How many losses will eliminate Brian Kelly and LSU from the College Football Playoff?

For the first time under Brian Kelly, the LSU Tigers are looking to reach the College Football Playoff and fans are wondering how more losses the program can suffer before the program is eliminated from the College Football Playoff.

After losing the first game of the season against USC, the Tigers have been able to rebound somewhat despite the program facing a serious scare against South Carolina. However, they have faced more early adversity this season as star edge rusher Harold Perkins Jr. suffered an ACL tear that will keep him out for the rest of the season.

After this week's tune-up game against South Alabama, LSU faces off against an extremely tough Ole Miss with slightly above-average Texas A&M and national title contender Alabama to come. The squad has two more SEC games after that with Florida and Vanderbilt before they face off against Oklahoma at the end of the season.

Kelly is looking for a better result than his first two seasons where the coach has struggled to reach fans' expectations despite achieving two 10-win seasons with bowl wins at the end.

As the Tigers get ready for the rest of the season, it's worth wondering how much wiggle room they have.

How many losses can Brian Kelly and LSU survive before being eliminated from the playoff?

Considering the Tigers lost their first game of the season to USC, the LSU will likely need to avoid two more losses if they want a chance to make the playoff.

You can give LSU a larger margin of error if they make it to the conference title game. Winning the SEC would give them an auto bid. However, if they lose two or three in-conference games and miss the title game, they have no chance.

With that in mind, Kelly will need his program to qualify as an at-large bid. They won't be able to do that if they lose two of the games against Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Realistically, they can only afford one more loss.

Although landing an at-large bid is a lot easier than outright winning the SEC, the task at hand is still challenging.

While the Tigers have a tough road ahead of them with little room for error, it's possible that Garrett Nussmeier can lead the program to the playoff promise land this season.