After over three years of excuse-making coming from the LSU fanbase, the masses seem to have accepted the harsh reality about head coach Brian Kelly following the team’s 49- 25 blowout loss to the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday night.

It was a game that LSU actually led 18-14 at halftime, and then the floodgates opened up early in the third quarter to seal an all too familiar feeling for the Tigers. 

Whether you are an LSU fan or a Notre Dame Fighting Irish supporter who followed Kelly’s tenure while in South Bend, these emotions probably aren’t too foreign. In fact, this loss to the Aggies, in a lot of ways, encapsulates Kelly’s issues perfectly. It was a promising game for a while, followed by disbelief, some soul-searching in the middle, and ending in acceptance. 

When Kelly left for Baton Rouge following the 2021 season, a rift was created between the Notre Dame and LSU fanbases. On the Irish side, the emotions could almost be described as elation. Kelly had overstayed his welcome, and most fans were excited when he left. Of course, that’s not what Tiger fans wanted to hear.

Without deep knowledge about what Kelly is, or was, LSU fans assumed that Notre Dame fans were just “salty and jealous,” which led to many Twitter wars and podcast battles. These two proud fanbases developed a hatred for one another, all because of a single overrated coach who had a bad habit of falling short in the biggest moments. 

There were many warning signs for Kelly. You just had to look at his record against ranked opponents during his time in South Bend, and all the excuses that would follow for why they happened. After every single loss, it was always about what Kelly didn’t have, and never about what he was failing to do. There was never accountability for his flaws. 

The story of Kelly is very predictable. He’s a good head coach who usually wins most of the games he should, but hardly ever wins the ones against opponents of equal or better talent. There has long been a self-created ceiling over him and his programs, and we saw every face of Kelly during this latest loss to the Aggies. 

Brian Kelly, but as a fable 

If any readers follow Easton Freeze, a friend and colleague at A to Z Sports, he has been constantly referencing the tale of “The Scorpion and the Frog” in recent weeks. His usage of the tale is centered around Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk and her role in the issues we are seeing in Nashville right now, but the story also feels applicable to Kelly. 

Freeze tells it better than I do, but here’s a short synopsis of the fable. 

In the tale, there is a scorpion that wants to cross a river. The scorpion asks the frog to assist it by letting the scorpion ride on top of the frog. As you could understand, the frog is hesitant. If stung, then both would drown and fail to make it across the river. 

The scorpion eventually convinced the frog to help it. They made a great point about not wanting to sting the frog, because that would mean the scorpion would not make it across and would drown in the end. Surely, the scorpion wouldn’t do such a thing to seal their fate, right? 

Well, the scorpion did just that. In the end, the scorpion couldn’t keep their promise and eventually stung the frog, sealing both their fates. The moral of the story is that some can’t escape who they are, even when it’s in their best interest to change and do things differently. In the end, they’re still a scorpion. 

Kelly is the scorpion in this story. No matter how much he talks about improvement or change, he’s still exactly the same coach and person he has always been, just in gold and purple with a fake Southern accent this time around. 

Brian Kelly, but as a movie quote 

If you’re someone who doesn’t appreciate a good fable, then maybe movies hold more relevance for you. Back in 2008, the late great Heath Ledger turned in one of the greatest acting performances of all time with his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight. His adversarial relationship with Batman left chills for the viewers, encapsulating the chaos of the character perfectly. 

Toward the end of that movie, the Joker spoke to Batman about the human impulse during difficult situations. They spoke about people’s selfishness, especially when things get tough. In those darkest and final moments, the Joker expected the individuals to look out for themselves first and foremost. 

“You see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are.”

In that situation, the citizens of Gotham demonstrated they were caring people and responded well during the conflict. With so much pressure on Kelly (his potential last moments as head coach for LSU), he once again showed exactly who he is, a coach who doesn’t prepare his team well enough for the most important moments. 

No matter how much LSU spent in the transfer portal this past offseason, or how often Kelly has preached about change, he is exactly what he’s always been. He’s a good coach, but not nearly good enough to lead a proud program to a National Championship. 

Brian Kelly, but as a postgame quote 

To circle back to football terms, former Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green’s emblematic postgame moment sums Kelly up perfectly. That viral video was viewed as a silly moment at the time, but it held a lot of truth. As Green spoke about his team’s loss to the Chicago Bears, the emotions bubbled over, and truth followed. 

“They are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook.”

Kelly is who we thought he was, and LSU fans tried to let him off the hook, just as Notre Dame fans had for years. Even while the Irish were 4-11 against top-10 teams and 1-17 against top-five teams under Kelly, some chalked it up to everything that he didn’t have. 

Thankfully for the Notre Dame side of the conversation, head coach Marcus Freeman has rewritten expectations and proven that Kelly’s excuses were just that, excuses. Freeman has already experienced the big game success that Kelly never had and is recruiting at a much higher level. Things are in a better place already in South Bend. 

For the LSU side, this is a program that has won championships in the not-so-distant past. Even while being led by coaches with obvious flaws like Les Miles and Ed Orgeron, this team won at the highest level. This fanbase understands what a winner looks like, and it isn’t what Kelly has put out there in four years. 

The harsh reality of Brian Kelly 

This performance against Texas A&M almost felt poetic. We saw every face of Kelly: Initial optimism, a lack of adjustments, zero answers to tough situations, and a complete collapse in a big moment. Add in the fact that he did so at home in Death Valley, and it makes things even worse. 

For the Notre Dame and LSU fans who have already come to terms with Kelly and his shtick, this game may have almost felt therapeutic, or perhaps even prophetic. As if losing in the big moments wasn’t tough enough, it doesn’t help Kelly’s cause that he is also an extremely unlikeable person. Outside of the search for a big victory, finding someone who has a high opinion of Kelly is an even more difficult task. 

Having a prickly personality isn’t the worst thing in the world when you consistently win. When you fall short in the big moments, however, that type of personality can wear on a person quickly. That’s exactly what we saw in South Bend, and what we’re now seeing in Baton Rouge. 

At this point, Kelly is exactly who he has shown us all. The harsh reality, at this point, shouldn’t be a question anymore. After some heavy debate about Kelly being able to win a championship when he was first hired by LSU, that answer should be painfully obvious at this point. This isn’t the coach to get the team over the top, especially in the new NIL and transfer portal era. 

Less than a year after convincing the LSU donors to get out their checkbooks to upgrade this roster and pour in an unreal amount of money, you can bet those supporters are watching with feelings of disbelief and regret. I’m not sure a 5-3 record with losses to Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M in the first eight games of the year is what they signed up for, or provides any optimism for the future of the program.

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