Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers have struggled to keep the fans happy in the 2025 college football season. Ahead of Kelly’s fourth season as the Tigers’ head coach, many fans and analysts had a ‘CFP or bust’ conversation for him.
The Tigers faced their second loss against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Week 8, further impacting their playoff chances, which led to a backlash from fans, who demanded that the program fire Kelly.
LSU is set to face Texas A&M in Week 9, and losing another game would upset the fans even more. Paul Finebaum doesn’t believe it would be a ‘do or die’ situation for Kelly.
“If the callers to our show yesterday had a vote, he would be coaching for his job, but they do not yet. This is not the most critical game of the year. Now, this game could knock him out of the playoffs. And remember, eight weeks ago, we were talking about CFP or bust for Brian Kelly. This would be loss number three, but it’s also an opportunity to beat a top three team at home in front of those very, very disgruntled fans,” Finebaum said on ESPN College Football on Wednesday (2:40).
“But the problem for Brian Kelly after this weekend is two weeks from now at Alabama and then later in the season at Oklahoma, should he lose this game and lose those two, I don’t see he has a path to coming back next year,” he added.

Shannon Sharpe Questions Brian Kelly’s Intention To Stay at LSU
After LSU’s loss to Vanderbilt last week, Shannon Sharpe and Johnny Manziel discussed the possibility of Kelly intentionally underperforming at LSU amid various head coaching job openings in the world of college football. Some of the programs looking to find their next head coach are Arkansas, UCLA, Penn State, and Florida.
Sharpe said Kelly is known to jump ship as he went from Cincinnati to Notre Dame to LSU, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he had his eyes on the Penn State job.
Manziel added that if Kelly replaces James Franklin, it would be an easier route to the Big Ten conference, as he will also not be on a hot seat up there, making it a lot nicer and more comfortable than competing in the SEC.
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