Joel Klatt reveals which game Brian Kelly can't lose in 2025 as pressure mounts at LSU

Brian Kelly is under what’s among the most pressure as any coach in the country going into his fourth season in Baton Rouge. That will peak as early as the upcoming opener for the Tigers in a Death Valley on the road.

Joel Klatt assessed the pressure index of ten coaches in college football during his show on Monday. He had Kelly at LSU, as well as Penn State’s James Franklin, under the most pressure on the list considering what he needs to do in 2025.

“For Brian Kelly, it’s very similar, at least in my mind, to James Franklin, which means it’s time,” said Klatt. “It’s time.”

To be fair, it’s not that Kelly has been unsuccessful at LSU. The Tigers are 29-11 (.725) in his time as head coach having made an SEC Championship, won all three of their bowl games, and had a winner of The Heisman Trophy. That said, overall success isn’t the same as having the title-level success expected by their program, with no SEC Championships or even appearances in the College Football Playoff being the biggest issue against Kelly.

“Year four for Brian Kelly…You look up and it’s like, okay, but they’ve had two 10-win seasons. In most places, 10-win seasons get people off of your back. They’ve had a nine-win season. But, here’s the difference – expectations are sky high at LSU,” said Klatt. “Every coach this century has won a national championship at LSU. It’s why Brian Kelly went to LSU. He didn’t go down there to build South Bend-South, you know. He went specifically because he felt like this program, this location was going to give him a better chance to win a national championship.”

Because of that, and with the team he’ll have this fall, it’ll all be on Kelly. It’ll all be on Kelly early as well with Klatt, like many others, circling their opener at Clemson being the climax of it from the very beginning of the season

“Kelly needs a great start to the season and that’s exactly where the pressure point is. It’s time. Week 1, at Clemson,” said Klatt. “The opener at Clemson is the moment for Brian Kelly. He can’t lose that game and that’s an incredibly tough game. I actually think Clemson is a little bit better than LSU. So now we’re expecting him to take a team on the road, and go beat Dabo Swinney, who’s won a national championship, and Cade Klubnik, who has played a lot of football and just went to the College Football Playoff, and he’s got to win that game.”

That pressure is either going to be opportunity or yet another early disappointment for the Tigers. A road win against the expected favorite in the ACC immediately positions them to be in the CFP. A loss, though, puts them in a difficult spot, as have the five other season-opening losses for them of this decade, with who they’ll still have to play in the SEC.

“The Clemson game becomes massively important, plus we all think that Clemson is going to be the class of the ACC. If they’re in fact the ACC Champion, and you can notch a win in their building, what would that do to your playoff resumé? It would be pretty good! It would be pretty good,” said Klatt. “That’s why this is such an important game.”

“If he doesn’t, look up at the rest of the schedule. The rest of the schedule becomes so much more daunting, okay. The Clemson game is really the crux of the argument because now you look up and you still have Florida, that one at home, you still have to go to Ole Miss, you still have to play LaNorris Sellers and South Carolina, you still have to play Texas A&M, you still have to go on the road and go to Alabama, you still have to go on the road and play in Norman. Now, imagine for a moment, he loses that opener. Well, it’s a really good team and they’re on the road, and it’s early and, you know, you can say all the things about like, hey, you know what, it’s fine. I just don’t know if there’s going to be enough margin with those six games that I threw up on the board. The SEC is incredibly deep. They haven’t had the national championships in the last couple of years but that doesn’t mean that they’re any less deep. Those are tough games. They’d have to go 6-2 minimum just to be a 9-3 team and potentially make the playoff, and those are really tough t go 6-2 through that.”

LSU has been very good, but not good enough under Kelly. That’s why, with what he expected to do and what and their fanbase expects him to do, it feels like it’s playoff-or-bust for the Tigers – with that opener having the chance to help or hurt their case to be in it from the opening kick.

“So, it’s time for Brian Kelly. And that time is going to come right off the bat, season opener on the road at Clemson,” said Klatt.