LSU coach Brian Kelly challenges potential game-changing "illegal block" after South Carolina face-off: "We'll address it with SEC officiator"

Brian Kelly’s LSU secured a win over South Carolina in its SEC opener on Saturday. However, the Tigers coach felt that the final score against the Gamecocks, which ended 36-33 in Columbia, was tighter than it should have been.

Kelly voiced concerns over South Carolina's blocked punt early in the second quarter, which resulted in a touchdown. Despite LSU's eventual win, the coach mentioned he intended to contact the SEC office regarding what he perceived as an illegal block during the play.

“I'm going to have to take that up with our SEC office," Brian Kelly said in his postgame press conference. "We believe it was an illegal block. We voiced our concern with it. We will address it with the SEC officiator John McDaid. We believe we have an argument there. We'll bring it to them.

Brian Kelly offers his review on the South Carolina game

Following the hard-fought win against South Carolina on Saturday, Brian Kelly reviewed LSU’s performance, noting there’s still a lot of work to do as the 2024 season progresses. The Tigers have won the two games since the season-opening loss to USC.

“It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s early in the season. We’ve played two really good opponents – Power Four opponents - and we’ve had the lead in the fourth quarter twice. One we let slip away, and this one, we finished off.

“Football teams take on, you know, identities and personalities. This group’s gonna battle. It may not be the cleanest. We’ll continue to coach them because they want to do so well for LSU. They want to do it the right way, and they’re gonna work at it.”

The return of Blake Baker to Baton Rouge as defensive coordinator has brought a noteworthy improvement

Brian Kelly on LSU’s comeback in the game

LSU was down 17-0 in the early part of the second quarter of the game, bringing some initial setbacks. However, the Tigers were able to fight their way back into the team. Brian Kelly explained his team's mentality in that situation.

“There was no panic on the sideline," Kelly said. "We needed to, obviously, get a score and come up with a stop and clean up some things. The group is a positive group. There’s no finger-pointing. They knew what they needed to do to get back in the game.”

LSU is scheduled to square up against UCLA at home in Week 4. This will be the Tigers' third non-conference game of the season and it's another opportunity for the team to get the rhythm before resuming the conference play.