Site of Brian Kelly’s first LSU game a reminder of the ultimate goal

Welcome to Louisiana, Brian Kelly.

We know you’re new to these parts and that’s OK.

In fact, we love to welcome transplants – even a Yankee, especially when they become the head football coach at LSU.

Now, first off let’s get past this North-South silliness.

Yes, we like to feel that you’re one of us – but that only gets you so far.

The last guy that had your job was from Larose, La., bled purple and goal, growled like Mike the Tiger – even won a freakin’ national championship just three years ago.

Then he went 5-5, started last season 3-3 and watched his team get bullied by Kentucky for cryin’ out loud. That was the end of that.

So we appreciate you learning how to peel crawfish, trying to affect a Southern accent and putting up with our weather. (Trust us, you’ve been pretty lucky in the heat and humidity department during your first preseason camp.)

But now it’s football season. Time to get serious.

Things get going for real Sunday night when your first Tigers team plays its first game against Florida State in the Caesars Superdome.

We know you’ve never coached a game in the Superdome. You nearly made it at the end of the 2009 season when you got your Cincinnati team into the Sugar Bowl.

That was a heck of a coaching job – so good, in fact, that it landed you the Notre Dame job and you were off to South Bend before the Bearcats lost to Florida.

We know you were in the Superdome less than a year ago, after you became the LSU coach. You were in a suite to watch one of your former Fighting Irish players, quarterback Ian Book, make his first NFL start for the Saints against Miami on Monday Night Football.

It was nice of you to show up and support him. Too bad the short-handed Saints lost 20-3, but you got a hint of what the Superdome can be like for a football game.

We think it will be more electric on Sunday night.

Speaking of electric atmospheres, we know you’ve never been to a game in Tiger Stadium.

After the Superdome, Death Valley is next on your stadium bucket list and a mere six days from Sunday you can check it off too when the Tigers host cross-town rival Southern.

No offense to the Jaguars, because we think it’s really cool that LSU and Southern are finally playing for the first time, but that won’t be a true example of Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night.

You’ll get a better idea for the SEC opener against Mississippi State on September 17, an even better idea against Ole Miss on October 22 and the ultimate deal against Alabama on November 5.

Now we hate to bring up a sore subject – for all of us – but the Red Elephant in the room is the Crimson Tide.

Your two national championship opportunities at Notre Dame both came against Alabama – a 42-14 loss in the 2012 BCS Championship Game and a 52-24 loss in the 2020 CFP semifinals.

You knew that coming here meant you’d have to play Alabama every year, and you came here anyway. You jumped into the fire.

We like that.

The only thing left for you to accomplish in your outstanding career is to win a national championship. In order to win one you’re probably going to have to go through Alabama, one way or another.

And you chose to try and do that LSU. Cool.

We love the fact that you walked away from Notre Dame to join us. Cynics will say you did it for the money – $100 million over 10 years. We don’t care.

You’re the first Notre Dame football coach in more than 100 years to choose to leave for another school.

You said you left arguably the most storied program in college football because “I want to be on the Broadway stage.”

Boy, do we love that.

You know the deal.

You described your new job as “the great opportunity to restore championship-level football to LSU.”

You also said, “You’re looked at in terms of championships here. I want that.”

So do we.

We mentioned that the last guy was a local guy and won a national championship, but the other coaches that won titles at LSU came from Fremont, Ohio (Paul Dietzel), Fairmont, West Virginia (Nick Saban) and Elyria, Ohio (Les Miles).

So winning a national championship is the easiest way to fit in down here.

Now we know that you inherited a fixer-upper. The Tigers are unranked in the preseason poll for the first time in 22 seasons.

So we’re not expecting another championship right away.

But we couldn’t help but notice that your first game is in the same building where your three most recent predecessors all won national championships.

There won’t be another national championship game in the Superdome until at least 2027.

But don’t feel obligated to wait that long for your title.