LSU's Brian Kelly laments primetime loss to Florida State: 'This is a total failure'

It was about as ugly a loss as you'll see LSU take. 

Brian Kelly's Tigers had a game on their hands heading into halftime against Florida State on Sunday, but the second half spelled disaster. 

LSU, ranked No. 5 heading into the game, went into the locker room at half with a 17-14 lead over No. 8 FSU. The Tigers came out in the second half and allowed the Seminoles to score 31 unanswered points. 

The end result was a 45-24 loss that wasn't as close as the final score indicated. In fact, forget calling the game a disaster for LSU. Kelly preferred to call it a "total failure".

"This is a total failure from a coaching standpoint and a player standpoint that we have to obviously address and we have to own," Kelly said after the game, per ESPN. "I know adversity is always going to strike at some time in this game, and this is our first real piece of adversity that we have to address. I'm confident our guys and our coaches will rally in the manner that they need to."

The Tigers will have a chance to lick their wounds with a home game against Grambling in Week 2, but from there on out it is mostly an SEC slate for LSU starting with a game against Mississippi State in Week 3.

LSU is certainly talented enough to turn the ship around, especially if potential Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Jayden Daniels figures it out (he threw for 347 yards, a touchdown, and an interception against FSU), but for Kelly, it comes down more to mindset than anything else for his squad.

"The buck stops with me, and I've got to get our football team to understand and recognize that you've got to play this game for four quarters with a mentality," Kelly said. "We just did not, for some reason. We thought we were somebody else. We thought we were the two-time national champion Georgia Bulldogs or something. I don't know what we thought, but we were mistaken."

LSU has the talent, but were the Tigers humbled enough by Florida State to right the ship? 

Only time will tell.