Final season, Kelly appeared to change this narrative by hiring defensive coordinator Blake Baker. The previous Missouri DC instantly made an impression for LSU, however couldn’t maximize the workforce’s potential as a consequence of an absence of instruments at his disposal.
This offseason, Kelly ensured Baker had no matter he wanted to succeed. Kelly’s efforts paid dividends on Saturday when LSU defeated No. 4 Clemson, 17-10. Throughout an look on The Paul Finebaum Present on Monday, Kelly made a daring declare about Blake Baker.
“We would have liked to get Blake the weapons he must be the coordinator that he’s. We expect he’s one of the best defensive coordinator within the nation,” Kelly mentioned. “However, for those who don’t have the weapons — I do know this in my time as a coach, I’m a significantly better coach with higher gamers — and we would have liked to get him a roster that allowed him to do the issues that he’s actually good at.
“So the roster is completely different, Paul. You’ve seen the remake, specifically, on the defensive aspect of the ball. Blake likes to name them the ‘Outdated Bayou Bandits.’ They’ve their very own T shirts. He’s created an ideal mindset and demeanor about our guys. But it surely begins with us ensuring that he had the gamers and he’s bought a greater roster to work with.”
Baker’s protection actually appeared like probably the greatest within the nation this weekend. LSU held Clemson to simply 261 yards of complete offense. For reference, Clemson averaged 451.9 yards of offense per recreation final season.
Herbstreit shifts his Nationwide Championship picks after calling LSU in Week 1
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Rece Davis bought an opportunity to disclose who their high contenders are after Week 1. Beginning with Davis, he selected a workforce that really misplaced on Saturday evening. Clemson is who Davis picked within the preseason and regardless of the end result in opposition to LSU, there will probably be no change.
“There’s plenty of issues I’d like to vary about preseason picks,” Davis mentioned in the course of the North Carolina–TCU broadcast. “I nonetheless bought Clemson successful the nationwide championship.”
Clemson finds itself in the same place to a 12 months in the past. Dabo Swinney‘s squad misplaced its opener to an SEC workforce and ultimately rallied again to win the ACC and make the Faculty Soccer Playoff. If there’s a distinction, Georgia blew out Clemson whereas the LSU showdown was aggressive for 4 quarters.
Which led to Herbstreit giving the Bayou Bengals some love. Penn State is talked about in the identical breath however Herbstreit, who was calling the sport, got here away greater than impressed. Particularly on the defensive finish below second-year DC Blake Baker.
“I feel I’m going Penn State and LSU within the championship,” Herbstreit mentioned. “LSU — once more, you’ve bought to remain wholesome. However they bought a salty protection this 12 months.”
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