ESPN Releases Preseason Power Rankings, Best & Worst Case Scenario For LSU

ESPN released College Football Preseason Power Rankings last week, along with best-case and worst-case scenarios for each team in the Top 25.

ESPN slotted LSU at No. 5, where they are ranked in both the preseason AP and Coaches Polls, with the best-case scenario being a trip to the College Football Playoffs and the worst case being an 8-5 season.

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No. 5 LSU Tigers

Best case: College Football Playoff semifinal. Nobody saw LSU getting to the SEC championship game a year ago, especially after getting pummeled by Tennessee 40-13 at home the second week of October. But the Tigers picked themselves up off the turf, kept getting better, and Brian Kelly squeezed everything and then some out of his first LSU team. His second team will be even deeper. Kelly knows more about this team, and most importantly, the Tigers have a seasoned quarterback, Jayden Daniels, who has proven on big stages he can beat teams both passing and running. If LSU can manage to get through the month of September unscathed, that Nov. 4 game at Alabama could end up being a play-in game for the playoff.

Worst case: 8-5 with losses to Florida State, Ole Miss, Alabama, Texas A&M and the bowl opponent. The Tigers finished 10-4 last season, and that was with losses in two of their final three games. Winning just eight games as an encore to what LSU did a year ago would be a disappointment on the Bayou. But there aren't a lot of easy outs on LSU's schedule, and the September slate is filled with potholes. Getting Alabama in Tuscaloosa this season automatically makes it a more difficult schedule, and four of the first six games are away from Tiger Stadium. LSU's talent level is such that there shouldn't be a significant drop-off, but making it back to the SEC championship game will prove difficult.

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