The lights burn a little hotter in Baton Rouge this fall. LSU enters the 2025 season with sky-high expectations, but the gauntlet awaiting Brian Kelly and the Tigers is merciless. They open against Clemson, a perennial powerhouse that won’t hesitate to punch first. Then it’s a death march through SEC powerhouses. Florida, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Oklahoma—all back to back. And yet, for all the program’s history and recent recruiting success, the buzz isn’t about surviving the schedule. It’s about dominating it. This team isn’t just expected to compete; it’s expected to make the playoffs. Anything less, and the knives are out for Kelly.
Delivering this with respect, given his track record of success elsewhere, Brian Kelly is still small potatoes within the most competitive conference. Brad Crawford didn’t mince words when discussing LSU’s stakes this year on After Further Review: LSU. “I think they have to be in the SEC championship conversation in November coming down the stretch,” Crawford said. “I pretty much said in my column today, man, that if this program fails to make the playoff here in Brian Kelly’s fourth year with the best roster that he’s had in Baton Rouge, I would consider it a failure.” That’s the temperature right now in Louisiana. The fan base isn’t reading off a rebuild timeline—they’re staring at a roster loaded with potential and demanding trophies.
Crawford doubled down, calling this LSU team one of the two most playoff-ready programs in the SEC alongside Alabama. But he didn’t stop there—he made it personal. “You bring Garrett Nussmeier back, a guy that I’ve projected to be the top pick in next year’s NFL Draft. He’s my number one quarterback ahead of Arch Manning.” That’s a massive endorsement and a stark challenge. Nussmeier isn’t just a good SEC QB. He’s being painted as the guy. If LSU does crash the playoff party, it’ll be on the back of his arm and his composure in tight games.
That puts a different kind of pressure on Brian Kelly. Despite the Tigers notching 29 wins in three seasons under his leadership, the absence of a playoff appearance or even a conference title makes his tenure feel, at best, incomplete. Until Kelly delivers a real banner season—a playoff berth, a league championship, something that moves the program forward—he’s just another well-compensated coach in a league that eats its own. The irony? LSU has spent big in the transfer portal, in staff support, and in building out the kind of infrastructure that screams ‘WIN NOW’. But until the results match the resources, the doubt will linger.
There came an unexpected twist from That SEC Podcast host Mike Bratton. He didn’t take the usual route of comparing Kelly’s current record to LSU legends. Instead, he brought up Nick Saban. “I think it’s fair to say—I’m not saying Brian Kelly’s better than Nick Saban, obviously you’d be a fool if you said that. But I think his resume from day one when he got to LSU was vastly superior than what Nick Saban’s resume was when he got to LSU.”
On paper, Bratton has a point. Kelly arrived in Baton Rouge with over 280 career wins and a national title appearance under his belt. Saban, back in 2000, was still finding his sea legs in the college ranks. But the comparison ends there. Bratton’s conclusion? “[Kelly is] out of excuses. They’ve got to be better.”
And better means more than Citrus Bowl wins and a few Saturdays of scoreboard fireworks. Better means navigating one of the country’s toughest schedules and coming out with something to show for it. A trophy that doesn’t gather dust next to a ReliaQuest or Texas Bowl title. LSU is more than capable. They’ve got the quarterback. They’ve got the depth. They’ve got the name brand.
Brian Kelly’s Spring Portal philosophy, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’
While some coaches treat the spring transfer window like a last-minute shopping spree. Brian Kelly is doing the exact opposite—he’s content kicking back and trusting the roster he’s already built. Despite the frenzy that typically hits every spring, Kelly isn’t in a rush to shake things up. “I like our roster right now,” Kelly said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t have anybody in the portal on either side, either leaving our program or adding.”
That’s a bold stance in today’s college football chaos. But Kelly doubled down, saying, “If you ask me right now, I would be happy to take this roster right into May on both sides of it. Maybe that’s fool’s gold. Maybe that’s wishing more than it is anything else, but I like what we’ve done with this roster. I like the development of it.”
Ironically, even with that calm approach, LSU still landed two transfers this spring: defensive lineman Bernard Gooden and DB AJ Haulcy. And while Kelly admits the portal isn’t totally out of his control, he clarified the Tigers aren’t scrambling. “Not all of that is in my control, obviously. But I can tell you we’re not actively saying, ‘We’ve gotta have this.’” Translation? LSU’s feeling good, not desperate.
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