The Magnolia Bowl in Week 5 was one of the most intense matchups. It was family vs family. Lane Kiffin and Landry seemed to have a gala time by the end of the game. But Grace, Brian Kelly’s daughter saw LSU collapse on itself. While the HC ran things on the ground, she continued to point out a huge flaw that killed the game for the Tigers.

One of LSU’s most glaring flaws has shown pretty much the whole season now. The Tigers cannot run the ball – a fact that was proven yet again against Ole Miss. Brian Kelly’s daughter, Gracy hollered at the staff below from the stands to do just that. “Run the dang ball! Run it!” she said while on the phone, obviously calling someone downstairs. Unfortunately, it just didn’t pan out when it came to rush attack. LSU has been struggling with the run game since last year, and continues to fail at it even today.

For yet another game this season, the Tigers failed to cross the 150 mark in rushing yards. LSU averaged only 3.10 yards per carry, adjusted for sack yardage. The Tigers hauled in only 57 yards on 22 carries – there was no coming back from this. Star RB Caden Durham was badly missed. Harlem Berry, the leading RB against Ole Miss, ran for only 22 yards on 7 carries. The most abysmal fact from this game is that the LSU had only 2 carries in the first half. Imagine if Berry wasn’t given more responsibility in the second half. He wasn’t great, but at least he pitched in.

After this game, the Tigers is at an alarmingly low No. 119 in rushing offense in the FBS. Bringing 3.6 yards per carry on average now, the rushing corps are ranked second-worst in the SEC. These are troubling stats for a program that was ranked No. 3 in the preseason AP poll. Brian Kelly’s playoff hopes take a hit after this loss. But despite such a bad output from the rushing attack, Kelly didn’t exactly own up to the mistakes from this side.

Brian Kelly blames RB coach for bad rotation of players

Caden Durham’s absence proved that he was doing the lion’s share of work among the running backs. His production was distributed between Berry, Kaleb Jackson, and Ju’Juan Johnson. But Harlem Berry stepped up after a point when the game had already been lost. Brian Kelly spoke on his rocky performance, while bringing in RB coach Frank Wilson into the conversation. “I don’t think there’s anything to read into that, you know, all of a sudden he’s the starting running back or, um, you know, he’s a guy that needs to get more carries. He deserved what he got today. He earned it. But I think we were just—it was what Frank felt was the best guy at that time,” he said after the game.

Durham’s absence initially meant that Kaleb Jackson was going to cover for him. But Jackson finished the game with just 1 carry for 10 yards. Berry should have been given more responsibility from the get-go. He is a freshman, and it’s understandable why Wilson waited before focusing on him later in the game. But Harlem Berry is also the No. 1 RB of the 2025 class. He ended up being the shoulder to rely on instead of a veteran Kaleb Jackson, who is a junior. Of those 57 rushing yards, Berry and Johnson made up 40.

Grace Kelly’s earnest appeal must’ve fallen on deaf ears. Last year, LSU finished last in the SEC when it came to the rushing attack. There is zero excuse for Brian Kelly to follow it up with a side that performs in the exact same level. If he keeps this up, there might be a chance LSU might have to kiss their title hopes goodbye.