Brian Kelly And LSU Football Might Not Respect The Troops

Ok I saw this the other day and a few immediate thoughts come to mind. First of all, this is yet another reason that college football is the best. LSU wasn't prompted by anyone to do this - seemingly someone in the athletic department or Brian Kelly himself broached the idea of doing something as a nod to their opponent being a military school. When we see stuff of this nature in the NFL it is still well-intentioned but always feels very corporate and forced. Especially, since every team and stadium follows suit. Army doesn't play in camo endzones on every away game so credit to LSU for being different. 

From there, it reminded me how nice people always are to Army.

(Please ignore the atrocious grammar in that tweet)

Every time we play an away game at a major P5 school, everyone is extremely nice and hospitable to us. Heck, I've been invited to countless tailgates and offered drinks and I haven't even set foot in Baton Rouge yet. I am very much looking forward to the weekend and already know I won't have to go far for a pleasant greeting or beer on the house. It doesn't come as a surprise given who goes to our school and what we represent.

"The respect and the honor that we have in playing this game, we're excited about this weekend," LSU coach Brian Kelly said.

But then I started to wonder, "Is this just a massive troll job from Brian Kelly and LSU?" 

Granted, Army is unique, but would LSU do something like this if they were playing Georgia or Alabama? I even asked a buddy of mine from Army what he thought:

I love my Army Black Knights but we cannot ignore what others, including Vegas, think of this matchup. 

This endzone gesture is almost saying, "Hey we expect to roll on Saturday night so here is a paint job so you don't think we hate you too." 

We've seen this scenario before when Army is a big underdog to a ranked opponent. The double OT Oklahoma game no one saw. The OT game at the Big House. Army isn't scared. We will never walk in and not believe we can win the game.

Final Verdict: This was a well intentioned gesture but I think it will have the opposite effect for Brian Kelly and the Tigers. I think LSU thinks so little of their opponent that they felt the need to do something nice for us. Almost patronizing, really. 

To that I say, thank you. Thank you for making the endzones look like home turf for us because we plan to spend a lot of time in them on Saturday. 

BEAT lsu