LSU clinches SEC West title after Ole Miss falls to Alabama
During his introductory press conference upon his hiring at LSU in December, Brian Kelly cited a big reason for leaving Notre Dame for the job. He wants to compete for championships.
“You’re looked at in-terms of championships here. I want that. … To be under the bright lights,” Kelly said at the time. “I want to be on the Broadway stage. That’s what my passion is. Yeah, that’s part of the draw. There’s no doubt about that.”
He took a big step in that championship chase Saturday. LSU has won the SEC West and is heading for the league title game.
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The Tigers clinched the division title after defeating Arkansas 13-10 Saturday afternoon and Ole Miss fell to Alabama 30-24 later in the night. They will take on Georgia in the title game Dec. 3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
It’s the exclamation point on an exciting week for LSU, which defeated Alabama 32-31 in an overtime thriller at Death Valley Nov. 5. Kelly has orchestrated quite the turnaround season after Ed Orgeron’s departure last year after he hit the ground running in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail.
Brian Kelly: ‘We’re not going to walk in with a PowerPoint on the SEC Championship race’
The noise began to grow louder about LSU’s SEC Championship chances after last week’s upset of Alabama. The Tigers had a wide-open path to the game, which seemed like an afterthought after LSU’s season-opening loss to Florida State.
Heading into Saturday’s game against Arkansas, Kelly made one thing clear. He wasn’t going to outline the journey to the SEC title game for his players.
“We’re not going to walk in with a PowerPoint on the SEC Championship race and who’s got what and all those things,” Kelly said this week. “But yeah, it’s there. It’s out there and they know what they’re going for.”
Newcomers helped lead LSU’s journey to SEC West title this year
Kelly’s most notable addition was quarterback Jayden Daniels, who transferred in from Arizona State and led the Tigers offense in a big way. Through 10 games, he has thrown for 2,080 yards and 14 touchdowns while rushing for 629 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.
LSU also brought in the No. 13 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking, led by five-star linebacker Harold Perkins. Perkins — the No. 9 player in the country, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average — has made quite an impact this year, especially in the last couple weeks.
His biggest statement came Saturday against Arkansas when he had eight tackles, four sacks and a key forced fumble to help LSU seal the victory over the Razorbacks. In fact, he became the first SEC player since 2000 to have such a stat line, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.
Although they’ve clinched the division, the Tigers still have two more games left to play in the regular season. LSU is now gearing up for a break in SEC play as UAB comes to Baton Rouge next week before the season finale against Texas A&M at Kyle Field Nov. 26.