The LSU Tigers are human after all. Saturday saw the Bayou Bengals fall 24-19 to the Ole Miss Rebels on the road and earn their first loss on the 2025-26 season.
That stumble dropped LSU from near the top of the SEC Conference standings all the way to seventh. It also fell from No. 4 all the way to No. 13 in the latest AP rankings. It's no reason to panic just yet in Baton Rouge but it's certainly a warning sign.
LSU had College Football Playoff expectations entering this season, especially with head coach Brian Kelly starting to feel the heat on his seat. One loss doesn't eliminate them but the path forward in a stacked SEC just became much more difficult.
What is LSU's clearest path to the College Football Playoff?
Of course, if the Tigers were to just win out and claim the SEC crown, they'd earn the conference's auto-bid and likely return to their spot among the Top 4 teams in the country. That would give them a valuable first-round bye to the quarterfinals.
However, looking at LSU's remaining schedule, it has four ranked opponents waiting in the wings including a three consecutive week stretch at the end of October. They'll have a bye in Week 6 to lick their wounds but things resume in Week 7 with a banged up South Carolina squad that could offer trap game value.
The Tigers can likely afford to drop one more game and still be in contention for an at-large bid from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. That loss would be okay if it was to No. 6 Texas A&M (Oct. 25), No. 10 Alabama (Nov. 8) or No. 5 Oklahoma (Nov. 29). Their Oct. 18 date with No. 16 Vanderbilt is still considered a must-win in this case just for the safety of their resume.
All that being said, any loss to South Carolina, Arkansas (Nov. 15) or Western Kentucky (Nov. 22) could very well eliminate them with two or three losses if there are other teams with a similar record and higher quality wins.
Take care of business against inferior opponents and win three out of four remaining ranked matchups. That's LSU's most realistic path to the College Football Playoff.