Brian Kelly takes inadvertent shot at previous staff with promise

LSU played their final game without Brian Kelly for the foreseeable future on Tuesday. It didn’t go great — the Tigers skeleton crew was taken to the woodshed, as Kansas State defeated LSU 42-20 in the Texas Bowl.

Even though Kelly wasn’t on the sidelines, the next LSU coach made his own impact on the game. As the Tigers attempted to find victory on the field, Kelly was in the booth — examining and doing an interview during the broadcast.

Throughout, Kelly touched on a number of hot-button issues. From his maligned accent to his quarterback situation, everything was on the table. However, the former Notre Dame coach took an inadvertent shot at his previous staff during his time on air.

“It’s about expectations right? It’s about going to class. It’s about doing the right things on and off the field. It’s about standards. Listen, it’s championship standards,” stated Kelly. “This football team won a national championship in 2019 and it’s certainly, for whatever the reasons, we’ve got to get the standards back up to that level. And that’s why I’m here.

“So getting those standards back up to where they were is my job. And will go to work on that and we’ve been working on it and when I get my chance to work with this football team in January when school begins will set those standards.”

As you can see, Kelly isn’t making any friends in South Bend since his departure to the Bayou. Although the LSU coach is praising his new job, Notre Dame has been catching strays throughout the entire situation.

After all is said and done, there’s no love lost between Brian Kelly and Notre Dame.

Brian Kelly addresses LSU QB situation

Brian Kelly didn’t just bring down Notre Dame during his interview. The leader of the LSU Tigers gave some insight into their quarterback situation at the moment.

“Absolutely [Myles Brennan] will have an opportunity to earn the starting job,” said Kelly. “All three of them will get an opportunity and obviously, we’ve got Garrett Nussmeier will have the opportunity as well. We already talked about Walker (Howard) and those three guys are the centerpiece of the quarterback position.”

Of all the options, Brennan is the veteran of the group — pulling his name out of the transfer portal last month after weighing his options in his final year. He is also the returning starter of sorts, winning the 2020 and 2021 jobs before injuries set him back twice.

Freshman Garrett Nussmeier, who preserved his redshirt after a midseason discussion, will stand beside incoming freshman four-star Walker Howard.

“They’ll all have an opportunity to compete,” Kelly repeated. “Certainly, we love having a veteran in Myles in there. Who’s been out there that provides you a very similar situation that I had at Notre Dame. This past year and we can go to work going forward right into the spring.”

Kelly’s final Notre Dame teams relied on veteran quarterbacks Ian Book and Jack Coan, but the former also started four seasons with the Fighting Irish. As spring rolls around, the competition will remain wide open as some fans breathe a sigh of relief to have even one quarterback back available.