Brian Kelly shocked the college football world by leaving Notre Dame after over a decade at the helm to take the high-profile LSU head coaching job. And his goals in his new gig are obvious.
Appearing on the Varsity House Podcast, Kelly made it clear that the added challenge of joining the SEC was a big motivator for him. But as far as his rivals are concerned, there’s one coach he really wants to beat: Alabama’s Nick Saban.
“I want to beat Nick Saban. Who doesn’t want to beat Nick Saban? You know what I mean?” Kelly acknowledged. “I want to play him in the regular season. That’s the standard. Now, he’s a conference opponent.”
In over 30 years as a college football head coach, Brian Kelly has battled Nick Saban only twice. He came out as the loser in both games.
Now that he’s head coach at LSU though, Kelly and Saban will clash every single year. They might even meet multiple times depending on how the College Football Playoff shapes out:
Brian Kelly was hired by LSU to win a national title (preferably a bunch of them). But winning a national title as an SEC team is nigh impossible without going through Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
In fact, every national title winner since the 2014 team has either been Alabama or a team that beat Alabama somewhere along the way.
Can Brian Kelly beat Nick Saban?
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