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The harsh reality: LSU’s spending can’t outpace the true College Football giants

ByNicholas Rome|
Jul 16, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly talks to the media during SEC Media Day at Omni Atlanta Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images
Jul 16, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly talks to the media during SEC Media Day at Omni Atlanta Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

As the College Football season kicks off the expectation around the LSU Tigers program is to compete for the SEC Championship and the National Championship. Returning key pieces like Garrett Nussmeier, Caden Durham, Harold Perkins, Whit Weeks, and others was a massive source of optimism. The true reason that LSU fans feel that the Tigers can go on a run to the Playoff is the fact that Brian Kelly and his staff went out and brought in a massive transfer portal class.

As LSU needed to rebuild an offensive line that lost 4 of 5 starters, Brian Kelly brought in experienced starters in Braelin Moore and Josh Thompson. Garrett Nussmeier gets additional weapons in Nic Anderson, Barion Brown, Bauer Sharp, and Destyn Hill. On defense, LSU added stars in AJ Haulcy, Bernard Gooden, Jack Pyburn, Patrick Payton, and Mansoor Delane.

The Tigers seemingly went all-in including their Head Coach who donated $1 Million of his own money to match donations from fans in order to raise the funds they needed. In the end, it was an exciting push by the Tigers but, the mighty push may not be enough.

LSU's roster cost far fall below the biggest powers in the sport

On Thursday, Brian Kelly revealed how much his fully loaded roster cost, revealing that the Tigers will spend $18 million this season.

Considering that Ohio State's National Championship roster was named the "$20 Million roster" the Tigers coming in below that figure is interesting. The $18 million mark is especially interesting when you consider that Ohio State reached their figure before revenue sharing while teams this season have additional funds they never had access to.

As teams like Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, and others continue to up their spending figures, is a team like LSU being left in the dust? The Tigers push to get to $18 million was seen as a massive push and it may not be sustainable on a yearly basis while Dan Lanning can get a check from Nike and Phil Knight whenever he needs.

The flip side of the argument for LSU could be that the Tigers may have an advantage at identifying the talent and that they feel they're getting the right pieces for the right price. LSU has an impressive front office staff which resembles an NFL staff, and it could prove to be the difference on the recruiting trail.

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