| It’s been a offseason ritual for LSU in the Brian Kelly era so far. After a series of huge blunders on special teams in 2022, Kelly kicked special teams coordinator Brian Polian upstairs (Polian left to become a college athletic director soon after). After an historically bad showing on defense in 2023, Kelly fired his entire defensive staff, starting with coordinator Matt House. Now that the offense has been struggling through a three-game losing streak, with just three touchdowns scored over the past 9½ quarters, one has to wonder whether there are going to be some changes in the offseason with the offensive staff? Kelly has new co-coordinators in Joe Sloan and Cortez Hankton, and while Brad Davis’ offensive line has had some injuries to deal with, that unit has been the biggest disappointment on the entire team. As you can imagine, all this is leading up to a column I wrote on the subject. I also penned a few words on LSU wearing gold jerseys for Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt (6:45 p.m., SEC Network), the Tigers’ fifth uniform combination this season. Spoiler alert: I’m not a fan. ------------------------------ By now you’ve probably seen that LSU will be wearing yet another alternate uniform Saturday: white helmets with a gold jerseys and white pants. It’s the first time LSU will wear gold jerseys since 2016 and just the fifth time since 1996. It’s not that I have something against LSU’s gold jerseys. The Tigers wore them frequently before Paul Dietzel made white jerseys LSU’s traditional garb in the late 1950s. It’s just enough already. This will be the Tigers’ fifth different uniform combination in 11 games this season. That’s fine for Oregon, which didn’t really have football tradition until this century, but LSU has a classic look. Gold helmets, white jerseys, gold pants. A look the school fought to reclaim under former coach Gerry DiNardo back in 1995, when LSU received special permission from the NCAA to wear white jerseys at home if the other team would agree to wear its colors. Coincidentally, LSU wore gold at home against Vanderbilt in 1996 when then Vandy coach Rod Dowhower refused to agree to the Tigers wearing white. DiNardo, who came to LSU from Vandy, got mad and put his team in gold jerseys instead of purple, which is the Tigers’ typical non-white jersey color. It’s just a uniform, nothing that will have a bearing on the outcome of Saturday’s game with this Vanderbilt team. The players like the change, though defensive tackle Gio Paez probably had the best sartorial take on the subject: “The jerseys are cool,” Paez said Tuesday. “I just don’t give a (bleep). I want to win.” --------------------------- The SEC’s midweek availability report is out, and it’s not great news for that beleaguered LSU offensive line I was telling you about. The LSU women’s basketball team ran its record to 6-0 Wednesday with a sluggish 85-74 win over in-state rival Tulane. The fact it was LSU’s third game in six days could be a factor. The LSU men continued to win Tuesday, holding off Charleston Southern 77-68. A big reason why was the play of newcomer guard Vyctorius Miller. Finally, the SEC on Wednesday released its complete TV schedule for the 2025 gymnastics season. So check out when the reigning NCAA champion Tigers are competing and on which network. That’s all for now, everyone. Thanks for reading, subscribing and agreeing to bring the yams on Thanksgiving day. I’ve still got drumstick, and we’ll see you Friday. Scott Rabalais | 
