Joel Klatt: Urgency is on for Brian Kelly, LSU entering 2025 season

LSU is less than four weeks out from kicking off year four of the tenure under Brian Kelly. That means less than a month to the start of a season with high expectations, and pressure with that, in Baton Rouge.

On his show on Monday, Joel Klatt at FOX Sports released his Preseason Top-25, including LSU at No. 8. He gave the Tigers a one-spot edge over the Alabama Crimson Tide at No. 9 because of the advantage they have in comparison at quarterback with QB Garrett Nussmeier.

“Now, a team that I have above (Alabama), you could argue has not achieved as much as Alabama. It’s not even an argument. They just haven’t. But, I trust their quarterback more, so that’s why I put LSU at eight,” said Klatt. “I put LSU at eight because Garrett Nussmeier is their quarterback. I trust him more than Ty Simpson.”

LSU is among the most-talented teams in all of college football coming into the season with what they brought back and what they brought in. Nussmeier is the headline in his second season as their starter along with returning their leading rusher in RB Caden Durham, receiver in WR Aaron Anderson, and tackler in LB Whit Weeks. That roster is then infused further with 18 additions to what’s the No. 2 class in the NCAA Transfer Portal per On3’s 2025 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. That has set their ceiling very high for this postseason, with Klatt unsure of just how high in relation to the rest of the SEC or for the CFP.

“They get Harold Perkins back after he tore his ACL in the first month of the year. I think that they can get him back to kind of that freshman (year) mold,” said Klatt. “Number one ranked portal class.”

“This should be a really good team. This should be a very good team. A team that goes to the CFP,” Klatt said. “You know, how high can they go? I’m not sure. Are they good enough to get to the SEC Championship? I’m not sure.

That said, the fact of the matter is it needs to be a playoff team for LSU. Kelly is 29-11 (.725) and it’s still not good enough for the program with a blowout loss in their lone appearance in the SEC Championship and no berths in the College Football Playoff. So, for more reasons than one, the Tigers expect nothing less than being in the twelve-team playoff field come December.

“I think that the urgency is there, or should be, for LSU and Brian Kelly,” said Klatt. “Brian Kelly knows it. That’s why he hit the portal so hard. They had to fill some holes because it’s got to happen for them.”

“Listen, Notre Dame can’t be going and playing for the national championship while LSU is not playing in the CFP. That’s not why LSU paid Brian Kelly. That’s as plainly as I can put it, and everybody knows it,” Klatt said. “9-4 is not going to cut it for them. They lost three straight in second half – A&M, ‘Bama, and Florida. That can’t happen again.”

A playoff spot is what’s basically required for LSU in 2025. They have the roster to try and do it, being one of the top teams in the nation per this rating, and it’s now just a matter of if they will by the end of Kelly’s fourth year.