As we approach the start of the 2025-26 college football season, conferences are getting things kicked off with their annual media days. The SEC held day one of its media days on Monday with several head coaches speaking to the press, reflecting on last year and anticipating possible upcoming success this fall.
One of those coaches that caught some attention was LSU's Brian Kelly. He was asked about the elephant in the room, the SEC's involvement in changes to the College Football Playoff format as the conference pushes to guarantee itself as many bids as possible in the expanded 16-team field. With expansion and automatic byes a hot topic, Kelly weighed in with this thoughts.
"We would push for as many teams as possible if they were evaluated by what their schedules look like," Kelly told reporters. "When we talk about win-loss record, they’re not all the same based on what conference you play in."
LSU has not qualified for the CFP since Kelly took the reins in Baton Rouge in December 2021. The Tigers have won 10 games twice in his tenure, but previous standards for national championship contention required a team lose no more than once in a single campaign.
Brian Kelly is already complaining about the new CFP before LSU even plays a single game in 2025
It's not surprising Kelly would want "as many teams as possible" to qualify for the CFP. Though his caveat about strength of schedule being a major factor in the evaluation and selection process is more telling.
LSU had the ninth hardest schedule across the sport in 2024-25. The two prior seasons saw Kelly navigate top-10 schedules in difficulty (seventh and fifth in 2023 & 2022).
He's got a point, but the thing about having a tough schedule is that when you beat those hard teams your own squad will not have to worry about qualification for the postseason bracket. As a coach, he should be focused on winning those marquee games rather than lobbying for alternate paths for his teams to settle into because they can't win those big matchups.
LSU's biggest upcoming contests this year include Aug. 30 vs. Clemson, Sept. 27 at Ole Miss, Oct. 25 vs. Texas A&M and Nov. 8 at. Alabama. Kelly's boys are going to have to win at least three of those games to be provided any wiggle room on CFP qualification, and that's going to require a better product than we've seen from the Tigers in recent memory.