Who we were:
For the better part of the last 20 years, LSU has been the deepest and most talented team in the vast majority of their football games. 
We could literally line up and just out talent teams.   While frustrating to watch at times, in back of our heads we always just knew that our opponent would eventually have no choice but to bow down to our wishes.
We were living proof that a large enough collection of talent could overcome coaching shortcomings.
And that was what made it so damn aggravating at times.  We were loaded enough to have had a run like one of our division rivals is currently on.   We could have been what Tha U was in late 80s through early 2000s.
If Only we'd had an actual football coach instead of a couple of caricatures during this stretch.

Who we are:
Well, thanks to what's happened the last couple of years, we are no longer automatically the most talented collection of players on the field every game.  We just aren't.  Sure in some individual spots we are. But as a whole, we are actually pretty weak from a personnel standpoint.
We have an entire offensive line was either newcomers, or playing out of position.
A true freshman started at LT for us.  A guy that never snapped a football in a college game before last night started at center.
At RB we played a Big Ten transfer that has missed large chunks of time in 2 of the last 3 seasons due to leg injuries.
Our QB is yet another transfer that has yet to build the chemistry truly needed with his WRs to reach the levels we want to reach.
The defensive side was slightly better, except in the secondary.
A glance at the participation report from last night shows that a school that prides themselves on being DBU started or significantly played transfer DBs from: USL, McNeese, Arkansas, and Oklahoma St.  When discussing teams with traditionally strong secondaries, I'm not sure how long of a list you'll need to have before getting to any of those schools.

With so many guys playing out of position, Guys playing at levels considerably above their previous stops, Guys playing together for the first time in live game action, etc. etc. etc. it's actually really hard to judge just who the hell we are.

We lacked discipline. At times we lacked fire. We definitely lacked cohesion for long stretches. We did not look particularly well coached.

We literally looked like a team trying to figure stuff out. Coaching staff seeing kids at game speed for first time. Players going against someone other than a teammate for first time.  Fanbase still not accustomed to seeing LSU in our current situation of needing to climb out of a hole back to tops of the mountains.

But yet, we still somehow could have (and let's be honest, should have) won that game.

Who we will be:
Judging by Brian Kelly's history, his teams are typically well disciplined and rarely beat themselves.  He's known for having well coached teams that are properly prepared for every game. He just wasn't always able to get the quantity of talent needed to win titles.
Judging by LSU's history, we have more talent available to us than all but a select few schools. We've had guys that could barely sniff the field here that have had NFL careers.
Somebody can walk out of the OPs building and throw a rock in any direction and likely hit a 4 or 5 star recruit.  We just haven't had an adult in charge for nearly 2 decades now.

Now anyone who has ever watched even a season of football knows that "past performance is not a guarantee of future results".  But with that said, we can have some confidence in projecting LSU's future.

LSU has what Brian Kelly has always lacked. The one thing holding him back from joining the truly elite with his results. Ridiculous amounts of NFL level talent.
Brian Kelly has what LSU has lacked for close to 20 years.  The one thing preventing them from being the type of dynasty that gets talked about decades later.  An actual football coach in charge of the team.

Will this be a marriage where we fill in each other's weak spot and have that story book ending?
I don't know, and neither does anyone else.

But all of the proper ingredients are there.  We're just still at that stage where we learn how to live together and eat each other's cooking.