Brian Kelly’s boys just tasted a loss against Vanderbilt, the first time since 1990. If that’s not enough for the LSU Tigers to shiver under fear, their upcoming foe for the weekend is Texas A&M. While HC Kelly and the Tigers must feel as if they are gradually losing their ground, an old video has resurfaced. An interview with one of their former coaches, whom Kelly refused to carry for the rest of the Tigers’ journey. Yet then, there are no hard feelings, for sure.

At 2-2 in SEC play, reaching the conference title game is nothing more than a pipe dream at this point. But Kelly and co. now know that they have got the back of their former strength & conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt. He might not be openly rooting for the purple and gold gang, but he will hold a feeling of respect for his old team, being part of their opposing team this weekend.

On October 24, WAFB TV Sports Director Jacques Doucet shared the clip. Mowfitt spoke his heart out, “I understood the dynamics of the situation. Now, it didn’t feel good, you know. When you get fired, when you lose your job, it doesn’t feel good.” But so what? Going by the LSU culture, once a Tiger, always a Tiger. It has been over three years since Kelly got rid of Moffitt. When LSU made the transition from Ed Orgeron to Kelly, the new head coach had hit the ‘rebuild’ button and refused to take Moffitt into the refreshed version. 

However, he is one of the godfathers of modern strength and conditioning, the man Nick Saban hired in 2000. While many flex about LSU’s forte of sending off numerous NFL Draft picks, we must not forget the man who trained them. 

But true talent lies in being positive at whatever life throws at you. Just like the ex-LSU coach holds no hard feelings for Kelly, who replaced him with Jake Flint. In the old video, he stated, “Like, Coach Kelly has actually done a really good job. I have no ill will toward Brian Kelly or anyone. Jake Flint, and I are friends. Yeah, I have no ill will toward anybody on that football staff whatsoever. Always be a huge LSU fan,” assured Moffitt. Now the question remains: will the Moffitt factor increase the heat at the Tiger Stadium this weekend?

He had been out of college coaching for two years until Mike Elko decided to hire him for the Aggies staff. He boarded at Texas A&M in January 2024 as the director of football strength & conditioning. It will be reunion time. With this, just another pressure factor got added to the list of reasons for Kelly and his Tigers not to embarrass themselves this weekend. As if the ultimatum was not enough. 

A do-or-die Death Valley is waiting for Brian Kelly

Kelly has so many things to prove, and he is already running on borrowed time. A burden of a $20 million investment and fingers pointing at him. Not just this, analysts are now questioning his offensive coordinator choice, Joe Sloan, after their offense fell flat against Vanderbilt. Saturday is a do-or-die situation for them. This just made Kelly’s head coaching seat hotter. 

As Josh Pate dished out a reality check, “I imagine that Brian Kelly is presented with the fact that his offensive coordinator is not good enough, his offensive product is not good enough, and while his job is not immediately in jeopardy, he needs to make changes, especially if they lose this Saturday.” The one whom Kelly could count on to pull the Tigers out of the rabbit hole is himself standing on quicksand. Their quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier, is at an 18.4% pressure-to-sack rate so far into the season. Want to know how bad it is? 

That’s double what he faced last year (9.8%). Not a good time for Kelly’s starter to hit a new low. After all, this weekend they will have to face off against Texas A&M defensive end Cashius Howell, who is the SEC leader in sacks (8) and pressures (32). Just when Kelly must be running door-to-door for some source of motivation, he finds every door closed. But luckily, an analyst came to his help.

When the majority of the college football program believes that this weekend will put a full stop to Brian Kelly and the Tigers’ 2025 run, SEC Unfiltered founder Chris Phillips has asked LSU fans to trust the process and believe in magic. “Everybody’s telling this LSU team how bad they are, the best news you got is you get to rally the troops, lock arm-in-arm with your brothers, and come home Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd in Death Valley…throw logic out the window on Saturday night when the Tigers take the field. I got LSU winning this game 27-24 over Texas A&M,” came his boldest take. Let’s see what’s in store for the Tigers.