The SEC remains the most dominant conference in college football and just about every year there’s a team from the SEC that surprises everyone with a strong season. So who does Kirk Herbstreit believe is going to be the SEC’s sleeper team this year?
During a preview segment with College GameDay’s Rece Davis and Chris Fallica, Herbstreit suggested that LSU might be the team to watch in 2022. He believes that LSU can make a lot of noise with new head coach Brian Kelly.
“Look out for poor ol’ LSU,” Herbstreit said, via Saturday Down South. “Brian Kelly’s kind of been made fun of on social media. People tend to forget, Brian Kelly can coach, and LSU never short of athletes… I’m not saying they’re going to win the SEC. I’m just saying everybody’s talking about Mississippi State and Ole Miss or Arkansas, and we know about A&M and Alabama. But in the West, be careful Bear, you’re not fond of LSU, but look out for the Tigers.”
Herbstreit found agreement from Fallica, who pointed out that Kelly had some of college football’s best teams outside of Clemson and Alabama for a long time now.
The SEC West alone is absolutely stacked this year. Alabama and Texas A&M are widely expected to be the top two teams in the division again with Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Arkansas duking it out for a shot at a New Year’s Six game.
But LSU didn’t spend a king’s ransom to pry Brian Kelly out of Notre Dame just to finish sixth in the division. He’s a master recruiter and consistently gets the most out of his teams.
That said, the SEC is a different animal from every other conference in college football. Some of the best coaches in the country have come and gone without even coming close to giving schools their money’s worth.
Will Brian Kelly lead LSU to a big season in 2022?