LSU making noise as early College Football Playoff contender
For the second time in three weeks, LSU has defeated a top 10 opponent and in the process has established themselves as a team who could be a College Football Playoff contender.
It may only be mid-September, but it’s never too early to talk about the College Football Playoff. We’re still about six weeks away from the first playoff rankings coming out, but if the rankings came out this week, the LSU Tigers would be one of the four teams in the field.
Of course, that’s not the reality, but considering LSU has a pair of wins over top-10 opponents, they present the best resume that would merit entry to the four-team field.
LSU demolished then-No. 9 Miami in the season opener and the Tigers looked like they were sick of being labeled as a team headed for a down year. Those were the whispers that grew to loud conversations all offseason. Fast forward to this week and LSU had to hear the chatter that it was the Auburn Tigers who were 12-point favorites and were the pick of college football experts and non-experts alike all week.
Hardly anyone outside Louisiana gave Ed Orgeron’s team a chance and they came out with egg on their face after the Tigahs (you have to read that in Orgeron’s cajun accent) came out on top over the Tigers.
It may only be three weeks, but the early returns are great and LSU has positioned themselves as a playoff contender with two of the best wins on the early season. There is a long road to go from being a playoff team in mid-September and at the end of November, but the early confidence that comes from these big wins should carry over well into the thick of the SEC schedule when they play Mississippi State, Georgia, Texas A&M and Alabama.
One thing that is certain is LSU is a much better team than anyone was giving them credit for before the season. Even after they beat Miami, there was much debate about how good they were or if they just beat up on a bad Miami team. The Canes have looked great, albeit against inferior opponents in the last two weeks, which should give further credence to the belief that LSU is more of a playoff contender than a pretender.