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LSU football’s wild rally could change Brian Kelly tenure
- LSU stored its School Soccer Playoff hopes afloat with a dramatic win over Ole Miss. What’s it imply for Brian Kelly? That is robust to say.
- LSU leapfrogs Ole Miss in playoff pecking order.
- LSU protection grows a backbone, Garrett Nussmeier comes up clutch, and Lane Kiffin’s Rebels wilt once more.
BATON ROUGE, La. â Keep in mind Saturday night time.
If LSU scratches and claws and muddies and escapes and fights its approach into the School Soccer Playoff, bear in mind the night time the No. 10 Tigers gained a recreation they by no means led till the ultimate play.
If this 29-26 extra time win over No. 8 Ole Miss galvanizes Brian Kellyâs tenure, and he proves himself value that $95 million funding LSU made three years in the past, bear in mind the night time his protection grew a backbone and his quarterback fought by way of the robust instances.
And when it was completed, LSU fired off sufficient fireworks that it mightâve been Independence Day, whereas followers stormed the sphere. By no means thoughts that the Tigers have been only a slight underdog.
This unbelievable escape warranted celebration.
âThese moments donât come typically in life, for certain,â LSU linebacker Whit Weeks mentioned. âIt was enjoyable.â
It turned a turning-point victory in Kellyâs turning-point third season.
Or, it supplied LSU a gulp of pleasure earlier than the underside falls out within the second half of the schedule.
Iâm unsure which itâll show to be. I might imagine both.
LSUâs six remaining video games are towards SEC competitors. Thereâs not a recreation remaining LSU (5-1) canât win â or a recreation it couldnât lose.
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And the Tigers might be the SECâs second-best crew or its seventh-best crew. Iâm unconvinced thereâs a lot distinction.
âThis league is large open,â LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier mentioned. âI believe we took an enormous step tonight.â
Itâs large open behind Texas, anyway.
LSU soccer leapfrogs Ole Miss in playoff pecking order
As for LSUâs cardiac cats, theyâre nonetheless somewhat tough across the edges, however so are most SEC groups. Theyâre bettering, they battle, theyâve acquired a quarterback, and some good receivers, and their protection discovered a pulse towards a top-10 opponent, and so, what the heck, why canât the Tigers make the playoff? Theyâve acquired about pretty much as good of an opportunity as a lot of different groups that sit on one loss.
Theyâve acquired a greater probability of constructing the playoff than Ole Miss (5-2). I do know that a lot.
âWeâre actual,â Nussmeier mentioned afterward. âThe Tigers are actual. I believe we proved that tonight. There have been struggles, and there have been errors, however we discovered a technique to win the sport.â
Kelly raved about LSUâs efficiency â not as a result of it was excellent, however as a result of it wasnât, and the Tigers nonetheless hung inside placing distance till they lastly broke by way of whereas Ole Miss caved. He raved a few protection that equipped six sacks. He raved about his quarterback who shrugged off two interceptions, plus a slew of incompletions, and threw landing passes on his remaining two tosses.
âThis crew is getting higher,â Kelly mentioned.
Thatâs a good evaluation, and the identical might be mentioned of Kellyâs 2022 Tigers, who misplaced their season opener earlier than upsetting Alabama and reaching the SEC Championship Recreation.
LSU beat Alabama that season on a 2-point conversion. Given one other probability Saturday to win a rivalry recreation with a 2-point strive, Kelly modified course. He didnât need a single play to determine this final result.
âI simply felt like our guys labored too onerous to get again in that recreation” Kelly mentioned, “that I didnât wish to go for 2 in an all-or-nothing scenario.â
So, after Nussmeier introduced LSU to inside some extent with a fourth-down landing dart to Aaron Anderson, Kelly elected for an additional level to tie the sport and pressure extra time.
Depend Weeks amongst these happiest that Kelly didnât order up a 2-point conversion.
âI used to be glad to get to play some extra ball,â Weeks mentioned. âShoot, we donât get to play once more âtil subsequent Saturday. I like enjoying extra soccer.â
LSUâs protection, which performed nicely all through the second half, vindicated Kellyâs determination.
As the gang reached decibels it hadnât hit all night time, the Rebels moved in reverse throughout their extra time possession and wanted a 57-yard area objective to salvage factors.
Mission completed for LSU’s protection. After which …
“Itâs go time,” LSU large receiver Kyren Lacy mentioned.
Successful time, too.
Nussmeier tossed to Lacy on the primary play of LSU’s extra time possession.
Comeback full.
Garrett Nussmeier delivers for LSU in clutch
The extra the Tigers performed, the higher they appeared.
The sport remained scoreless after the primary quarter, however LSU might contemplate itself lucky to not be trailing 17-0. Ole Missâ Tre Harris dropped what ought to have been an 81-yard landing cross, and that expensive drop was other than two first-quarter red-zone journeys that produced no factors.
âWe commanded nearly all of the sport,â Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin mentioned. â⊠They’re a superb crew, and we’re a superb crew, however we should alwaysâve gained that recreation.â
Which should make it all of the extra maddening for Kiffin that the Rebels misplaced.
Ole Miss spent a reasonably penny â bundles of pennies, in reality â to enhance its protection by way of a switch haul, and though the unit undeniably improved, this marks twice that itâs did not ship game-winning stops in crucial moments.
Simply two weeks in the past, Kentucky used a fourth-and-7 completion to maintain alive a drive that ended with a game-winning landing.
Nussmeier wanted two fourth-down completions simply to tie this recreation, then one 25-yard strike to Lacy to win it.
âWeâre a gritty bunch. Weâre going to maintain preventing to the very finish,â Weeks mentioned. âWe knew the entire recreation, weâre not shedding this ballgame.â
If Weeks knew that whereas Ole Miss managed a lot of the sport, then credit score his religion. And credit score the Tigersâ resilience.
That is the night time Kellyâs tenure took off. Or, not.
However, itâs definitely the night time LSU pulled off a most unbelievable comeback, preserved its playoff hopes, and put Ole Missâ personal aspirations on life assist.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Community’s nationwide faculty soccer columnist. E-mail him at [email protected] and comply with him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.
Subscribe to learn all of his columns.
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