What’s next for LSU football?
In a season that started with College Football Playoff hopes, the LSU football team is off to a disappointing start.
On September 1, LSU’s hopes were sky-high. The long-term goal was a College Football Playoff berth, but also thrown in there was competing with Alabama and Georgia to make the Playoff as the SEC Champion.
The path to success began with a date with Florida State in Orlando. A win and LSU football is off and running, maybe propelled into the top five. A loss wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would throw a wrench into plans. A blowout loss? That wasn’t going to happen. Until it did.
LSU football lost to Florida State 45-24, with the Seminoles exposing problems with the Tigers’ defense and, at times, making LSU look like they didn’t even want to be on the field. But LSU could overcome that, and if the Tigers were to go 11-1 with an SEC Title, the Playoff was still in reach. Until this Saturday, when LSU’s defense once again failed to show up, giving up 55 points in a loss to Ole Miss.
As we enter October, a team that had championship hopes: division, conference, and national, now sits at 3-2, seemingly with more questions than answers.
What does the rest of the season look like now? Well, the short answer is that nothing is guaranteed.
The best and worst scenarios for LSU football this season
The good news for LSU football is that the offense looks good and is powerful enough to overcome the shortcomings of the defense more often than not. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is still every bit as good as he was last year. Daniels proved it by throwing for 414 yards and four touchdowns. The rushing attack can be deadly while Daniels still has plenty of solid receiving options.
The bad news for LSU, aside from the defense needing some significant help, is the road doesn’t get any easier from here. With SEC play kicking off, LSU has some rough waters ahead.
It starts next week with Missouri, a sneaky good team that sits at 5-0 while playing solid defensive football. A month ago, this would have been looked at as a sure-fire win for the Tigers. It’ll be a crazy crowd at Missouri for this game, and there is nothing guaranteed about this game.
The Tigers then play two straight home games: Auburn, who gave #1 Georgia all they could handle this weekend, followed by Army, a pesky triple-option team that has been known to give fits to teams that are significantly better than them.
LSU then gets a week off before the date they’ve had circled all off-season: Alabama. This is a game LSU won last year, but this year, it’ll be played in Tuscaloosa. By that point, the Alabama offense should be in a much better position with Jalen Milroe, especially with the dynamic quarterback finally starting to hit his stride after Alabama’s win against Mississippi State last weekend. You know LSU is going to come out firing, but Nick Saban won’t let his Crimson Tide forget what the Tigers did last year.
Florida is up next, and who knows which Gators team will show up: the one that looked as good as it has in the Billy Napier era against Tennessee, or the one that’s been blown out by both Utah and Kentucky. It would at least appear as of now that the Gators don’t have the offense to keep up with LSU.
A contest against Georgia State that should be an LSU victory is followed by the season finale against what might actually be the SEC West’s best team right now, Texas A&M. Outside of the Miami contest, Texas A&M has been performing well, including a 2-0 SEC start against Auburn and Arkansas. A&M has been solid defensively, and their offense has shown flashes of potential to be one of the better offenses of the Jimbo era.
So what is the best and worst case for the Tigers in 2023? The best case would have to be finishing the season 6-1, ultimately ending at 9-3. It’s hard at this point to see this team beating Alabama on the road.
Worst case? That’s where things get dicey.
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If the LSU defense continues to struggle, there are no guaranteed wins outside Georgia State. That doesn’t mean they’re going to go 1-6. However, it might mean going 3-4 with losses to Alabama, Texas A&M, Auburn, and Missouri. That would be an absolutely disastrous finish for the Tigers, and one that would place Brian Kelly firmly on the hot seat.