When the 2024-25 season ended with an exciting win over Baylor in the Texas Bowl, questions about what the 2025 team would look like began to bubble up for the LSU Tigers. Brian Kelly and his staff quickly went to work getting star quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and linebacker Harold Perkins Jr to come back for one more season.
Brian Kelly and his staff quickly showed they were all in on bringing in an absolute haul via the Transfer Portal. The Tigers needed weapons for Nussmeier; they added the likes of Barion Brown, Nic Anderson, and Bauer Sharp. 4 starting offensive linemen left, and LSU brought in experienced starters in Josh Thompson and Braelin Moore. The defense needed a facelift lift and the Tigers added star after star.
The first half of the season gave LSU fans an overwhelming feeling that they had a championship level defense, but the offense needed to figure it out. With one loss already on their resume, Saturday's game against Vanderbilt was going to be a massive test that could decide the season.
The LSU Tigers have wasted their chance at a National Championship
On Saturday, the LSU Tigers lost their second game of the season to Vanderbilt 31-24 in a game where LSU never had control. Taking a second loss this early in the season means that LSU will need to make a tightrope walk the rest of the way and with games against Texas A&M, Alabama, and Oklahoma all still lingering, it seems impossible.
How did the Tigers get to this point where a stellar roster has been wasted before the true gauntlet of this schedule? The Tigers' offense has never looked like a group led by a 1st round talent with elite weapons around him. The offensive line is banged up and not nearly as talented as the group with 4 NFL Draft picks last season, which hasn't let Garrett Nussmeier find a rhythm.
The area every LSU fan will start to look at is at Offensive Coordinator Joe Sloan, who has been the victim of the LSU fanbase's frustration. The offense wasn't the biggest problem on Saturday, but this group has been an issue the entire season.
The defense that looked like one of the best units all season long couldn't stop Diego Pavia all game. The group was missing stars in Whit Weeks, Bernard Gooden, Jimari Butler, and Jack Pyburn was in and out of the lineup all game long. Vanderbilt kept LSU's defense on the field the entire game with 36:11 of possession.
Brian Kelly was brought in to replace Ed Orgeron, who won a National Championship in his 3rd season leading the program, as did Les Miles and Nick Saban. Kelly now appears to be heading toward missing the Playoffs again under Brian Kelly, who's in Year 4, which begs the question, what will the Tigers even do? It's almost impossible to fire Brian Kelly with his massive buyout and fully guaranteed deal, but we just saw a massive buyout paid by Penn State.