GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Either Brian Kelly cannot learn his lesson, or he really believes his LSU football team will be that good this season.
“The question of if we’re going to win a national championship is not the question,” he said at the Baton Rough Rotary Club luncheon Wednesday on the Tiger Stadium suite level. “It’s when we’re going to win a national championship, because we will. Because we have the players. We have the standards. We have the support.”
LSU, which has not reached the College Football Playoff since 2019 when it won the national title, opens the season on Aug. 30 at Clemson (6:30 p.m., ABC). LSU (9-4, 5-3 SEC last season) is a 3.5-point underdog against Clemson, which reached the CFP last year at 10-3 overall at 7-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Clemson’s nickname is also Tigers, and it calls its stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, Death Valley, just like LSU does.
Brian Kelly to Baton Rouge Rotary Club:
— Brian Holland (@BHollandSports) July 23, 2025
"You need those (Championship) traits when you're on the road, when you're at Death Valley Junior"#LSU #Clemson @LAFirstNews
And Kelly couldn’t resist, as usual.
“You need those championship traits,” Kelly said, “when you’re on the road, when you’re at Death Valley Junior.”
Wow. He did it again. And it’s not even game week yet.
Last year during his radio show the week of the opener against USC in Las Vegas, Kelly said, “We’ve had a great foundation – really three weeks of great work that puts us in a great position now to go beat the pants off of USC.”
And the week of the Florida State opener in Orlando, Florida, in 2024, Kelly said this on his radio show – “We’re going to beat the heck out of Florida State.”
Final Score: Florida State 45, LSU 24.
Kelly must think this year will be different.
“On paper, this is the best roster that we will put out there,” Kelly said as he has said often since signing the No. 1 Transfer Portal class in the nation after last season along with the No. 10 high school signing class in the country.
“It’s not just about names,” he said. “It’s about individuals that are here to win a championship for LSU.”
Kelly said his team has been riding the Clemson opener for motivation since six months ago when it set a goal of being 1-0 in a team meeting.
“For the first time in my career, I made it a goal of our team,” he said. “Goals for me have to be specific. If we’re going to set goals, I want a specific goal, and that was to be 1-0 and beat Clemson. Number 2, it has to be attainable. I knew what roster we were putting together. I know we’re going on the road, but it’s an attainable goal for our players. The third, it’s got to be challenging. Any goal that you set has to be worthwhile. This has been the prime mover for our players over the past six months.”
LSU opens practice next Wednesday, July 30.
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