Heading into the 2025 College Football season, every program is still at it's peak when it comes to hoping this season will be their year. After each team made their roster additions through recruiting and the transfer portal, every fanbase will make a case for their team even when it's unrealistic. The LSU Tigers were one of the stars of the offseason and their fanbase has plenty of reasons to be excited.
For the first time, Brian Kelly put a true emphasis on bringing in an elite transfer portal class after mainly focusing on recruiting. The results were LSU adding key playmakers on both sides of the football adding instant starters in Barion Brown, Nic Anderson, and Josh Thompson on offense, along with Patrick Payton, Mansoor Delane, and AJ Haulcy on defense.
The transfer portal additions have many buying in on the LSU Football team including legendary SEC analyst Paul Finebaum. On his show "The Paul Finebaum Show" the expert on SEC Football dove into why he's buying into the LSU Football team ending it's College Football Playoff drought.
"I really like LSU's chances, I think they're excellent. I was alluding to the schedule a little bit ago. I think it's just a matter of survival, the first month of the season, Ole Miss, Florida, and Clemson. A bad start would put a little bit of heat on (Garrett) Nussmeier and the rest of the team. I think getting out of that month with only one loss would be fantastic."Paul Finebaum
As Paul Finebaum mentions, the schedule doesn't do LSU any favors which adds some difficulty to making the College Football Playoff. Along with Ole Miss, Florida, and Clemson, LSU will face Playoff hopefuls in Alabama, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma which is a brutal path in the SEC.
When Paul Finebaum mentions that heat will fall on Garrett Nussmeier, he's absolutely right, while some outsiders may not see it. During last season, things got so bad in Baton Rouge that the Tigers fans mixed in some audible boos when Nussmeier was introduced before the Vanderbilt game.
Nonetheless, the LSU Football team has arguably the best roster of the Brian Kelly era, as it feels like they finally have a well-rounded group. If Brian Kelly can finally get the monkey off his back in Week 1 of the season, the Tigers could gain all the confidence and swagger they need to carry momentum on to its tough SEC challenges.