How is Brian Kelly following LSU women's coach Kim Mulkey? The Tigers football coach tempers expectations while giving praise to SEC foe Alabama

Brian Kelly is the head coach of the LSU Tigers, which are a premier team in the Southeastern Conference and college football. Although Kelly led LSU to the SEC championship game, the second-year coach has been vocal about limiting expectations this season.

At SEC media day, Kelly was vocal, saying the Georgia Bulldogs are still the team to beat in the SEC.

“I know that based upon how we’ve recruited and how we’ll continue to recruit that we’ll have a football roster that will be able to compete against Georgia,” Kelly said. “Is that right now? No, it’s not. But if we continue to do what we’re doing, we’re going to have a roster that can compete against Georgia, and then it’s just a matter of getting it done on the playing field so everybody then can assess they’ve closed the gap.”

It was an interesting comment from Kelly, who admitted his team isn't as good as Georgia. However, it is something LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey has done.

Brian Kelly borrows a move from Mulkey's playbook

This past season, Mulkey was quick to admit that South Carolina has the best roster in all of college basketball, and they were the favorites to win it all. That allowed the pressure and spotlight to be off LSU, which ended up winning the women's basketball title.

With Brian Kelly praising Georgia and saying the Bulldogs are still the team to beat, it will allow LSU to fly under the radar, at least for the beginning of the season.

Kelly still believes LSU isn't as deep as teams like Georgia and Alabama, but knows they are getting better. However, he believes the Tigers need to show they are consistent in order to be considered a team to beat in the SEC.

"There's two programs that are a model of that. It's Georgia and Alabama," Kelly said. "We're new to that. And one of the reasons why I'm in this position is that there wasn't consistency. So, building consistency, you've got to do it more than just one year. You've got to do it year in and year out. We're not there yet."

Although Brian Kelly says LSU is not the team to beat in the SEC, the Tigers will be one of the top teams in the West division.

LSU opens up its college football season on September 3 against Florida State.