College Football Top 25: Buying or selling the 2015 preseason rankings

Oct 25, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles claps for his team during pre game warm ups on the field prior to kickoff against the Mississippi Rebels at Tiger Stadium. LSU defeated Mississippi 10-7. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

Highest Rank:  13 (Coaches)
Lowest Rank:  23 (SI)

SELLING

You can’t help but love Les Miles and his quirky personality. He’s a ball at press conferences and his players think the world of him. But the undeniable fact is that LSU has been slowly slipping, and there hasn’t been a quarterback worth his weight in chewed grass in Baton Rouge since Zach Mettenberger left.

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The departure of John Chavis from the defensive coordinator role may be the catalyst that begins the end of Miles’ tenure at LSU. Without a typical Tiger defense on the field, LSU is ripe for some beatings, and Tiger Stadium at night will be just another stop along the way to the playoffs for the top SEC teams.

Just watching this team in spring drills and fall practices, you don’t get the feeling that there is a real belief that they can get it done. Even Miles looks visibly verklempt out there.

Maybe one of these quarterbacks will step up and start to shine, and maybe this defense will prove to be even better under Kevin Steele, but that’s an awful lot of maybes for a team playing in one of the toughest conferences in the nation.

Next: Arizona State