Kelly eyes win No. 10 as LSU begins bowl preparation

With the month of December bringing transfer portal news and the early signing period, it can be lost that LSU still has one game left to play. The Tigers face Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 1 at 11 a.m. CT in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida

LSU enters the game at 9-3 overall, while Wisconsin went 7-5 in head coach Luke Fickell’s first year.

Even though the national title is out of reach, head coach Brian Kelly and LSU are intent on getting a 10th win this season, to bring his record to 20-7 in the first two seasons in Baton Rouge.

“It’s a great destination for our football team and a great matchup with a Big 10 opponent in Wisconsin who has great tradition and is well coached with Luke Fickell who I know very well,” Kelly said. “This team will be anxious and ready to play in this game. It offers us an opportunity for a tenth win, which has been the thing we’ve talked about for the last six weeks since the Alabama game. It’s important for the development of our program to get to back to back seasons with 10 wins.”

The lingering question is who will be available for LSU in this game? Star receiver Malik Nabers hinted at potentially playing, but what about some of the seniors or other pro prospects? Overall, it was a fairly young team this year, so the expectation from Brian Kelly is that he has a good amount of talent at his disposal for this final game.

“We have a good sense of the players that will be available for the bowl game,” Kelly said. “For me to tell you exactly who those players are, I couldn’t do that. We spent all of last week doing exit interviews with our players. This week we’re really recruiting and then we’ll look at our staff. As it relates to our players we think we’re in a good position as to who we think is playing and any of that information will come out in the next week or so.”

The transfer portal has now been open for two full days and only for players who have entered so far. It’s assumed more will enter, but at the moment, the Tigers are fine on numbers compared to most teams entering bowl season.

The biggest question mark is star quarterback Jayden Daniels. As the Heisman favorite and a player who has had his draft stock shoot up into the top half of the first round, potentially. Will Daniels play in the bowl game or look to prepare for the NFL? After the season he had, no one would fault him if he wanted to avoid injury and look to the future after five years in college, but Daniels has been a warrior and true leader, so we’ll see what his decision is.

“He has not made a decision,” Kelly said on Tuesday. “He had a death in the family and was gone for a few days. I spoke with him yesterday and he clearly knows the pros and the cons of this decision and I do too. Who wouldn’t want him to play one last time? I’m a fan of Jayden Daniels, but he has to make a decision and I see both sides of it. We’ll provide him with everything necessary for him to make an informed decision, but he hasn’t gotten to that level yet.”

The real excitement for fans and coaches comes in watching some of the younger players get a chance to shine to end the season. Even if there are opt-outs or transfers, Kelly understands the value of getting these young players an extra three weeks of practice and in-game reps on an important stage.

e“Here’s an example: With [Jaxon] Howard, we held onto him at the three game max until A&M and then we put him in against A&M and he played pretty well,” Kelly said. “He used his fourth game in that game, so we’re excited about playing him in the bowl game, because he gets that extra game. That’s what makes this even better, because once they gave us the extra game for the bowl, now you can play all these guys that got to the limit of four and really see what they’ve got. Now they’re a full year in your program and they’re ready to go and compete. That adds to it in terms of development and playing guys that have got their four games in.”