Ed Orgeron Sends Strong Message to Brian Kelly & Garrett Nussmeier as HC’s $63M Safety Net Faces Test of Time
Brian Kelly may have won the Texas Bowl last season with a 9-4 finish, but he is far from delivering what he promised three years ago: a championship. A 29-11 record in the last three years is not bad either. But after their dramatic OT win over Alabama in 2022, Kelly’s Tigers are 2-7 against ranked teams, despite having a top QB in Garrett Nussmeier. To top it off, LSU is yet to play a playoff game with Kelly. While the LSU program still has faith in its 63-year-old honcho, the Tigers’ former championship-winning head coach did not hold back on the $95 million HC.
Back in 2022, when Brian Kelly succeeded Ed Orgeron as LSU’s head coach, the former Tigers HC had given a three-year timeline to Kelly to win a championship, exact same years he took in Baton Rouge to win the natty. “I don’t know that it’s fair, but (national title) is the expectation… You should be able to win a national championship in 3 years,” Orgeron had said. Come 2025, the ex-LSU head coach has come to remind Kelly that his time is up.
“Expectations at LSU are No. 1 or nothing! I mean, that’s it! LSU expects you to win the national championship. They don’t expect you to win it every year, but Coach Saban won it in his third year, Les Miles won it in his third year, and I won it in my third year,” Ed Orgeron, over a telephonic conversation with Jax Sports Radio, set a straight and clear goal for his successor.
Of course, it’s easier said than done, but Kelly definitely has what it takes to make it work. The roster he’s built is packed with talent, ready to rip and soar like confetti in the air. The wide receiver group is looking pretty hopeful, especially with a couple of tough players from Kentucky—Barion Brown and Nic Anderson from Oklahoma. Plus, Kelly has improved his cornerback lineup by bringing in Mansoor Delane, the No. 9 prospect from Virginia Tech. And let’s not forget about Garrett Nussmeier; he’s got some serious potential under center.
“I think (Kelly) has a really good team, a really good quarterback in Garrett Nussmeier. He’s got a tough opener in Clemson. The expectations bring on a lot of pressure,” Orgeron added to the thrust, “especially when you haven’t won a championship yet. The pressure there is to win a championship.”
Orgeron boasted an impressive resume at LSU as the defensive line coach before 2016. He was named the interim head coach after Miles was forced to depart early in the 2016 season. In Orgeron’s third full season as the team’s head coach, he led the Tigers to a stupendous 15-0 record and clinched LSU its fourth national championship. The legacy is contestable. Kelly wasn’t supposed to replicate. But getting completely undermined in the title scene after a breakout in 2019? That’s unacceptable.
This year is an ultimatum more than a shimmering hope. But to nail the ultimatum and re-solidify the Tigers’ legacy, Kelly needs to adopt a ‘first come, first’ policy.
Brian Kelly needs to get rid of a recurring curse in 2025
And what does that mean? Well, the Tigers bear a strange curse of giving it away in the opener. History witnessed that it didn’t lead to anything good later in the season. LSU had a notorious record of losing five straight season openers, marking it as the worst and longest streak in program history.
The last time they lost five was from 1991 to 1995. They couldn’t decode the mystery of a season opener since 2019. For Brian Kelly, it’s even worse. He never saw the 1-0 on the scoreboard since arriving in Baton Rouge in 2022. Analysts deem it a major slump on their way to reaching the Natty scene, or at least the playoff bracket.
Morning shows the day, they say. Just like that, the early momentum shows a glimpse of the rest of the season. If you start well, the boost in confidence will add flair to the winning potential. Straight and raw!
