When the LSU Tigers take the field for the first time in 2022, it begins a new era of football for the program. There will be no Ed Orgeron leading the team on the field, instead, it is Brian Kelly.
After more than a decade in South Bend, Indiana, Kelly takes over the program and hopes to lead the Bayou Bengals back to prominence. Kelly led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoffs on multiple occasions but always came up short. Was it a coaching deficiency or was it a talent deficiency? We will soon find out.
The 2022 team will have an overhauled staff with the exception of Brad Davis, who will return as the team’s offensive line coach after a one-game stint as the team’s interim head coach. The first game of the new era will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana when the Tigers take on the Florida State Seminoles.
According to this top 12 list from Football Scoop, FSU-LSU is a top-five nonconference matchup of the season. Coming in at No. 5.
The loss to UCLA in their sissy blue shirts was the beginning of the end for Ed Orgeron. A rebuilding Florida State represents the beginning of the beginning for Brian Kelly.
Kelly went 3-2 against the ‘Noles at Notre Dame, winning his final three, but this will be the first meeting between LSU and FSU since 1991. It’s a massive, massive opportunity for Mike Norvell, who enters this game with eight wins in two seasons at Florida State, and two against Power 5 teams that finished with winning records.
The last time Kelly faced off against Florida State, came last season. The game was a very close matchup and it saw the return of McKenzie Milton. Many believed that he would never play again, the site of Milton was the feel-good story. However, what people might remember most was Kelly’s poor “execution” of an old John McKay line about the performance of his team.
Florida State and LSU haven’t met on the football field since 1991 and the Seminoles own the all-time series 7-2. The last victory for the Tigers came in 1982, LSU won 55-21 in Baton Rouge. The history began in the 1968 Peach Bowl, the Tigers also won that game 31-27.