LSU Football: Did Brian Kelly throw shade at Ed Orgeron?

New LSU football head coach Brian Kelly is stepping into a situation in Baton Rouge that’s both promising and challenging.

The Tigers have future NFL talent on the roster.

And the program is just two years removed from a national championship.

LSU, however, has gone 11-12 the last two seasons, despite being loaded with talent.

The main reason for the lackluster results has been the deteriorating culture.

That’s something that Kelly touched on last week during an appearance on ESPN as LSU was taking on Kansas State in the Texas Bowl.

And he seemingly threw some shade at former Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron in the process.

Did Brian Kelly throw shade at former LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron?

Kelly wasn’t shy about discussing the issues with LSU football during his appearance on ESPN last week.

Here’s what he said about the Tigers and the standards of the program over the last two years (via The Athletic):

"“It’s all about going to class and doing the right things on and off the field,” Kelly said. “It’s about standards, championship standards. This football team won the national title in 2019, and for whatever reason, we’re going to have to get the standards back up to that level. That’s why I’m here — to get the standards back to where they were. That’s my job to go to work on that, and I’ve been working on that.”"

This feels like a direct shot at Orgeron — without saying Orgeron’s name.

Everyone knows the head coach is responsible for every aspect of the program. “The buck stops here” is a common refrain heard from college head coaches.

If you’re going to blame someone for the standards not being where they need to be, you’d blame the head coach, right?

I certainly don’t know who else you’d blame.

Kelly, by the way, isn’t wrong. LSU definitely didn’t have championship standards the last two years. And Orgeron is absolutely the person to blame for that (he was the CEO of the program, after all).

I don’t mind Kelly speaking the truth here. He’s just telling it like it is. I don’t think it’s anything personal against Orgeron.

Kelly’s standard is a national championship. And that’s exactly the way it should always be at LSU.