Brian Kelly’s 3rd Year Has Been A Charm Historically, So Can It Be At LSU, Too?

By GLENN GUILBEAU

Tiger Rag Editor

The three-year plan of LSU coach Brian Kelly has worked magically at his three previous head coaching stops – Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame.

But so far at LSU, three has been a four-letter word. Kelly is 0-for-3 in season openers, with the first two contributing to his team not reaching the four-team College Football Playoff. The CFP expands to 12 teams this December, so the No. 16 Tigers (1-1) still have a fighting chance.

LSU plays at South Carolina (2-0) at 11 a.m. central time Saturday on ABC in 77,559-seat Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. The Tigers did not look like a playoff team in a 44-21 win over 46-point underdog Nicholls State last week. They did until the final minutes against No. 23 USC two weeks ago when they lost 27-20 in Las Vegas.

LSU finished 9-3 and No. 13 in the final regular season CFP rankings last year. Five two-loss teams made the final five spots of the top 12, which means those would have made the playoffs, had the 12-team grouping been passed for last season. LSU was in position to possibly make the playoff in 2022 at No. 5 in the CFP rankings with a 9-2 record that included a win over No. 6 Alabama. But an upset loss to Texas A&M in the regular season finale ruined that as the Tigers fell to No. 17.

“Everybody wants it in terms of undefeated seasons and national championships, and I clearly understand that,” Kelly said on the weekly Southeastern Conference teleconference on Wednesday. “That’s why I came here, but sometimes when we talk about winning football games, that doesn’t always correlate to undefeated seasons.”

Undefeated seasons will not be needed as much with the 12-team playoff. An SEC or Big Ten team may be able to make the field with three losses.

“There are other teams I’ve had that are similar to this team right now that have had undefeated seasons,” Kelly said.

LSU must beat South Carolina, which is a touchdown underdog, and improve its running game and defense in the weeks leading up to No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 4 Alabama and No. 15 Oklahoma, if Kelly is to have any chance of making his third year in Baton Rouge a charm.

“Internally, I’ve seen very similar steps,” he said. “There’s a high level of accountability. Our guys are clearly understanding the preparation necessary to perform. What we see in our program are the similar things that I’ve seen everywhere I’ve been, and that is the foundation pieces are where they need to be. We’re definitely in a similar state where we’re doing the right things off the field, in the classroom, and that has led to long term success.”

In year three at Central Michigan in 2006, Kelly went 9-4 and 7-1 to win the Mid-American Conference and beat Middle Tennessee in the Motor City Bowl. That followed 4-7 and 6-5 seasons.

At Cincinnati in year three in 2009, he finished 12-0 and 7-0 to win the Big East and in third in the final regular season Bowl Championship Series rankings. He went 10-3 and 4-3 and 11-3 and 6-1 in his first two seasons at Cincinnati.

In his third season at Notre Dame in 2012, Kelly finished 12-1 and took the Irish closer to a national championship than at any time since coach Lou Holtz had one-loss seasons in 1993 and 1989 after he led the Irish to its last national title in 1988. But Notre Dame and Kelly fell, 42-14, to Alabama in the BCS national championship game.

The NCAA later vacated all 12 wins as the Irish used several ineligible players, but the program had turned dramatically. Kelly was 8-5 in this first two seasons at Notre Dame after replacing Charlie Weis, who went 3-9, 7-6 and 6-6 in his last three seasons.

“We’re going to have long-term success here,” Kelly said. “We expect that here. So, we’re in a good place. We’re just going to continue to build on it.”

PRACTICE CHANGE: Kelly got the SEC to postpone his teleconference appearance from No. 1 at 10 a.m. to the last spot at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, so he could practice his team at 9:30 a.m. The switch allowed the Tigers to beat the heavy rain expected late in the afternoon when the Tigers usually practice. LSU also was able to practice at the same time of morning in which it will play on Saturday in Columbia. There were also wet conditions Wednesday morning to get the Tigers ready for Saturday when rain is in the forecast.