Brian Kelly hit double-digit wins for the sixth straight season
Following the first losing season for LSU prior to the Nick Saban era, new head coach Brian Kelly had plenty of work to do.
Kelly has been a program builder in each one of his stops, leaving the team in better standing than how he found it. By the time he left Grand Valley State, they were winning Division II national championships. During his tenure, Kelly won nine or more games six times and finished his final two 28-1 with back-to-back championships.
After his 13 seasons in Allendale, Michigan, he would move on to Central Michigan to take over a program that won just one conference game in 2003. He lasted just three seasons before taking the job at Cincinnati. In 2006 he helped lead CMU to a 9-4 record and 7-1 in conference play.
Kelly would end up coaching Cincinnati in their bowl game in the 2006 season and won his Bearcats debut. Over the span of three seasons, Cincinnati won 10+ games each year. He would be on the move again, this time to Notre Dame.
Over the next 12 seasons, the Irish would win 10+ games seven times, however, the 2012 season was vacated. Following the 4-8 season in 2016, Kelly’s team would win double-digit games each year before Kelly left at the end of the 2021 campaign.
The LSU Tigers’ victory over Purdue gave him his sixth consecutive season of 10 or more victories. In all, Kelly has produced 13 seasons of 10 or more victories since 1991. It would be 14 had it not been for the vacated season due to ineligible players participating.
LSU Wire takes a look at the last six of those seasons.
2017 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-3)
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The Fighting Irish capped off the 10-3 season with a win in the Citrus Bowl over LSU, 21-17. Notre Dame defeated No. 11 USC and No. 14 North Carolina State that season in back-to-back weeks.
2018 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-1)
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The next season, Notre Dame finished the regular season with a perfect 12-0 record and was ranked No. 3 in the College Football Playoffs. They lost 30-3 to the Clemson Tigers, who went on to become the National Champions. Notre Dame finished 4-1 vs top 25 teams in 2018.
2019 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-2)
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Kelly capped off the 2019 season with a 33-9 victory over Iowa State in the Camping World Bowl. Notre Dame finished with top 25 wins over Virginia and Navy. The two losses came to top 25 teams (Georgia and Michigan).
2020 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-2)
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In the pandemic-shortened season of 2020, Kelly and the Irish still won 10 games. All of which came during the regular season including the double-overtime win over Clemson. They would lose the rematch and fall in the College Football Playoffs to the Alabama Crimson Tide, 31-14.
2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-1)
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Last season the Irish finished 11-1 in the regular season and Kelly accepted the LSU job prior to Notre Dame’s bowl game. His lone loss came against his former team, Cincinnati. The win helped propel the Bearcats to the College Football Playoffs. With Marcus Freeman in control, the Irish fell to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl.
2022 LSU Tigers (10-4)
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Last year the LSU Tigers finished 6-7 after a loss to Kansas State in the Texas Bowl, and the Bayou Bengals were also last in the SEC West. In his first season in Baton Rouge, Brian Kelly took them from worst to first. LSU fell to Georgia in the SEC Championship game and accepted a Citrus Bowl invite. They throttled Purdue to pick up their 10th victory. Kelly picked up top 25 victories over No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 6 Alabama in the span of two weeks. Not a bad start to his LSU career.
