LSU Football Exceeds Expectations in 2022

The 2022 season was supposed to be a transitional one for the LSU football team. In 2021, LSU posted a 6-7 record, finishing last in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division, and parted ways with National Championship winning coach Ed Orgeron.

The team, led by new head coach Brian Kelly, faced a daunting stretch in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference. Prior to the season, the Tigers were picked fifth in the SEC West by the media covering SEC Football Media Days. Few expected them to compete. Fewer expected them to succeed.

But they exceeded those expectations.

The Tigers went 9-3 in the regular season including a victory over their annual rivalry against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and won the SEC West to secure a spot in the SEC Championship Game.

Kelly’s team ultimately fell to the Georgia Bulldogs in the championship game, but they earned a berth in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against the Purdue Boilermakers to close out the season.

LSU claimed its tenth win by defeating the Boilermakers in dominant fashion. They tallied nearly 600 yards of o ense and forced three turnovers en route to a 63-7 victory to bookend a storybook season.

“You get these opportunities, and you want to be able to celebrate your season, enjoy the bowls and the atmosphere, and then you want to go play well. We did that today,” Kelly said during his postgame press conference. “Our guys executed at a high level. They competed at a high level.”

It was a season full of surprises, and Kelly was asked what stood out most in first year at the helm.

“The relationships with the players and developing new relationships with 115 players and getting to know them,” Kelly said. “[in] our first meeting [I] said ‘hey, we’re going to build trust, but it’s going to take time for both sides.’ And, I think that’s what happened. I’ll remember that in Year 1, that process of building trust.”