Brian Kelly shocked the college football world last November by leaving Notre Dame for LSU. Kelly had led the Fighting Irish to championship contention during his 12-year run in South Bend.
Apparently, “better facilities” and $95 million in guaranteed cash was enough for Kelly to give up the Notre Dame gig for Baton Rouge. With his Tigers unranked heading into Sunday’s season opener aginst Florida State in New Orleans, things did not go swimmingly for Kelly and Co.
LSU fell down 7-3 at halftime before seeing Florida State take a 24-10 lead in the fourth quarter on a DJ Lundy touchdown run. In the midst of this, the Tigers showed themselves to be undisiplined throughout the game.
Once Malik Nabers fumbled a punt return with LSU down 24-17 late in the fourth quarter, this one seemed to be over. That’s when everything went bonkers in New Orleans.
LSU forced a Florida State fumble at the Tigers’ one-yard line, only to drive down the field all the way to the Seminoles two-yard line with a single second remaining. After reviewing a catch from Mason Taylor to decided whether the tight end went out of bounds to stop the clock, officials decided that Brian Kelly and Co. had one more play from the two-yard line.
Jayden Daniels hit Jaray Jenkins for what was seemingly the game-tying touchdown to force overtime. But in truly stunning fashion Damian Ramos’ extra point was blocked to give Florida State the 24-23 win.
Simply insane. Absolutely incredible.
For Kelly, this loss to open his LSU career has to be seen as damning. It’s been a drama-filled past calendar year for the longtime college football head coach. He’s been on the receiving end of a ton of criticism, too.
As public enemy No. 1 in the college football world, it’s not a surprise that Kelly losing in his LSU debut was met by even more widespread criticism.
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