LSU’s higher ceiling draws Brian Kelly to challenging SEC job

The man could have stayed at Notre Dame and built on his already substantial resume’ until retirement.

But my guess is challenges called that Brian Kelly felt compelled to answer.

That is, the cauldron of the Southeastern Conference and a chance to win multiple national championships.

Welcome to the SEC West, where Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach await.

Welcome to the SEC where your permanent opponent is (at least for now) the University of Florida.

Welcome to the SEC, where the paycheck matches the expectation.

On the website realtimerpi.com, the strength of schedule for each college football team is posted.

This season, Notre Dame’s is 79th. LSU is 9th.

Enough said.

However, if you can navigate that schedule, as Nick Saban did in 2003, as Les Miles did in both 2007 and 2011, and as Ed Orgeron did in 2019, you have a chance to play for and win a national championship.

By the way, the last one won by the University of Notre Dame was in 1988.

At 60 years old, the time for Kelly to move was now.

The move, as much as it makes sense, was staggering.

In the College Football playoff rankings, released last week, Notre Dame, 11-1, was 6th.

The Irish could theoretically be in a four team playoff with an interim coach. That is amazing.

So, instead of wondering if he can win against Purdue, Wisconsin, USC, North Carolina, and Navy, Brian Kelly will soon find out if he can do the following.

Win at the Swamp. Or in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Or in Athens, Georgia.

And there’s no reason why he can’t. Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron all did with a simple formula.

They had the best players.

Kelly has shown the ability to recruit. In the Class of 2022, Notre Dame is ranked fourth behind Georgia, Alabama, and Texas A&M while ahead of Penn State, Ohio State and Texas.

There’s certainly no reason that he can’t recruit Louisiana. Bill Arnsparger did. As Nick Saban. As did Les Miles. All had no real connections to this state.

In Notre Dame’s last two appearances in the College Football Playoff, the Irish were outscored 61-17.

In LSU’s last appearance in the CFP, the Tigers defeated #4 Oklahoma, 63-28, and #3 Clemson, 42-25.

The Tigers were dominating.

In South Bend, Brian Kelly did outstanding work. He even reached the College Football Playoffs and a national title game.

But at LSU, he can reach the pinnacle.

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