Unfiltered Takes after Week 9: Brian Kelly, the LSU job, Lane Kiffin, Texas A&M and much more

A lot happens on college football Saturdays. It’s hard to keep up with everything.

So this season, in an attempt to bring everybody up to speed — while taking a chance to provide you with some takes in the process — I’m going to rattle off over-arching thoughts from the previous weekend. I’ll also do my best to spring thoughts forward, not just tell you what already happened.

Let’s keep it going with the latest edition of Unfiltered Takes.

1. Brian Kelly: LSU’s 49-25 blowout loss to Texas A&M on Saturday night felt like the end of the road. The way the Aggies fans took over the stadium, the chanting of “fire Brian Kelly” late in the game, the final score, the circumstances, everything. It was unclear whether LSU would fire Kelly given his massive $54 million buyout, but after a long day of deliberation on Sunday, the Tigers did. Kelly is out at LSU.

2. This isn’t what LSU paid for: Kelly’s time in Baton Rouge wasn’t a complete disaster. He won the SEC West in his first year and had one of the best offenses in college football history with Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. in year two. But LSU progressively got worse every year he was in the job, and, frankly, that is unacceptable. It’s one of the best jobs in college football, and the previous three coaches all won SEC and national titles by year four. LSU paid a $95 million, fully guaranteed contract to be elite. LSU was never elite under Kelly’s leadership.

3. Why Kelly left Notre Dame: He took the LSU job because the Tigers offered a ceiling Kelly didn’t think Notre Dame possessed in 2021. The reason he went to Baton Rouge was to win a national title, something he didn’t think he’d be able to do in South Bend. But four years into his tenure, LSU never assembled a complete roster and it didn’t belong on the same field as Texas A&M on Saturday night. Texas A&M, of course, is coached by Mike Elko, who was Kelly’s former defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. Adding salt to the wound, another one of Kelly’s former assistants — Marcus Freeman — led Notre Dame to the national title game last year. Sure, the sport changed and so did the Notre Dame job, but it never felt like LSU got the better end of the deal.

4. Tommy Moffitt: Texas A&M’s strength coach worked at LSU from 2000-2021, winning national titles under Tigers coaches Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron. His revenge couldn’t be sweeter, as he got Gatorade poured on him after the game by the offensive line. Texas A&M was the tougher, more physical team and the Aggies played hard until the very last snap. It felt personal. After the game, quarterback Marcel Reed said Texas A&M had tackling dummies with Kelly’s face on them. Brutal.

5. The LSU job: The Penn State and Florida jobs are open. More jobs will become available in what we anticipate will be one of the craziest coaching carousels ever seen. That said, no job better than LSU is going to be open. Yes, the NIL/transfer portal era has blurred the lines between the truly elite jobs and other good jobs in the SEC. For instance, is Florida really a better job than Ole Miss? It’s at least a debate. What isn’t a debate is LSU is one of the five most valuable jobs in college football. That should play well into the Tigers’ hands as they search for a coach.

6. LSU hot board: LSU’s hot board looks a lot like everyone else’s right now, but it starts with Kiffin. You also have to look into Mizzou’s Eli Drinkwitz, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who was the Tigers’ passing game coordinator and receivers coach in 2019 when they won the national title. Will LSU look deeper than that?

7. Lane Kiffin: I don’t know where Kiffin is going to be next year, but I do know he’s going to set the new coaching market. He’s the No. 1 candidate on everyone’s board, which means a bidding war is going to ensue between a bunch of programs that have probably not learned their lessons about the perils of singing coaches to fully guaranteed deals. Who is going to win the bidding war? Who is going to pay him $15 million annually? And, gulp, is Kiffin — a coach who has yet to win his conference as the head coach of a power conference team — worth it?

8. Texas A&M: I’ve been writing about Battered Aggie Syndrome all season, but we’re past that now. This team is something else. If you’re a Texas A&M fan who is waiting to see how your previously dysfunctional team was going to figure out a way to lose three or four games, that’s out the window now. Texas A&M has a star quarterback in Reed, elite skill talent, plays really well in the trenches on both sides of the ball and has proven it can change games on special teams. I don’t know what Texas A&M is going to do for the rest of the year, but it is absolutely good enough to win a national title.

9. Indiana: If we’re strictly going by resume, Indiana has a case to be ranked the No. 1 team in the country. The Hoosiers are unbeaten and possess perhaps the best win in the country — a multi-score victory at Oregon. Indiana faced a plucky UCLA team that was playing quite well under interim head coach Tim Skipper, but the Hoosiers smacked the Bruins 56-6. It has to be repeated every week because people still can’t accept Indiana is a wagon this year. The Hoosiers are legit and their remaining opponents are Maryland, Penn State, Wisconsin and Purdue. That Penn State game was supposed to mean something. Instead, those four opponents combine for a pathetic 1-17 record in Big Ten play.

10. Big Ten perception: Have you guys noticed how Oregon has fallen out of the national discourse after losing to Indiana? Now picture how an SEC team would be perceived if it lost to a top-five opponent in its conference at home. Why is there such a discrepancy between the two conferences? Why is it taking so long for people to catch up to the new world of college football? Is it because it’s impossible to accept that Indiana is really good? Is it because 20 years of SEC dominance need five years of contrary results to change the public perception? I don’t know. But there are so many average SEC teams we deem as “tough outs” and it doesn’t seem to work the same way up north. Remember, the Big Ten has won the last two national titles.

11. Washington: Let’s keep the previous point going. Washington has two losses this year — to Ohio State and Michigan, the last two national champions — and the Huskies haven’t been ranked. This week, Washington beat up Illinois, 42-25, to improve to 6-2. Meanwhile, Washington isn’t perceived as good as two-loss SEC teams like Missouri. Why haven’t the Huskies, who are backed by one of the most electric quarterbacks in the country in Demond Williams, been ranked this season? Because they’re in Seattle?

12. Illinois: The Illini have been a disappointment this year, no question. After winning 10 games in 2024 and returning a large portion of last year’s roster, we had big dreams for the Illini. They were a trendy pick in the offseason to make a CFP push. But Bret Bielema‘s team dropped to 5-3 after the Washington loss. Yes, Illinois’ three losses — Indiana, Ohio State and Washington — are all understandable. But it’s how it has lost those games. Even with a win over USC on its resume, Illinois isn’t this year’s Cinderella.

13. Iowa: Iowa has been a fixture in national discourse the past few seasons because the Hawkeyes’ putrid offense made for an easy mark. But as I was looking through the scoreboard Saturday, I saw Iowa was up on Minnesota 31-0 in the second quarter. Iowa also played Indiana down to the final possession, which is aging quite well. The Hawkeyes are 6-2, but one of those losses was to Iowa State in nonconference play. Though it seems like Ohio State and Indiana — neither of whom play a ranked team for the rest of the year — are just going to waltz into the Big Ten title game, could Iowa control its own destiny in the CFP race? The Hawkeyes face Oregon and USC in back-to-back weeks. It seems unlikely they’ll win both, but Iowa could be the team that decides how many Big Ten squads make the College Football Playoff?

14. Ole Miss: With a win at Oklahoma on Saturday, Ole Miss basically punched its ticket to the CFP. The Rebels are 7-1 and 4-1 in the SEC and the rest of the schedule features South Carolina, The Citadel, Florida and Mississippi State. Yes, Kiffin’s squad missed the CFP last year because of losses to Kentucky and Florida, but it seems highly unlikely Ole Miss is going 2-2 during that stretch. This seems like it is Kiffin’s year. Can Ole Miss do something big enough to make him feel like there is a similar ceiling in Oxford compared to, lets say, Baton Rouge or Gainesville?

15. Alabama: Alabama came into the weekend having beaten four ranked teams in a row. So it stands to reason eventually the Crimson Tide would find itself in a tough position. It was against South Carolina on Saturday night, down eight points with 10 minutes remaining on the road. Alabama didn’t quit. After falling behind, the Crimson Tide went on a 14-play, 79-yard drive and got the two-point conversion to tie up. Shortly after, it forced a turnover and won the game. Though I’m not one of the people that just assumes any SEC road win is a good win, Alabama fought back to ensure it wasn’t the victim of another embarrassing upset loss. That’s growth.

16. Texas: Speaking of not just giving SEC teams credit for winning on the road in conference play, how are we supposed to feel about Texas? The Longhorns were losing to Mississippi State by 17 in the 4th quarter, but the they scored 24 unanswered points to win the game in overtime in Starkville. You have to give Texas a head nod for fighting back and advancing to 6-2. You also have to acknowledge it still only has one SEC loss, which makes next weekend’s home matchup with Vanderbilt super juicy. That’s especially true given we’re unsure whether Arch Manning, who was injured in overtime, will play. This team still has personnel issues that can’t be fixed in the middle of the season, which limits the likelihood of any miracle run. The Commodores are 7-1, are coming off an impressive win over Missouri and are just a better team than Texas right now.

BONUS: Could you imagine if backup Matthew Caldwell started and threw for 400 yards and led Texas to a win? Time would stop in the college football world.

17. Jeff Lebby: Mississippi State’s head coach has yet to win an SEC game during his time in Starkville. The last two times Mississippi State played, the Bulldogs had a shot to win. It didn’t because of bone-headed coaching decisions in the final minutes that helped the opponent get away. Lebby has unquestionably made Mississippi State better, but he still doesn’t know how to win in SEC play. That’s something he needs to work on if he has any design of being successful there long term.

18. Bill Belichick: North Carolina played an overtime game against Virginia, which is a clear sign of improvement. A few weeks ago, the Tar Heels were a complete clown show and now their defense is showing signs of life. Belichick went for two in overtime to try to capture his first ACC win, but the attempt was unsuccessful. It’s been easy to pile on Belichick as he has struggled to gain any traction during his time in the college ranks, but UNC does feel like it’s at least getting better.

19. Deion Sanders: Most of the world was sleeping on Saturday night, but Colorado got smacked by Utah. The final score was 53-7 but it could have been worse, as Utah was winning 43-0 at halftime. After the game, Deion Sanders said: “This is probably the worst beating I’ve ever had except when my momma whooped me as a kid.” It was bad. Now Colorado, who finished with 140 yards after averaging only 2.1 yards per play, has fallen to 3-5 and 1-4 in Big 12 play. This is starting to feel like a Colorado season before Sanders got there. Does Sanders, who has overcome some very serious health issues recently, have enough in the tank to build this thing back up? Or is this the beginning of the end?

20. Memphis: A week after suffering a shocking upset loss to UAB, Memphis hosted USF, the team that previously held pole position for the CFP spot reserved for the highest-ranked Group of 5 team. USF controlled most of the game, but Ryan Silverfield’s Tigers outscored the Bulls 17-0 in the fourth quarter to secure the thrilling win at home. Both of these teams still have hopes of winning the American, but Navy and Tulane have both yet to lose in conference play. Memphis plays both of them and USF plays Navy. The winner of the American will be the G5 representative in the CFP.