Brian Kelly won’t last at LSU. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. This is Bryan Harsin at Auburn, this is a fish out of water in the SEC. And even with a lucky win over South Carolina he’s under massive pressure and scrutiny. And with a loss, it would have been the beginning of the end.
LSU survived a very mid Gamecocks team 36-33 thanks to some bad calls and an injury to LaNorris Sellers. They had no business winning a game they trailed 17-0 and 24-10. The LSU defense hasn’t improved much and there is no Jayden Daniels there to simply outscore opponents. We saw that against USC and it almost bit them against a South Carolina team I think ends up 7-5 at best. In short, LSU hasn’t gotten better.
But why is Kelly on the hot seat? I’m the same guy who says Florida has been way too impatient in firing coaches who won divisional titles and played for SEC titles. And Kelly, to his credit, has already done that in his two seasons at LSU. And let’s not forget the mess he inherited from Ed Orgeron with a limited roster and NCAA issues. So why? Because he’s not from the South.
It’s as simple as that. Kelly is from my neck of the woods and was a great fit at Cincinnati and Notre Dame but his fake accent and pathetic attempts to fit in culturally have failed. And that’s okay if you win and win big. But as Gerry DiNardo can tell you, it won’t work unless you pile on the victories.
Dinardo was from Brooklyn, NY and had a nice start at LSU, going 10-2 and 9-3 in his second and third years in 1996 and 1997. But when he started to regress he was a dead man walking. And in the mid to late 1990s programs were a lot more patient with coaches. DiNardo lasted a couple more seasons but when the winning slowed it was over. It’s 2024 now. Coaches are ousted after a couple of seasons and massive buyouts don’t stop anyone. Kelly won’t last even if he’s a 7-5 coach.
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Am I being dramatic? After all, DiNardo went 4-7 and 2-8 in his last two seasons and BK seems far from that fall. But no, I’m not being dramatic. Kelly went 10-4 in year one and 10-3 in year two so this sounds ridiculous. But I’m telling you, if he lost that South Carolina game and fell to 1-2, the beginning of the end would have started. Fans get restless, boosters get annoyed and in the big money salary and NIL world we live in, initial discussions would be had. And the fact that Kelly isn’t a Southern Gentleman is going to work against him badly.
The loss is coming. That loss that starts this unraveling. It should have been South Carolina but it could be Arkansas, Texas A&M, Florida or Vanderbilt. It’s coming. A bad loss is on its way as this team hasn’t improved in come key areas and when it goes, you can make a note about when the beginning of the end came.
