BATON ROUGE — After weeks of LSU fans speculating "if" or "when" Brian Kelly, who led the Tigers to their third conference loss of the season against the Texas A&M Aggies over the weekend, would be fired, a new question has arisen: Who will replace Kelly after he and the university parted ways Sunday? 

No concrete discussions have been reported on, but ESPN released a list of five candidates who they think could be in the running to fill the job after Kelly's ten-year contract was ended less than halfway through. 

At the top of the ESPN list is Lane Kiffin, the former Alabama assistant coach who has been leading the Ole Miss Rebels, one of the three teams the Tigers lost to under Kelly. ESPN says that "LSU's firing of Kelly could be really bad news for Florida, which has made little secret of its desire to bring Kiffin to Gainesville" after the firing of Billy Napier.

"Perhaps Florida can still get its man, but Kiffin should be near or at the very top of LSU's wish list. He wouldn't have to deal with in-state competitors there and would lead a program with few if any limitations with resources, facilities and fan base," ESPN wrote. 

Other candidates include Tulane coach Joe Sumrall, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key and Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz. 

ESPN also placed Brian Kelly's successor at Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman, on their list of potential new head coaches, saying that Freeman has helped the Irish rebound and win a National Championship. 

LSU previously offered Freeman a job as defensive coordinator under Coach Ed Orgeron, only to join Kelly at Notre Dame. 

The Tigers football team will be under the leadership of interim coach Frank Wilson, associate head coach under Kelly, until a new head coach is hired.

Watch Kelly drive away from the LSU football offices on Monday morning: