LAS VEGAS — Brian Kelly slammed his fist on the table, his voice angry.

Kelly was disappointed after his seven previous losses as LSU’s head coach, but never more so than Sunday night in a 27-20 loss to No. 23 Southern Cal.

“We’re sitting here AGAIN talking about the same things, about not finishing when you have an opponent in a position to put them away,” Kelly said. “But what we’re doing on the sideline is feeling like the game is over, and I’m so angry about it that I have to do something about it.

“I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach, and I need to coach them better because it’s unacceptable that we didn’t find a way to win this football game. It’s ridiculous. It’s crazy.”

“I’m not doing a good enough job as a coach. It’s unacceptable that we didn’t find a way to win this football match.”

Brian Kelly says he’s “angry” with his team after the loss to USC. photo.twitter.com/vloYGyKDh2

— ESPN (@espn) September 2, 2024

Kelly’s frustration was on display several times in his press conference. No. 13 LSU lost its fifth straight season opener, a streak that has spanned two head coaches. Kelly has not won a first game in three years as LSU’s coach.

“I think this is the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve been pretty angry with our football team,” Kelly said.

Kelly said he was upset about LSU’s lack of additional football, the unsportsmanlike penalties that led to points and the way players conducted themselves when given a chance to take over the game in the second half.

With LSU trailing 13-10 in the third quarter, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier threw a 13-yard touchdown to wide receiver Aaron Anderson, giving LSU the lead for the first time of the game.

LSU forced USC into a punt and a turnover on downs on its next two drives, but the company had to score twice.

After the turnover on downs, senior safety Major Burns was assessed unsportsmanlike conduct. Senior receiver Kyren Lacy was assessed unsportsmanlike conduct during a touchdown celebration in the first half.

“What concerns me the most is the personal fouls,” Kelly said. “The selfish penalties. Both of those led to scores. They’re undisciplined penalties and those fall on me. We pride ourselves on having a disciplined program, but we clearly didn’t do a good enough job because it affected the game.”

After forcing a turnover on downs, LSU went three and out for just the second time all game. USC quickly regained the lead with a three-play, 64-yard drive. It scored on a free play when quarterback Miller Moss took advantage of an offsides penalty to throw a touchdown 28 yards.

The Tigers mounted a nine-play, 61-yard drive that ended with a 31-yard field goal by Damian Ramos to tie the game with 1:47 left. But Moss drove USC deep into LSU territory, and running back Woody Marks scored with eight seconds left.

“Obviously, when we get up in a game, we don’t know how to conduct ourselves,” Kelly said. “You have to have a killer instinct in this game. You have to put teams away. We had a chance to put this team away, and we get complacent. We make more mistakes when we’re ahead instead of having a better focus and a steely-eyed killer instinct. It’s disappointing.”