Brian Kelly knows LSU's offense must improve, so he's trying something new until it does

The season is still young, but LSU is punting nearly twice as often as it did last year.

That stat does a nice job of capturing the Tiger offense’s shaky start to the season, its fourth under coach Brian Kelly . Yards and points have proven elusive, so Kelly has adjusted. Now, LSU is on pace to punt more times this year than it did in any of the previous three seasons.

“This year, I'm playing it a little bit different based upon the strength of our defense,” Kelly said on Monday. “Last year, we needed to score more points.”

This year, LSU doesn’t have to score as many points. Its defense is playing so well that Kelly has changed the way he manages games. He’s asking offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to take a more conservative tack to play calling, and he’s trotting out the puntin