Brian Kelly speaks out on the state of LSU's football program

Following LSU’s 42-13 loss to Alabama, LSU head coach Brian Kelly shared his view of the current state of the football program – and where the Tigers are headed.

On Monday, Kelly took the podium in Baton Rouge for his weekly press conference.

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 when asked about the fanbase’s ‘faith being shaken’ following the 29-point loss to the Tide. “Am I happy about what happened? No. Are our players? No.”

LSU went 5-5 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season before a 6-6 finish the following season, and LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward parted ways with Ed Orgeron just two seasons after the program won a National Championship. LSU finished the season with at 6-7, marking the first time LSU had finished with a losing record since 1999.

Kelly went 10-4 during his first season, closing out the regular season with a 9-3 finish that included an overtime win over Alabama, which put the Tigers into the SEC Championship game. LSU lost to Georgia in the SEC Championship, and the Bulldogs went on to finish 15-0 as National Champions.

In 2023, LSU’s offense set records as quarterback Jayden Daniels went on to win the Heisman Trophy before Daniels and wide receivers Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. all became first-round picks in the NFL Draft.

Still, it was another 10-3 finish for LSU. The reason: a historically bad defense.

The poor results on defense led to Kelly firing the entire on-field defensive staff in January before hiring five new assistants, including a new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in Blake Baker.

It’s far from perfect, but LSU’s shown significant strides in Year 1 of the new defensive regime while working with many of the same pieces the Tigers had a year ago – minus a handful of NFL draft picks on the defensive line and linebacker and, now, without a pair of injured starters in linebacker Harold Perkins and defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory.

While the offense was humming in many games this season thanks to the passing game, the lack of a run game coupled with a run on turnovers by starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier have led to six quarters of football that derailed what could have been a playoff run for a team that was overachieving in spots, underperforming in others, but seemed to have a knack for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Just six quarters ago, LSU held a double-digit lead in College Station, the Tigers had not lost an SEC game and appeared to be cruising towards taking the conference’s top spot as the lone unbeaten team in SEC play.

Instead, the collapse across the final 23 minutes against Texas A&M and a blowout loss to Alabama has a portion of the fanbase questioning what happens next.

For Kelly, as the dust settles on a Saturday night to forget, the macro view of the program is one he sees headed in the right direction.

“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 when asked about ‘faith being shaken’ for fans following a 29-point loss to the Tide. “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.”

The Tigers are joined by Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss and Missouri as two-loss conference teams in the SEC, and all five of the programs remained Top 25 teams in Sunday’s AP and Coaches Polls.

Tennessee, Texas A&M and Texas are the lone three programs with one SEC loss after every team in the conference took a loss before the month of November for the first time since 2007.

With games at Florida and at home against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma remaining, LSU is 6-3 overall and 3-2 in SEC play, meaning another 10-win season, 9-3 regular season and 6-2 SEC record are in reach for the third time in Kelly’s three seasons in Baton Rouge.

For LSU fans, the question is when that number turns to a 10-win regular season and a shot at the SEC Championship (again) and a debut in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoffs.

“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.”

With the Early Signing Period set for December 4, LSU has college football’s No. 2 recruiting class on On3 and No. 4 class on the On3 Industry Rankings. Four SEC teams – LSU, Alabama, Georgia and Texas – are ranked in the Top 5, joined by Ohio State as the lone team outside the conference holding firm on a Top 5 class.

Getting commitments turned to signees in a few weeks time is crucial for the future.

Just as important to Kelly: the present.

Kelly said that means dialing in on one game, and one play at a time, as LSU heads to Gainesville in what could be a wild few weeks of “Upset Watch” games in the SEC and beyond given the parity delivered by college football across the first two-thirds of the regular season.

“We have the opportunity to finish the season strong and look forward to a minimum of a 10-win season, and that’s a standard for this program,” Kelly said. “We have to play more consistent. Offense, defense and special teams. That’s what is most important. Consistency play in and play out.”

LSU is currently listed as 4-point favorites ahead of Saturday’s 3:30 pm ET kickoff vs. Florida in Gainesville.