Kelly Speak - An Article by Jim Gazzolo

Brian Kelly knew what he was getting into when he left Notre Dame for LSU.

At Notre Dame the days of winning national championships are in the rearview mirror.

Until the Irish find a conference to call home, the likelihood of Notre Dame winning it all in college football are not very good. The landscape of the sport has changed and left the Irish behind.

Whether that is good for the sport depends on which school you root for. But as long as Notre Dame gets good television ratings, not much will change in South Bend, Indiana.

It’s why Kelly left what many consider the best job in college football for the Bayou. And in the early going the LSU coach seemed like a true fish out of water, or maybe Gator without a swamp.

He tried his hand at a Southern accent but that only showed just how far North he was from. Though he did make fun of himself a bit at this year’s SEC Media Day session on the subject.

Kelly even went so far as to give a shout-out to Lake Charles in his talk.

And by beating Alabama and making a surprise run to the SEC title game a year ago, Kelly has won the LSU-crazed fans over for at least another season.

Seems they have all forgotten the blown chance at beating Florida State in the opener, but Kelly’s Tigers can correct that in a couple of weeks when they open the season with a rematch against FSU in New Orleans.

For now, Kelly and the Tigers are a hot topic, surging in the minds of those who believe they can once again win the SEC West.

So now we have the fact that Kelly always knew, there is pressure to win at LSU like maybe no other. The fanbase not only wants a winner it believes it’s entitled to one.

Then there is the fact that two new, high-profile coaches came to Baton Rouge and in their second years won national championships.

Kim Mulkey did it in women’s basketball with flair and personality. Jay Johnson turned the trick last month in baseball with grit and determination.

That leads to the expectation that Kelly’s Tigers are next to hoist the big trophy at the end of the season. Kelly knows it’s what he signed up for.

“That’s what the bar is,” Kelly said Monday.

He is right. If Mulkey and Johnson can win in their second year in town Kelly should be able to roll to the championship. After all, this is a football school and that’s the sport that pays the bills.

Kelly knows all this and has even embraced it. Winning is all that really matters when it comes to college football in the SEC. Programs are measured by how long ago their last title was.

LSU isn’t that far removed from the Joe Burrow-led championship, just long enough for the taste to still be fresh in the mouth of Tiger fans.

That is a good thing as it keeps the base passionate, but it also sets a standard hard to live up to. Thus the pressure is fresh on Kelly to lead LSU back to those winning ways before they are soon forgotten.

And he is working on that.

As for his new Southern way of speaking: “I think my accent is pretty good and has gotten better throughout the recruiting process,” Kelly said. “It depends on if I'm in northern Louisiana or southern Louisiana. Sometimes I get over to Lake Charles, it's got to change a little bit.”

Maybe but the pressure stays the same.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance sports writer. He is also the host of Poke Nation on CBS-Lake Charles