Just listen to this man for the first 3 mins or so. 

 

Smart. He recapped for reporters what he said by repeating and counting on his fingers the four keys to the game:

1) one play at a time. Focus. Don't look at the scoreboard. Focus. He said that is what the coaches drilled into the players all week long.

2) the crowd. It makes a difference when it's causing the building to vibrate. LSU's stadium was packed and it holds 102,321. It made a difference tonight, and it made a difference earlier in Athens, Georgia. Let's look briefly at what was written about the crowd and its effect in that game:


In a deafening and soggy Sanford Stadium...
...the decibel level exceeded 126 decibels from the sellout crowd of 92,746 at Sanford Stadium.
For the first time all season, the Vols appeared rattled.

Tennessee regularly plays before crowds of 100,000+. Their stadium capacity is 102,455.

They hadn’t faced an opponent like this or played in an environment as hostile as they encountered inside Sanford Stadium.
THE TAKEAWAY
Tennessee: The Vols struggled in the big-game atmosphere, especially on offense where crowd noise contributed to a series of false starts and illegal procedure calls.

It matters. The crowd in a big game in a huge stadium effects the play of the opponent.

3) "Tactically we played smart." I have followed Kelly going back to his days at Cincinnati and I knew exactly what he meant when he said that. Lord, I have seen him do it a hundred times. Don't do stupid shit. Take the peep when it's there. Play field position. He goes on to say here that "we pinned Alabama back" deep in their own territory in the first half. Nick Saban does the same thing. That is why this was such a great chess match by two grand masters.

4) Take care of the football. Okay, anodyne. No coach says "Let's make it Olympic football. Put that bug on the rug a couple times." But that stock adage, as well as "one play at a time" are followed by teams that are drilled, drilled, drilled; taught, taught, taught. Brian Kelly drills and teaches as well as anyone in the college game. So there was a fifth key that Kelly did not mention:

5) Coach smart.