LSU coach Brian Kelly has never entered a season like 2025, wherein excuses should be completely on the back burner.

The Fighting Irish were coming off their worst three-year stretch in some time when Kelly was hired. Through his 12 years in South Bend, Kelly compiled seven records of 10 or more wins and coached 55 NFL Draft picks, including 10 first-rounders.

That seems to be the case for LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly. Kelly is in the news because his former team, the No. 7 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-2), played for a national championship. Kelly left after the 2021 regular season to take the head coaching job at LSU.

Brian Kelly left Notre Dame to sign a 10-year, $95 million contract in 2021 with the Tigers. However, in his first three years at Baton Rouge, the Tigers have yet to make the College Football Playoff. They played for the SEC Championship in 2022 but lost handily to Georgia, 50-30.

Alabama hammered the Fighting Irish 42-14 in the BCS Championship Game. However, it was later discovered that Notre Dame committed NCAA violations during that time, so had to vacate wins from 2012 and 2013.

While Brian Kelly's LSU football team has failed to reach the College Football Playoff in his three years in Baton Rouge, his old school — Notre Dame — will play

This loss for Notre Dame to Ohio State in the national title game wasn't Alabama 2013 all over again, but there were similarites. The differences were huge, though.

When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame, he explained that part of the reason was that he wanted to be in an "environment" where he had the "resources" to win a national championship. On Monday night in Atlanta,

Had the Lions lost, they would've been on the road for a Monday Night Football game vs ... NBC's Mike Tirico announced the playoff schedule in the first quarter of the Lions-Vikings game.

ESPN has college football's national title staying in the Big Ten next season. Michigan and Ohio State have given the conference back-to-back national champions. ESPN's Bill Connelly predicted a new winner emerging from the Big Ten.

LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly will enter the 2025 season facing plenty of pressure. Kelly is entering his fourth season in Baton Rouge and although he's done a good job so far -- 29-11 in three seasons -- the former Notre Dame head coach is still looking to get the Tigers to the College Football Playoff for the first time since Joe Burrow,