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LSU Football: 5 Takeaways from breakthrough 2018 season

By John Mitchell

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - JANUARY 01: Head coach Ed Orgeron of the LSU Tigers waits to take the field before the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl between LSU and Central Florida at State Farm Stadium on January 01, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA - JANUARY 01: Head coach Ed Orgeron of the LSU Tigers waits to take the field before the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl between LSU and Central Florida at State Farm Stadium on January 01, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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LSU Football exceeded all expectations in 2018 by winning 10 games and a New Year’s Six bowl. Here are five takeaways from their breakthrough season.

Expectations were mild heading into Ed Orgeron’s second full season as the head coach. LSU entered the year as a fringe Top 25 team, coming in at No. 25 in the preseason AP Poll. Facing a brutal schedule, most pundits projected the Tigers to slide in around seven or eight wins even after landing Ohio State transfer QB Joe Burrow to finally solidify the position.

There were plenty of doubts about Orgeron’s validity as a head coach of a major program like LSU, and a poor 2018 would have brought further whispers of him being in over his head in Baton Rouge.

Instead, Orgeron engineered a breakthrough season that resulted in double-digit wins and a victory in a New Year’s Six bowl game – their first appearance and win in such a game since the inception of the College Football Playoff.

It wasn’t all roses for LSU in 2018. There were plenty of challenges that presented themselves, and although 10 wins is certainly an accomplishment (a feat the Tigers hadn’t accomplished since 2013), expectations have been raised in Baton Rouge to the point that good will not always be good enough.

LSU is one of college football’s preeminent programs, and while this season was a big step in the right direction, it won’t take long for fans to sour on Coach O if he can’t get a particular monkey off of his back and ultimately lead the Tigers to an SEC Championship and eventual berth in the playoff.

Regardless of what the future holds, 2018 will be remembered fondly by the Death Valley faithful. What happens next will determine whether this season was a mere stepping stone to bigger and better things or if this is the peak of Orgeron’s tenure.

Let’s take a look at five takeaways from LSU’s 2018 season:

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