LSU legend says there’s a sketchy reason the Tigers were picked fifth in the SEC
The SEC media picked the LSU Tigers to finish fifth in the conference in Lane Kiffin’s first season in Baton Rouge.
The LSU Tigers, despite having a loaded roster and one of the top coaches in college football, were picked last week to finish fifth in the SEC in 2026.
LSU legend Tyrann Mathieu thinks the Tigers will finish with more wins than the media expects. And he also has a theory on why LSU was picked to finish so low.
Mathieu said on In The Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu that he thinks it’s possible some media members were essentially voting against Lane Kiffin.
“Maybe they’ve got a thing against Lane,” said Mathieu. “That type of stuff is — people will sort of harbor those feelings toward you when you don’t do what they thought you should do. I feel like Lane in particular, once he gets out there and he wins a few games, I think people will sort of back off the Ole Miss thing and how he left.
“I can see why Georgia is as high as they are because you’re banking on their quarterback coming back. And obviously Kirby Smart, they’re always gonna have dogs on defense. … But I think LSU, I think that they’ll finish the season probably with more wins than people anticipate.”
There are definitely plenty of folks in the media who don’t like Kiffin. I don’t know if that influenced their vote, but it’s certainly possible that it did — especially since Ole Miss, with an unknown at head coach, was picked to finish two spots higher than the Tigers.
Predictions, though, don’t mean anything. LSU will get its chance to prove the doubters wrong on the field this fall.