FSU football: LSU’s Brian Kelly sees a difference at FSU

FSU football and Mike Norvell will face a Brian Kelly-led team for the third consecutive season when they travel to Louisiana to take on LSU for the second game of the 2022 season.

It will be the season opener for the Tigers and the second season opener against FSU for Brian Kelly, who left Notre Dame after last season.

Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame team pulled away in the second half from an over-matched FSU team in 2020 after a competitive first half.

However, Mike Norvell made significant changes with personnel going into the 2021 season, adding multiple difference-makers from the transfer portal.

Those players helped push No. 10 Notre Dame to the brink, with the Fighting Irish surviving against FSU football on the road to win in overtime. Jordan Travis throwing three interceptions, which resulted in 21 points for Notre Dame, was a huge factor in the game.

Mike Norvell has gone to the transfer portal again heading into the 2022 season while developing some younger players that could play a role in FSU’s success.

LSU has question marks at quarterback and other positions after playing last season in disarray. FSU should legitimately be better in 2022, and Brian Kelly is smart enough to know he can’t come off like it’ll be an easy win, despite the success against Mike Norvell the last two years.

Most betting sites have the Noles as +3 betting underdogs on a neutral field, meaning the game would be a toss-up in Doak Campbell or around +6 if the game were at LSU. I keep mentioning it, but the tune-up game against Duquesne in week zero could prove huge for the Noles as they will be LSU’s first game of the season.

It’ll be a chance to try some things in live action, while getting accustomed to game speed. I’ll have our game-by-game predictions up near the beginning of August. Make sure you stay tuned for my thoughts on that game!