Steve Spurrier calls out critics of Brian Kelly at LSU

Steve Spurrier was a little baffled at critics of LSU coach Brian Kelly following the Tigers’ loss to Alabama.

The loss dropped LSU to 6-3 on the season but he couldn’t believe certain people would criticize Kelly’s win-loss record. Kelly’s won 10 games in back to back seasons with LSU.

However, Spurrier put the whole thing into perspective.

“Yeah, it was interesting, I picked up a USA Today newspaper, and they were talking about Brian Kelly at LSU,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “They said his record was a ‘pedestrian’ 26-10. Pedestrian? 26-10? That sounds pretty good. That’s an average of 9-3. They’re getting on Brian Kelly for that, heck, we’re just, we’re hoping for a winning season here (in Florida) sometime soon. But anyway, it is what it is right now.”

Kelly went 10-4 in his first year at LSU, making the SEC Championship Game. He finished 10-3 last year, capping off the season with a ReliaQuest Bowl win.

So yes, the postseason success is there, just not with the College Football Playoff. Following the Ed Orgeron era, LSU brought Kelly over from Notre Dame to get the Tigers back over the hump.

So far, he’s gotten close but not close enough. Following the blowout loss to Alabama, LSU is pretty much out of the playoff running in the first year of the 12-team bracket with three losses.

When asked about his view of the current state of the LSU program following the biggest loss (by margin of defeat) during his three seasons with the Tigers, Kelly said he’s confident in the process the staff has taken after inheriting a roster that needed to be rebuilt ahead of the 2022 season.

“Did we not win 14 consecutive games at night? From that perspective, the odds are I feel pretty confident we know what we are doing,” Kelly said. “Am I happy about what happened? No. Are our players? No. “When it comes to an overall look at the program … we’ve won 10 out of our past 13 games.”

Kelly pointed out the future projections of the program, based on recruiting and what could be cooking up in the offseason.

“I am not in a position to worry about what people are saying about the overall health of the program,” Kelly said. “We have one of the top recruiting classes in the country. Those things are only going to continue to get better.

“A championship program is what we are going to have here. There are going to be some stumbles along the way, but we will get back up and we are going to keep building our program where it needs to be. And that’s a championship program.”