Texas Tech Red Raiders Head Coach Joey McGuire Calls Out LSU Football for Matchup

Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers continue navigating a critical offseason in Baton Rouge with the purple and gold preparing for Fall Camp in August.

All eyes are on the Bayou Bengals heading into the 2025 season after the program reconstructed the roster this offseason with the No. 1 Transfer Portal Class in America.

But it's a challenging slate for the LSU Tigers this upcoming season with a Week 1 clash at Clemson followed by SEC matchups against Florida and Ole Miss shortly after.

For Kelly, he hasn't shied away from wanting to face the best program's in America.

During SEC spring meetings in Destin (Fla.) this offseason, Kelly and other head coaches broke down their desire to compete against Big Ten schools.

With the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines winning the last two National Championships, the opportunity to play against the conference intrigues SEC coaches across the league.

"We want to compete against the Big Ten," Kelly said, following the last day of coaches meetings at the annual SEC spring meetings. "Look, the Big Ten right now holds it on the SEC. They won the last two national championships. That's the reality of it.

"We want to get challenged in that regard, and we'd like to be able to get that done. "That is up to our commissioner and the ADs to see if that can happen or not, but that's the wish of the room."

But Kelly isn't the only head coach that has voiced his thoughts on squaring off against Big Ten foes moving forward.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer is on board with the idea of doing the same, but also wants to keep the rivalry game with the Clemson Tigers.

"For me, I think it's ironclad," Beamer said of the South Carolina-Clemson game. "There's people above me who make that decision, but I would never want that game to go away.

"Rivalries and rivalry weekend are what make this sport great. ... I know how important that game is to the people of South Carolina, and I don't want that game going anywhere."

Now, Big 12 schools are also entering the mix with Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire calling out Kelly and the LSU Tigers during Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday.

“Let’s decide it on the field,” McGuire said when discussing the College Football Playoff. “If we’re sitting here talking about the playoffs — if you win the conference championship, you should be in the playoffs.

"Now, all of a sudden, we have cross-conference games where we’re playing each other. I think that would be a great way to do it.

“I saw Brian Kelly say he’d love to play a Big Ten team. Hey man, I’d love to play LSU, home-and-home series. Whoever plays that, then we look at the rankings and everything like that.”