Brian Kelly calls out 'cynics' of LSU's 2024 season

Brian Kelly didn’t feel any disappointment with the way 2024 went down for the LSU Tigers, and he made sure to point that out after a 13-point win over the Baylor Bears in the Texas Bowl.

While Kelly’s program fell short of their championship aspirations this past season, they still won nine games, and capped their campaign off with a solid win in an important bowl game. Afterwards, Kelly decided to push back on the cynics, believing LSU’s accomplishments over the past few months were nothing to scoff at.

“It’s been really fun to coach this team,” Kelly stated, via his postgame press conference. “I know, you know, cynics would say it was disappointing. It wasn’t disappointing. It was a team that was less than perfect because of inexperience. A team that that gained experience. We still played with six true freshmen and a red shirt freshman most of the time on defense. And they kept battling. So, you know, to win nine games, and win three in a row at the end — just happy for our football team.

“Again, you know, the nine guys that came back and finished what they started, and I have — look, I’m 100% behind the guys that didn’t play, for whatever the reasons are. They’re valid. But the nine that were here, I want to be able to trumpet them as well, because finishing what you start is important as well, so happy with the victory.”

Alas, it’s evident Kelly was happy to close the book on the 2024 campaign with a win, but the Tigers will be looking for more in 2025. Championships are the standard at LSU, and watching his former team in Notre Dame make it to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game has to grind the coach’s gears a bit.

Regardless, Brian Kelly is focused on LSU, and doing everything he can to deliver a title to the Tigers. Perhaps 2025 will be a fruitful season for the program, as they look to establish themselves as one of the top teams in the SEC.

Paul Finebaum states Brian Kelly’s words about Notre Dame job will ‘haunt him’

After spending 12 seasons at Notre Dame, head coach Brian Kelly left the program in 2021 and accepted an offer to take over at LSU. In April 2022, Kelly explained his decision to move on from Notre Dame: “I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship.”

Now, three years since Kelly left the Fighting Irish, Notre Dame will compete in the national championship game. Meanwhile, LSU finished the 2024 season 9-4, its worst record under Kelly. It couldn’t be a sweeter scenario for Notre Dame fans.

They surely haven’t forgotten Kelly’s comments. As the Fighting Irish have made their run through the College Football Playoffs this past month, the Notre Dame faithful haven’t been shy to remind Kelly of his aforementioned quote.

“My relationship with Brian Kelly is very close. He comes on show every Monday,” Paul Finebaum said, via The Matt Barrie Show. “He’s likable, but he used to be very surly, and when he was at Notre Dame, he was not that likable. He had that 28 point blowout against Alabama in the [2012] national championship game. He had two other inexplicable playoff appearances, and I understand his frustration.

“It’s also, you’ve been in a place for a long time, and it’s just not the same. And to me, he made a good decision, but it’s one of those situations where the words will haunt him. And he said it, not you, not me, about not about going someplace where the resources were, and lost four games this year and he was nowhere near the national championship.

“Having been around a lot of Notre Dame fans this year, I was with them all week in New Orleans a week ago — I mean, they are getting as much joy out of winning as they are rubbing it in Brian Kelly’s face.”

On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.