LSU’s playoff hopes crushed: Biggest winners and losers from College Footbal Week 5
LSU football has its College Football Playoff hopes crushed by Ole Miss, plus winners and losers from College Football Week 5.
Few college football teams got more hype this offseason than the LSU Tigers. But after a second loss in five games, the Tigers’ hopes of making the College Football Playoff have gone by the wayside.
It’s still possible that LSU could make the SEC title game. Alabama has zero losses. Ole Miss has one and LSU could do what it did last season.
LSU could beat Georgia, which could give it a path to the College Football Playoff. However, that’s a tall order and it feels like the Tigers playoff hopes ended with the win by Ole Miss on Saturday night as the Rebels rallied from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers led by nine points with 8:34 left in the game. But Jaxson Dart led two touchdown drives — one ending with a rushing touchdown by the former USC transfer — before he tossed the game-winning touchdown with 43 seconds left.
It was a defining moment for Dart and a massive win for Ole Miss. But, the biggest takeaway is that armed with Jayden Daniels, and a talented defense, Brian Kelly and the LSU football team couldn’t make it to October before their playoff hopes came crumbling down.
That makes LSU football the biggest loser of College Football Week 5.
College Football Week 5 winner: Jaxson Dart and Ole Miss
Jaxson Dart held off a quarterback competition this fall and finally proved that Lane Kiffin was right on Saturday night as he led two scoring drives to rally Ole Miss to a massive win.
The Rebels laid an egg last week against Alabama. A loss to LSU would have knocked Ole Miss out of the SEC West race for good and amped up the pressure on Kiffin and everyone else.
Now, the 4-1 Rebels might control their playoff destiny again. Georgia is on the schedule, but every other game is winnable. They should be favored in the others. If Ole Miss could somehow win in Georgia as well as the rest of their games, what happens in the SEC West might not matter.
Regardless, that was probably the biggest win of Kiffin’s tenure, and you have to be impressed with the way Ole Miss closed out the Tigers on Saturday.