LSU Tigers football coach Brian Kelly spent a lot of money this offseason, including some of his own, to land the top transfer portal class in the country. At 4-1, coming off a 24-19 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford and heading into the bye week, LSU’s College Football Playoff candidacy is already in question.
Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde believes the Tigers are not good enough to make it given the way they’ve been playing. Forde also expressed skepticism about the team’s upcoming stretch after a bye week and a matchup with a South Carolina Gamecocks squad that’s already playing for its own playoff life, in addition to their rivalry week regular season finale on the road.
LSU will play the No. 16 Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville, the No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies, and the No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa in that time span. The Tigers finish up the season in Norman against the Oklahoma Sooners.
“After a needed open date, the Tigers have four ranked opponents remaining on the schedule—three of them on the road. There was an expectation coming into the season that Kelly would make the 12-team playoff; this team will have to improve to do so,” Forde wrote.
Truth be told, Ole Miss was always a team LSU was at risk of losing to. That’s just the nature of rivalry games, even secondary ones, on the road. It’s the nature of the beast in the SEC, especially in an era of NIL-induced parity.
Kelly’s squad is being counted out at this point because Garrett Nussmeier (seven TDs, three INTs) has not been the deep-threat, big-play game-changer many projected of the 2026 NFL draft prospect. His stock is no longer that of a franchise savior at the top of the first round, or anywhere close.
Instead, Nussmeier is becoming one of the many QBs whose reputation is outpacing his production in 2025. The Texas Longhorns’ Arch Manning and Virginia Tech Hokies’ Kyron Drones are also in that club.
Nussmeier can change that, and the Tigers' CFP fate, with some heroic QB performances. He may need to do that against a murderer’s row of opposing offenses led by Diego Pavia, Marcel Reed, Ty Simpson, and John Mateer.