Ross Dellenger has been at the forefront of much of the national coverage of LSU in recent years, and that includes Sunday when news broke that LSU was parting ways with Ed Orgeron, effective at the end of the season.

But the Sports Illustrated writer explained on “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning” on WJOX out of Birmingham, Alabama when the final straw came down.

“It was a long time coming and building,” Dellenger said. “If you want to say what the final nail was, it was probably getting physically man-handled by Kentucky. And I know Kentucky’s a good team this year, maybe a great team. But that was a performance that I think was the final nail, but there were a lot of nails, obviously, before that.”

He added that it ultimately comes down to wins and losses, but those are mixed with information off the field.

“I think off the field for a year and a half for two years now, basically since the championship, things off the field at LSU and around the program haven’t been smooth, things just haven’t gone smoothly. All of them built up to what you see this year.”

The LSU Board of Supervisors makes a trip each year, and the one trip they did this year was at Kentucky.

Orgeron’s behavior in and out of the building, and around the university’s leadership was also a factor, Dellenger said, in terms of someone who is not fit to lead the program.