LSU football schedule: Who will hand Ed Orgeron’s Tigers their first loss in 2021?

Keep an eye on the LSU football team this year to be a sneaky-good team in the SEC.

After a dismal 5-5 season a year ago, the LSU football program hopes to get back to playing championship-caliber football in 2021.

The 2019 Bayou Bengals went 15-0 en route to a perfect College Football Playoff National Championship-winning season. They were on top of the world. Had it not been for a rogue shoe in Gainesville, there is a great chance LSU would have been a sub-.500 team a year ago. While the Tigers should be better than they were last season, they are not ready to win the SEC this year.

LSU football: When will the Tigers suffer their first loss of the 2021 season?

Looking at the LSU football schedule for 2021, the Tigers have a great opportunity to rattle off a bunch of early-season wins. While a road date at UCLA to begin the year will be tough, LSU is infinitely more talented than Chip Kelly’s Bruins. If the Tigers can past division rivals Mississippi State in Starkville and a home game vs. Auburn, they will begin the season with a 5-0 record.

Though the Tigers could potentially have a lengthier winning streak to five to start the year, the Oct. 9 road date at the Kentucky Wildcats starts a string of four very tough SEC games for LSU. Kentucky will battle for third place in the SEC East with Missouri this year with the better of the two teams likely finishing the season ranked inside the top 25.

This could be a potential night game too which may not bode well for Ed Orgeron’s team. Frankly, they are going to have to win this one if they want to win one of their next three games vs. Florida, at Ole Miss and at Alabama. LSU would be very lucky to win two of these four games. The Tigers could be as good as 7-2 or as bad as 5-4 by the time of the Arkansas game.

Ultimately, LSU projects somewhere between a 7-5 and a 9-3 team. The Alabama road date and the home game vs. Texas A&M feel like losses.

LSU will probably drop another game along the way with the Kentucky game being the first true roadblock on their schedule.

A hot start could not be more important for an LSU team looking to find itself after last year.

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