BATON ROUGE — Not breaking news: LSU football's defense is in a state of disarray.

The Tigers defense gave up 42 points and 507 yards on Saturday in their 42-28 loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Through nine weeks on defense, they are 122nd in the FBS in third-down conversion percentage and 87th in points per game allowed.

This story is not arguing that LSU's defense hasn't been bad. They have been. There's no getting around it.

But should Brian Kelly move on from members of his defensive staff because of the Tigers' subpar defense this season? Does defensive coordinator Matt House deserve the same fate as recently fired Southern Cal defensive coordinator Alex Grinch?

No.

"We're playing the players that are best suited the time necessary, and I think they're developing," Kelly said during his weekly press conference on Monday. "I thought we did a heck of a job battling a big and powerful offensive unit against Alabama.

"We're making the kind of progress that I need to see."

For one, No. 19 LSU (6-3, 4-2 SEC) knew it was coming into this season with a rickety secondary. The Tigers needed to dip into the transfer portal to find four cornerbacks and enter the portal again after spring practices to add a third veteran safety.

Any injuries or absences at cornerback or safety would put this secondary in a world of trouble, and that's exactly what happened.

Ohio State transfer JK Johnson, Syracuse transfer Duce Chestnut, Southeastern transfer Zy Alexander and Texas A&M transfer Denver Harris are all injured or inactive. Captain and safety Greg Brooks Jr. has been out since Week 3 after being diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer before the Tigers' matchup against Mississippi State.

The Tigers didn't lose Harris and Alexander until recently, but they still had to rely on freshman Ashton Stamps and sophomore Laterrance Welch even before the Alabama game.

LSU got away with having a secondary filled with transfers last season thanks to better injury luck and acquiring veterans who had more playing experience than the likes of Chestnut, Harris, Johnson and Alexander. But the Tigers couldn't replicate that formula this offseason since it wasn't sustainable for the long-term health of the position.

At some point continuity in the secondary needed to be prioritized. And that couldn't happen without bringing in players like Harris and Chestnut, who had multiple years of eligibility.

"When you have to dip into the transfer portal and bring in that many guys on defense, that's an area of concern because you really don't know what you have," Kelly said during SEC Media Days in July.

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A porous secondary doesn't explain away all of LSU's problems on defense. The Tigers' front-seven has also been underwhelming.

Maason Smith hasn't made the same impact as he did pre-injury. Mekhi Wingo has missed the last two weeks and may miss the rest of the regular season with an injury. Starting edge rushers Sai'vion Jones and Ovie Oghoufo have combined for just one sack and 20 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

However, it hasn't helped LSU's defensive line that its been without its positional coach for nearly the entire season. Analyst Pete Jenkins joining the team after the Ole Miss loss has patched up some issues, but by that point LSU had already lost two games with Alabama still on its schedule.

"My expectations are the same as everybody else's expectations," Kelly said Monday. "Our offense is ahead of our defense.

"I want our defense to catch up certainly, right? Our offense is is one of the best if not the best offense in the country. But we're not at the same level, we have to continue to build and we have to continue to recruit, we have to continue to coach at the highest level."

But even if these reasons should be counted as excuses – and that what has happened this season is beyond disappointing given the talent Kelly and his staff has at its disposal – rarely should a nine game sample justify firing a coach or multiple coaches.

That's especially true with this defensive coaching staff. With the exception of Cain, it's the same staff that led LSU's defense to finishing in the top-35 in the country in points per game allowed and 15th in the country in defensive efficiency, according to ESPN's College Football Power Index, last season.

Personnel changes will be coming for the defense this offseason. More transfers will be added (especially in the secondary) and a new freshman class is coming in to add to a talented core of freshmen.

LSU is still a work in progress. Kelly made that clear as day on Monday. So give House and Kelly's defensive staff the time necessary to get to work and fix the problem.

"I didn't come down to LSU to be good. I came here to be elite," Kelly said.

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Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football, Brian Kelly shouldn't fire Matt House or defensive staff