At times in 2022 — such as during the upset over Alabama or dominating wins over Ole Miss and Purdue — this looked like an LSU team that could compete with the best of them.
At other times, however, it did not. A blowout loss to Tennessee, an ugly win over Arkansas and a playoff chance-ending defeat at Texas A&M all soured an otherwise phenomenal Year 1 for [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag].
The Tigers may not take the leap to national title contender this fall, but On3’s JD PicKell said the team needs to show more consistency.
“And my question more specifically for LSU is do we see a consistent product from the Tigers in 2023,” PicKell said at SEC media days. “Because potential is fun to talk about and there’s tons of potential on this roster at LSU. But you can only talk about potential for so long. And the reality is for LSU they’re not a fan base that just won nine games, high five and walk off and have a good time like that. That’s not what they’re signing up for at LSU.
“That’s not what they expect. I want to look at LSU (like) they’re a lot like the talking phase of the whole dating scene, if you will. Like it’s fun to talk about winning 10 games. It’s fun to talk to, you know, that attractive whoever you’re talking to, but the reality is, at some point in time you get to determine what you’re going to be.”
PicKell went on to discuss the pieces LSU returns like quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag], linebacker [autotag]Harold Perkins[/autotag] and defensive tackle [autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag]. He said that while wins over Alabama or Georgia would be huge, he wants to see the Tigers beat the teams they’re supposed to beat in the way they’re supposed to beat them.
We’ll see if LSU meets PicKell’s expectations, but its clear that Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge has shifted the conversation about this team tremendously heading into Year 2.
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