Garrett Nussmeier and Brian Kelly left scratching their heads with LSU’s ranking in first top-25 Coaches Poll
There’s a strong case as to why the LSU Tigers are the best returning SEC team in a top-heavy conference this 2025 season. While Georgia and Texas made the College Football Playoff in 2024, neither team ranks in the top 79 teams of returning production from last season. LSU will benefit from 62% of its […]
There’s a strong case as to why the LSU Tigers are the best returning SEC team in a top-heavy conference this 2025 season. While Georgia and Texas made the College Football Playoff in 2024, neither team ranks in the top 79 teams of returning production from last season. LSU will benefit from 62% of its 2024 team to guide them this fall, including second-year starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.
Despite the positives around the team, Brian Kelly’s Tigers are behind Texas, Georgia, and even the Alabama Crimson Tide. They sit ninth entering the 2025 season. While Alabama’s resume is bolstered by 63% of last year’s squad back, they were clearly a step below LSU in terms of star power and difference-makers.
The initial top-25 Coaches Poll left LSU feeling good, but also wondering how voters could see Alabama over them. Alabama lost Jalen Milroe and lacks clear impact players on both sides of the ball compared to LSU. The Tigers have a brutal schedule this fall, but transfer additions Barion Brown and Nic Anderson add to a unit with tremendous explosiveness already.
Nussmeier and running back Caden Durham will be one of the most feared big-play hunters in the nation, and having two speedy weapons on the outside only heightens the stress level for defenses. Meanwhile, LSU’s defense will be in top form with Whit Weeks, Dominick McKinley, Mansoor Delane, and Harold Perkins Jr. headlining it.
Betting odds agree that LSU is a top 10 team, and I don’t think they’re underrated in the grand scheme of their overall outlook. But it’s weird to see them below an overrated roster in a transition season. Kelly and Nussmeier have the opportunity to turn heads and make a big jump when they play Clemson later this month.
LSU Tigers 2025 Schedule
- Week 1: at Clemson
- Week 2: vs. Louisiana Tech
- Week 3: vs. Florida
- Week 4: vs. Southeastern Louisiana
- Week 5: at Ole Miss
- Week 6: Bye
- Week 7: vs. South Carolina
- Week 8: at Vanderbilt
- Week 9: vs. Texas A&M
- Week 10: Bye
- Week 11: at Alabama
- Week 12: vs. Arkansas
- Week 13: vs. Western Kentucky
- Week 14: at Oklahoma
