Notre Dame analyst eviscerates Brian Kelly for deja vu after LSU gets blown out by Texas AM

On SI’s Nick Shepkowski has seen what LSU fans saw in Week 9 during a 38-23 loss to Texas A&M. Brian Kelly had overseen many such blowout losses when he was head coach at Notre Dame.

“Notre Dame fans grew very familiar with the feeling of seeing their team go on the road for a huge game and have a disappointing showing under Brian Kelly,” Shepkowski prefaced before saying, “Perhaps it was 2011 or 2013 in Michigan, 2015's slow start at Clemson, 2017's meltdown in Miami, or the 2019 blowout loss in Ann Arbor.

“During Brian Kelly's time at Notre Dame, losing huge games on the road was the norm - so much in fact that simply not being blown out would at times get confused for being a positive.”

Kelly’s reputation as a big-game choker didn’t go away after LSU upset a Nick Saban-coached Alabama Crimson Tide in 2022. His 2023 season started with early losses to FSU and Ole Miss that put the Tigers coach back in the big-game losers’ circle. 2024 started with a neutral site loss to what has turned out to be a mediocre USC team.

LSU doesn’t figure to lose too many more games this season, but one loss would spell the end of their College Football Playoff hopes. Not meeting the lofty expectations Tiger fans had shouldn’t cost Kelly his job, though.

LSU recruiting too well to fire Brian Kelly anytime soon

With the No. 4 2025 recruiting class and the No. 8-ranked Class of 2026, LSU is recruiting too well to rock the boat after giving Kelly three seasons at the helm. If the Tigers were losing like the Auburn Tigers would under Hugh Freeze, who also is recruiting too well to fire, there’d be a legitimate conversation to be had about replacing him.

But LSU isn’t even two years removed from their last SEC Championship Game appearance. Things aren’t even close to bad enough to justify firing Kelly.