have come up with that one.

Just throw in the towel.

Well, it worked before.

The previous five-year losing streak in season openers dates to the Curley Hallman regime (1991-94), started by a loss at Georgia, followed by four consecutive opening losses to Texas A&M.

The next year LSU put its nose the grindstone, got Houston scheduled as its season opener and — eureka! — a 1-0 start to the season.

Easy peasy — if that’s the way you want to go.

To his credit, Kelly doesn’t agree with taking the path of least resistance, raising the white flag in exchange for a rent-a-win.

Good thing. LSU is scheduled to open next season — my guess is Kelly will survive the brewing lynch mob and be there — at Clemson, not at a neutral site, but the first of a home-and-home series the next two years.

LSU has a fairly long history of opening against teams with a pulse, mostly with eye-opening success until the current skid.

The rabble-rousers may note that the last time LSU had a walk-over opener, 55-3 over Georgia Southern, the Tigers won the 2019 national championship.

That team could have, and did, beat any team you put in front of it.

It’s been a little dicier since.

“I wanted to win the game,” Kelly clarified about Sunday’s loss. “Our whole state wants to win the game. Everybody that follows LSU wants to win the game.

“But we’re going to be a better team because of what happened.

“We’re developing a football team and this (game) was important.

“We know a lot more about our football team … I don’t necessarily think winning the opener 73-0 gives you much benefit.”

The 73-0 score might have been a veiled reference to Ole Miss, which opened with a 76-0 win over Furman, a route that has its fans thinking playoffs.

Or Auburn, which got past Alabama A&M 73-3. The other Alabama, the Crimson Tide, strafed Western Kentucky 63-0 but the people in Tuscaloosa didn’t need that to know they’re good.

Even Arkansas scored 10 touchdowns in its 70-0 opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

“You go into Week 2 still with a lot of questions about who you are,” Kelly said of downside of easy openers.”

So, yes, there’s different approaches for Power Four teams opening the season.

And it’s not like LSU is high and mighty here. The Tigers will step down considerably in weight class this week to host Nicholls State.

The schedules will sort of even out.

It’s just a matter of how much you want to start the season off right — and how hard you’re willing to work for a victory vs. how much you’re willing to pay for it, cash money.

But a more prudent route for Kelly is trying to figure out what has gone awry in his three years of LSU openers. And don’t forget, he also lost his last two at Notre Dame, bringing his personal skid to five consecutive openers.

The Tigers certainly have enough analysts to get a couple of them on the case.

And if that doesn’t work?

LSU might get North American University on speed dial.

No, I had never heard of it either. It used to be called Texas Gulf Institute, which I also don’t remember. But apparently, it’s convenient, somewhere in Houston or the suburbs thereof.

It caught my eye because the Stallions, as they are known colloquially, opened their season with a 77-0 loss to Stephen F. Austin.

That’s not the half of it — at the half, as in halftime, the score was already 70-0, which was something of a NAU moral victory after giving up 42 points in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Kelly isn’t as panicked as his fan base.

“I got a good feeling about this football team,” he said. “This is going to be a good football team.”

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com