BATON ROUGE, La. — Hiring coach Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame already has cost LSU $500,000 more than anticipated — not that anyone in Baton Rouge is complaining.
The Southeastern Conference will lay a second $250,000 fine on the Tigers after fans poured onto their home field after taking down Alabama 32-31 in overtime last Saturday night.
Between that and the Oct. 22 win over then-unbeaten Ole Miss, AP No. 7 LSU (7-2, 4-1 SEC) is the favorite to represent the SEC Western Division in the conference title game on Dec. 3.
“A win like this gives us so much more confidence because we beat two top-10 teams in a row heading into (this) week against Arkansas,” LSU fourth-year running back Josh Williams said after the Alabama win.