While optimism always runs high in the offseason, this season will represent the lowest expectation level for the LSU fanbase in over 20 years. It's not that LSU fans don't think this team could be good or that they don't believe in Brian Kelly. It's that given the results of the past two seasons LSU fans don't go into this season EXPECTING LSU to realistically compete for an SEC or national title. For almost 20 years from (appx.) 2004 - 2020, that was generally the expectation level. If anything, LSU fans look at this season as the closet thing to a "rebuilding" year the program has faced since 2000 (Saban's first season at LSU).

No reasonable LSU fan is looking at the Tennessee game as some sort of "program defining" game. From the LSU perspective, the worst case scenario is in a rebuilding year LSU loses to an improving Tennessee program. Best case scenario, LSU wins, in a rebuilding year, reaffirming the program is still ahead of Tennessee in the SEC/national hierarchy.

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With the talent difference between the two programs, if Tennessee fans want to actually look at the Vols as a national player then they in their up-swing have to be able to beat a team like LSU on a down-swing. Because if not now, when ever?

From the UT perspective that is probably right. If you can't beat a program like LSU when they are "down", then it starts to suggest maybe UT will never regain the stature they had for decades. Four coaches since Fulmer was let go...same, at best, mediocre results.

As for Kelly, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find many LSU fans who were truly disappointed in the hire. From an objective wins/loss perspective, I'm not sure anyone besides Saban, Urban Meyer, and maybe Dabo, could have been a better hire. Considering Saban and Dabo weren't leaving, and Meyer may not be in demand right now, it is hard to look at things today (not with the benefit of hindsight in a few years) and think LSU didn't make the best possible hire they could have made.

To the contrary. LSU fans see a program that is the ONLY program in the BCS/CFP era that has hired 3 straight coaches who ALL won national championships within 4 years of being hired. Given the pedigree (or lack thereof) of all of those coaches prior to taking the LSU job (yes, including a Michigan St. coach who hovered around .500 prior to his final year at the school), the perspective of LSU fans is "if Miles and Orgeron could win championships here, what can the guy who probably has the best track record of prior success LSU has ever hired do here?"