“We’re taking receipts, and we’ll see you at the national championship.”
That was Brian Kelly in his postgame press conference following LSU’s 37-17 win over Oklahoma to close out a 2024 regular season that was unremarkable at best, and frustrating at worst. LSU, once again, started off 0-1 before reeling off six straight wins, highlighted by two improbable wins over South Carolina and Ole Miss. The Tigers were unbeaten in SEC play midway through October, was ranked as high as No. 8 in the polls, and was leading by 10 at the break against Texas A&M in a game that was pivotal in the SEC race.
Then the bottom fell out for LSU. A&M pulled the rug out from under LSU in the second half, Alabama humiliated the Tigers in Baton Rouge, and Florida essentially ended LSU’s season in The Swamp. Not long after that, Kade Phillips flipped from LSU to Texas, mega-recruit Bryce Underwood was given $12 million to pledge to Michigan, and USC won the bidding war for five-star defensive tackle/New Orleans native Jahkeem Stewart.
They say money is the root of all evil and it was also the through line in Phillips and Underwood defecting and Stewart spurning LSU for Southern Cal. Michigan quite literally doubled what LSU was offering Underwood; Texas offered Phillips $1 million, while LSU wouldn’t budge from $800K; and USC went as high as $2 million for Stewart, while LSU remained steady at $1.25 million
LSU is not—nor were they likely ever— “poor,” but for a program that’s won the second most national titles since the turn of the millennium, the Tigers were seemingly content buying their groceries at Aldi’s, while the other heavy hitters in the sport were shopping at Whole Foods.
If you want to spend Christmas and New Year’s at the Taxslayer Bowl or the Texas Bowl that’s fine, but LSU fancies themselves as a…
Source link : https://www.andthevalleyshook.com/football/46993/money-well-spent-on-brian-kelly-and-lsu-going-all-in-for-2025
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Publish date : 2025-08-26 00:44:00
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