{"id":74197,"date":"2025-05-30T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=74197"},"modified":"2025-05-30T09:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T13:02:15","slug":"lsus-brian-kelly-talks-expectations-playoffs-and-more-in-destin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/05\/30\/lsus-brian-kelly-talks-expectations-playoffs-and-more-in-destin\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU\u2019s Brian Kelly Talks Expectations, Playoffs, and More in Destin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vacations tend to alter the demeanor of the participants; people tend to lose their inhibitions and loosen up. However, the same can be said about the effects of confidence. Thanks to either the Destin beaches or the talented roster, LSU\u2019s Brian Kelly recently talked openly on the Paul Finebaum show about his expectations for the 2025 Tigers. The relaxed and candid Kelly also weighed in on approaching tough schedules and playoff selection.<\/p>\n

Brian Kelly Embraces Pressure, Weighs in on Playoffs<\/h2>\n
\"LSU's
Photo courtesy: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kelly is High on LSU<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI\u2019m bullish on this team as well. And look, every coach that\u2019s here believes they\u2019ve got the best team they\u2019ve ever had. We know our roster. This is the best roster that we\u2019ve put together. It\u2019s part of a process that has taken a little more time than we wanted, but we\u2019re doing it the right way. And we\u2019re pretty excited about what our football team looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly responded to Finebaum\u2019s mention of the excitement surrounding LSU by echoing the sentiment. Close followers of the program know about the offseason roster improvements<\/a>. Regardless, some coaches would prefer to temper the expectations and use the television appearance to remind the team to focus on the process rather than the results. Kelly chose to invite the pressure<\/a>. His quarterback is probably one reason he\u2019s speaking freely.<\/p>\n

Can Nussmeier Meet the Standard?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cHis ability to overcome some of the setbacks that he had. Win our last three games, where he really played at a high level. That\u2019s gonna continue\u2026then, he\u2019s got arm talent and anticipation. He can make those tight window throws that the NFL coaches really really like and GM\u2019s. I think he\u2019s the complete package when it comes to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The head man at LSU didn\u2019t shy away from the fact that Garrett Nussmeier<\/a> struggled at times last year, but Kelly admired how Nussmeier responded. Earned or not, there’s a natural expectation of progression<\/a> as a second-year starter. The rising senior has a skillset that makes him special if he matures from the neck up.<\/p>\n

LSU’s Week One Wipeouts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cIt is a challenge, there\u2019s no doubt. But everybody\u2019s got challenges. And now we\u2019ve got to rise up to that challenge of playing a great team. And Dabo\u2019s done an incredible job there. This could be one of the most talented teams he\u2019s had, but we believe that we\u2019ve put a football team together that can go on the road. And when you go on the road, Paul, in this league, you\u2019ve gotta be better defensively. And that\u2019s really the key here. We are going to be better defensively. Blake has got some weapons now on the defensive side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The confidence in the Baton Rouge air is currently as prominent and inescapable as the humidity. But if Kelly loses his fourth consecutive season opener, LSU will once again enter its SEC schedule with little to no room for error to ensure a spot in the playoffs. A good team won\u2019t skate through the conference with only one loss. It will take a dominant team.<\/p>\n

Kelly Talks Playoffs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cYou know, when I was at Notre Dame, we played for the national championship, and it was the old system. It was done by a computer. Today, it\u2019s very subjective. What we\u2019d like to see is maybe a combination of some of the analytics. Some of the strength of schedule components\u2026I think we can streamline it a little bit more with more data. And I think the more data you have, so you\u2019re not just looking at the right-hand column. It can\u2019t just be about that. It\u2019s gotta be about the best football team\u2026if we can add a little bit of the metrics, if you will, with subjective decisions, I think we find a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

We whittled this quote down as much as possible to express that Kelly pretty much agrees with his SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey \u2013 records aren\u2019t enough when all schedules aren\u2019t created equal. The college football playoff criteria will undoubtedly be questioned as long as the playoffs exist, but we think it\u2019s fair to say that more data and context can only help. The problem is getting different conference leaders to agree to prioritize useful evidence over self-serving information.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vacations tend to alter the demeanor of the participants; people tend to lose their inhibitions and loosen up. However, the same can be said about the effects of confidence. Thanks to either the Destin beaches or the talented roster, LSU\u2019s Brian Kelly recently talked openly on the Paul Finebaum show about his expectations for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4690,"featured_media":74202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10906,17,3],"tags":[729,40,655,86],"class_list":["post-74197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-cfb","category-news","category-sec","tag-brian-kelly","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-greg-sankey","tag-lsu-tigers"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74197"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74205,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74197\/revisions\/74205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}