LSU Tigers fans should root for surprising teams to win on bye week to help land next head coach after Brian Kelly firing
LSU’s season on the field is effectively over, but not for their top head coach candidates
The 2025 college football season has been an absolute disaster for the LSU Tigers program. However, that doesn’t mean that LSU fans need to tune out and move on entirely. No, Tigers games might not matter too much for the rest of this season, but there are a ton of college football outcomes left that could define whether or not LSU lands the head coach they want following the Brian Kelly firing.
How so? And which teams then should LSU fans be surprisingly rooting for this weekend if they want to land the best head coaching candidates? Let’s dive into the three most important games this week that could help the Tigers get their guy sooner than later.
South Carolina vs. No. 7 Ole Miss
The LSU Tigers aren’t likely going to try and hide it. Lane Kiffin is the number one head coaching candidate out there and everyone in and around that organization is going to try and pull him to Baton Rouge. However, as long as the Ole Miss Rebels keep winning it’s going to be tough to pull Kiffin away. If Kiffin feels he can find just as much success at Ole Miss – and frankly he’s found more of it in the last five years – LSU is going to struggle landing him. Not only that, if Ole Miss is still playing games into January via the College Football Playoff the Tigers might have to look elsewhere.
Asking South Carolina to beat Ole Miss might be a tough ask, but the Gamecocks did just take Alabama down to the wire this past week. LaNorris Sellers and company could shock the world, and in doing so help LSU possibly get their guy.
Virginia Tech vs. No. 16 Louisville
If LSU can’t land Lane Kiffin they might as well try and land another head coach who wins everywhere he goes, exceeding expectations. Jeff Brohm is currently doing a phenomenal job coaching his alma mater Louisville Cardinals. He has them 6-1, ranked 16th in the country. He’s doing this following back to back 9+ win seasons there already, and logging three winning seasons at Purdue before that. Brohm just wins no matter what.
It might be tough to get Brohm to leave Louisville, but a loss to Virginia Tech (or even an ugly close game) might be enough to remind him that there’s a definite ceiling to what he can accomplish with the Cardinals. This might feel like a long shot candidate, but he’s one of the most proven overachievers in the nation.
NC State vs. No. 8 Georgia Tech
Brent Key has impressively turned a floundering Georgia Tech program into a surprising College Football Playoff contender over the last few years. Key has his Yellow Jackets 8-0 heading into the final stretch of the regular season, but things can derail quickly in conference play. A loss to NC State could set up an abrupt slide to 10-2 or worse and Key becoming available sooner than expected.
Georgia Tech is certainly projected to defeat NC State, but the more losses for the Yellow Jackets the better. Key’s proof of concept for building a program has already been demonstrated. LSU just needs him to become available as soon as possible if they’re going to hire him in time to save the recruiting cycle and prepare for next spring’s rebuild.
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This article was originally published on A to Z Sports LSU Tigers, as LSU Tigers fans should root for surprising teams to win on bye week to help land next head coach after Brian Kelly firing.
