By Jay Berry
LSU suffered another double-digit loss on Saturday in Florida.
One week after losing 42–13 to Alabama, LSU could only muster 16 points against Florida in a 27–16 loss in Gainesville.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the game before the Alabama loss was a 38-23 blowout loss to Texas A&M. They also had the season-opening loss to USC, and their record with two games left in the season is 6–4.
Final from Gainesville pic.twitter.com/WBgR51WwKl
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) November 17, 2024
Last week, I asked the question, “Is 9–3 Brian Kelly‘s ceiling?” So far, the answer is yes.
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In Kelly’s first two seasons in Baton Rouge, he started 6–2 and finished 9–3. This season, he again started 6–2 but has four losses, with two remaining games.
Entering the 2024 season, Brian Kelly had a history of having his best season in his third year at a program. If that wasn’t hopeful enough, this year’s 12-team playoff, a new-look SEC with realignment, and no Nick Saban made this a big year for the LSU head coach.
Unfortunately, this season has proven to be trickier than expected for Kelly and the Tigers.
During the preseason, Kelly talked about accountability at the SEC media days.
“Year 3 is a level of accountability in every program I have taken over,” Kelly shared during SEC media days. “There’s a trust factor and accountability level within our process that I would kind of say pops. That’s this year. This will be the most accountable football team this year. This will be a team that trusts each other at the highest level. That has historically led to on-field success.”
With two games left and no playoffs in sight, Kelly and staff need to be held accountable for the disappointment and ensure they finish as strong as possible heading into the offseason.
The Florida loss was a hammer to the nail on a disappointing season for LSU. With a fourth loss, LSU won’t match its 9-win regular seasons or double-digit win totals from Kelly’s first two seasons at LSU.
Given his massive contract, the heat will be on in the 2025 season for Brian Kelly.
Kelly signed a 10-year contract that runs through 2031, with a hefty guarantee of $95 million, making it one of the most significant contracts in college football. His annual base salary started at $9 million in 2022 and will increase incrementally each year, reaching $10 million in 2031, assuming he remains with the team that long.
The season will conclude with games against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.
