Brian Kelly came to LSU to coach in big games. He understood the challenge when he took the job. He understood the expectations.
LSU will host Alabama on Saturday night under the lights in Death Valley. The situation isn’t that different than the one Kelly encountered in year one. A two-loss LSU team was a home underdog to Alabama.
Kelly answered the call. LSU went out and won in overtime. For Kelly, it was a signature year one win. A sign Kelly can build a program capable of competing at the top of the SEC.
The Alabama game means a little more to LSU, because for the last 15 years or so, Alabama was the standard.
For most of Nick Saban’s tenure with the Crimson Tide, LSU was chasing Alabama. When LSU suddenly wasn’t competing with Bama, it signaled LSU was no longer in the sport’s top tier. Saban and Alabama separated from the pack.
A few years into Alabama’s eight-game win streak over LSU, Tigers’ head coach Les Miles was fired. Ed Orgeron was promoted to head coach with a simple objective — return LSU to the top of the sport.
Orgeron wasn’t shy about it. He knew the measuring stick was Alabama and in 2019, Joe Burrow and company went into Tuscaloosa and beat the Tide, putting an end to the eight-game skid.
Orgeron wasn’t able to recreate that magic again, which led to Kelly’s arrival. Kelly was tasked with the same objective. And again, he knew the standard was Alabama.
That’s what made Kelly’s year one win so big. Nobody thought LSU would arrive so soon.
Kelly and LSU entered the game in 2023 with a chance to make it two in a row. The Tigers came up short as Bama got its revenge.
That brings us to 2024. In some ways, this is a rubber match for Kelly. LSU is 6-2 again, but the 12-team playoff has kept two-loss SEC teams in the national title hunt. LSU enters Saturday with all its biggest goals on the table.
This is the biggest game of Kelly’s short LSU tenure.
Kelly’s first two years at LSU played out in similar fashions. 6-2 starts kept LSU relevant into November, but the Tigers finished with back-to-back 9-3 regular seasons.
A loss on Saturday would put LSU on the road to 9-3 again. A win shows undeniable progress. Nick Saban is gone, but Alabama is still Alabama. It would make LSU 2-1 in its last three against the Tide — something the Tigers haven’t accomplished since 2009-11.
Alabama doesn’t control the SEC like it once did, but an LSU win signals the Tigers are climbing to the top of the conference. A win doesn’t mean LSU is ready to compete for a national title this year. That was always going to be a tall task with the firepower lost on offense and a new DC.
But that’s what makes a potential LSU win intriguing. It shows a foundation being built under the program.
A lot of what’s being discussed here is intangible. A win on Saturday won’t come with a trophy for LSU, but so much of college football is about the narrative.
A win builds momentum for LSU. With Saban gone, LSU gets a chance to jump Alabama in the SEC pecking order.
Kelly and LSU have a golden chance to make progress here. A win on Saturday puts LSU one step closer to its ultimate goal in a way other games don’t.
Kelly came to LSU to win these games — now lets see it.