GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
There will be no public battlefield demotions for the LSU football team as its losing streak grew to three on Saturday, and the Tigers (6-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) fell out of the Associated Press rankings for the first time since Oct. 9, 2022.
“Joe Sloan will call the plays,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said at his weekly press conference Monday of his first-year offensive coordinator and play caller. “They’ll certainly be on my headset. Now, as you know, communication has broadened. That communication includes the quarterback (with a speaker according to a new rule this season) as well. So, it can’t be this long conversation about this play, that play, or it becomes confusing to what he’s hearing. The head coach is on that and the play caller both on defense and offense.”
Kelly said he can “override” in the play calling process.
LSU will try to win for the first time since Oct. 19 at Arkansas when it hosts Vanderbilt (6-4, 3-3 SEC) at 6:45 p.m. Saturday on the SEC Network. The Tigers close the regular season at home against Oklahoma (5-5, 1-5 SEC) on Saturday, Nov. 30, (6 p.m., on ESPN).
“I choose not to (override most of the time), but it’s something that you can do as the head coach,” Kelly said. “The key here is the ability to make sure that the game (the play calls) is going in the manner that I want it to go in. At times, you have to take that action (changing a call) as a head coach. Not that somebody is being put in the penalty box, but making sure that it goes through the vision that I have for that particular game.”
WHO’S CALLING THE PLAYS? AND WHO’S ON FIRST BASE?
After the 27-16 loss at Florida on Saturday, Kelly was asked about having the play card in his hands more than in past games. He usually has it in his back pocket.
“When things don’t go well, the head coach has got to be involved,” he explained. “And that’s not to say I don’t have full faith and trust in my staff. I do. But the buck stops with me. I’ve been more involved in everything that we’re doing.”
Kelly, who called the offensive plays during much of his time as Notre Dame’s head coach from 2010-21 and at previous head coaching stops, may also be getting more involved with the defensive play calls. He said he is still looking into the basis for a comment by linebacker Whit Weeks after the game Saturday concerning the easy, 55-yard touchdown run by Florida running back Jadan Baugh with 3:48 to play for the 27-16 lead that essentially ended the game.
“Half of us thought we were running one play, and half of us thought we were running a different play. Miscommunication,†Weeks said.
Kelly was asked if was surprised that those type of mistakes are still happening this late in the season. LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker is in his first season at LSU after leaving the same post at Missouri.
“I’m disappointed that certainly there was a feeling that there were some mixed calls or signals out there,” he said. “One of the big things that we’ve learned in this new era of communication and the headset (speaker) for the players is there needs to be one voice. One voice. Even if you have the green dot (marking on the player’s helmet who has the speaker in his helmet), the one voice needs to be consistent and constant. And maybe that occurred. We’re trying to get to the end of that, too, and what happened there.”
But the responsibility for everyone on the field getting the play, regardless of the technology, falls on the coaches.
BRADYN SWINSON DOESN’T GET THE CALL, BUT MAKES THE PLAY
“Clearly that’s on us,” Kelly said. “We have to make sure that there’s clear communication, and that there’s no mixed messages relative to what’s being called. We have a guy on the sideline who’s signaling everything in. That hasn’t changed. We haven’t stopped signaling. So, there’s no reason why you can’t get the signal. But if you hear something, we then have to address what is that collateral sound out there that they’re hearing that would not put them in the right call. So, we have to take onus on that. We have to make sure that that never happens again.”
INJURY REPORT
Starting senior left guard Garrett Dellinger (high ankle sprain) is questionable for Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt. He has missed LSU’s last two games with the injury.
“We’re getting closer where we think there’s a chance that he could play, but we won’t make that decision until probably mid-week,” Kelly said.
Starting senior right guard Miles Frazier suffered an ankle injury against Florida and left the game in the second quarter. Redshirt freshman Tyree Adams replaced him.
“We believe that Miles will be able to practice this week,” Kelly said.
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