What review did ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum come up with regarding Brian Kelly‘s squad and the schedule it’s about to face in the upcoming season? “The hype for LSU football is not hype. I think it’s real. The question I have is how does coach Kelly navigates that schedule is daunting.” Well, that’s not the only pressure that Brian Kelly is going to face. The LSU head coach is about to enter his fourth season, and still, he has yet to add a SEC championship feather to his hat since his Tigers’ takeover.
The 2024 season has been kind of a mixed bag for them. They won nine games, including the Texas Bowl game over Baylor. But at the same time, they did suffer a three-game losing streak, which dashed their chances of going to the CFP. Coming from a head coach, sporting a 195-73 record over 21 seasons, this was not expected. But the final call was yet to come. However, looks like the time is here…
In the June 23 episode of George Wrighster’s College Football podcast, host George Wrighster was the second analyst to come up with a stark warning in a single week. “LSU, this is a make-or-break year for Brian Kelly because he told us, ‘Judge me after three years into the program.’ After he dropped that fake Louisiana accent. But the reality is this is year four. And last year again, their defense was atrocious; it would make your eyes bleed. Jayden Daniels won a Heisman Trophy literally because their defense was so bad. He had to throw the ball a thousand times a game for a thousand yards a game; that’s how bad it was. But now the pressure is on and LSU is expected not only to make the college football playoff but to be a factor in potentially winning because if not, listen to the people in the SEC are different it’s built differently down there.”
Here we need to recall the 2024 stats for a better picture. Kelly’s boys held the 14th spot with 24.3 points per game in scoring defense, 12th in rushing defense with 140 yards per game. Do you know what makes Kelly’s seat hotter? Almost every one who has held the Tigers’ head coaching seat has won a national championship. GOAT Nick Saban started the trend by achieving it in 2003, while Les Miles and Ed Orgeron caught up in 2007 and 2019. But poor Kelly!
His National Championship luck is yet to favor him. But wasn’t this the reason why Kelly left his job at Notre Dame and boarded the LSU wagon? To him, he saw better chances at LSU to build a championship-calibre team. And he is yet to hit the bull’s eye. So, even before Wrighster, Joel Klatt sounded an alarm that the final bell had rung for Kelly. The analyst said, “It’s time. Year 4 for Brian Kelly, rough start to the tenure, right? Like, you remember the accent? He debuted that southern accent so well. We had the bad recruiting video with him dancing. Then you look up and it’s like, ‘Okay.’ They’ve had two 10-win seasons.”
He added, “In most places, two 10-win seasons get people off your back. They’ve had a nine-win season. But here’s the difference: expectations are sky high at LSU.” Amidst all these negative reviews, surprisingly, Finebaum has something positive to say about Kelly.
ESPN analyst’s surprising verdict for Brian Kelly
Kelly is often compared between his Notre Dame and Tigers stints. He came up with a 113-40 record at Notre Dame. It included a national championship game appearance in 2013 and two CFP appearances in 2018 and 2020. Turns out that his coming out of the Fighting Irish has been too costly, as he has lost that charm. We can track that in Kelly’s LSU chapter.
His first year came with the Tigers finishing 10-4 and with a SEC West victory and competing in the SEC Championship Game. With this came a big loss against the Georgia Bulldogs. The very next season, Kelly gifted the Tigers a 10-3 season, but without an SEC West win. But the last season has been a lacklustre one as the Tigers wrapped it at 9-4. As the fourth year holds huge value for the head coach, they are probably aiming for a stronger season. How strong? Finebaum on his podcast said, “I think 10-2 is a good mark.” The reasons behind their prospective impressive feat in 2025? The Tigers are bringing back 62% of their total production.
Among the most powerful of Brian Kelly’s returning stars is his quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier. After all, the quarterback’s improvement has been Joe Sloan-approved. As Kelly’s offensive coordinator assured, “He’s been able to really watch and dive into every bit of his film from the last year. And now, take that into spring with a really good plan on exactly what to improve… I think you just see a calmness and an understanding every day of exactly what he needs to do. That’s the piece that experience brings you.” If Kelly wants to silence the doubters once and for all, Year 4 is his best shot to do it.
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