Brian Kelly has a history in year three as a head football coach.
His first FBS head coaching job at Central Michigan saw a jump from six to nine wins in year three, landing him the Cincinnati job.
With the Bearcats, the team won 11 games and went to the Orange Bowl in his third season.
Once at Notre Dame, his Fighting Irish made the BCS National Championship game in year three.
Now, in his third season at the helm for the LSU Tigers, he is looking for another year three surge. Each of the first two years have been successful.
After all, they made the SEC Championship game in year one. Then, Jayden Daniels took home the Heisman Trophy in another 10-win season a year ago.
Garrett Nussmeier takes over at quarterback, and indications are that he had a great fall camp as QB1. The expectations are almost unfair it seems, given how close together LSU has had two Heisman winners at the position in Daniels and Joe Burrow. The task for offensive coordinator Joe Sloan will be to get Nuss to control his risk, avoiding turnovers and allowing the Tigers’ skill players to thrive.
Plenty of questions still lie on the defense. Harold Perkins Jr’s role a year ago was very different than what he did as a freshman, and LSU is doubling down on playing him primarily off the ball. A large group of newcomers both in the secondary and on the defensive line will be asked to improve upon the struggles from a year ago.
Their task in week one will not be an easy one, as the 13th ranked Tigers draw the 23rd ranked USC Trojans in Las Vegas for the Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic in Allegiant Stadium.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley is no stranger to having successful quarterbacks and explosive offenses. The Trojans replace Heisman Trophy winner and number one overall pick Caleb Williams with Miller Moss. Moss has plenty in common with Nussmeier. After all, they both sat behind Heisman winners, waiting their turn without transferring. Moss and the USC offense look to lead the team this year.
Again, much like LSU, USC’s defense contains plenty of question marks. The Trojans brought in a new defensive coordinator to try to help a group that gave up more than 34 points per game a season ago. They will look to be improved, but it is a tall order to face this LSU offense in game one.
The Tigers will look to start 2024 off strong as they face the Trojans in Vegas. The game kicks off at 6:30 with pregame at 4:30 and you can hear it on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.