"It's not crazy": Josh Pate sees Brian Kelly's LSU facing critical issue in 2025

College football insider Josh Pate believes the LSU Tigers may struggle in the first six games of the 2025 season. Last year, Brian Kelly led the team to a 5-1 start.

On Tuesday, Pate uploaded a clip from "Josh Pate's College Football Show," discussing a fan prediction of LSU losing three or four games to start its campaign.

Kelly's team will face the Clemson Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Florida Gators and Ole Miss Rebels in the first six games. Pate didn't rule out the possibility of LSU losing against them. The team will also play the Louisiana Bulldogs and Southeastern Louisiana Lions, which the podcaster believes will be easier matchups for Kelly and his squad.

"It's not crazy," Pate said (1:11). "Like, technically, LSU could lose all those games. Of course, they can win all of them. What I'm saying is they got four lossable games. If they go 1-3 there, odds are against that, but it's far from impossible."

Pate noted that one of the issues Kelly may struggle with is that he added new players from the transfer portal to replace the stars that left. He believes the Tigers may need time to adjust to compete at their best.

"This is a team that's going to rely heavily on an infusion of portal talent," Pate said (Timestamp: 1:25). "Now, I believe in the portal talent, but if you're going heavy portal for especially your frontline starters, what you'd love is you'd love a schedule that is backloaded. Where you get time to get all your affairs in order and then hit that back half hard immediately, but that's not what we have here."

He warned that LSU must come out of gate swinging to avoid starting the 2025 season with a 2-4 record.

Key players that the LSU Tigers added from the transfer portal

Brian Kelly added 18 players to his roster from the transfer portal to help LSU compete in the Southeastern Conference. One of those who could play a key role in the offense is Barion Brown.

The wide receiver transferred out of the Kentucky Wildcats after three seasons. Last year, he had 29 receptions for 361 yards and three touchdowns. Brown adds more depth to Kelly's wide receiver options to help Garrett Nussmeier make plays.

Another star that the Tigers acquired for his senior year is A.J. Haulcy. The safety transferred out of the Houston Cougars after two seasons. He rcorded 74 total tackles (43 solo) and five interceptions last year.

Kelly aims to prepare his team for a strong start with an away game against Clemson on Aug. 30.