LSU Top-10 finishes since 2000

You've got to add 2001. Guaranteed spot winning the conference.

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miles w what he inherited

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Unbelievable. 12 seasons.

If CLM coached this year we’d be 9-2 right now. He wasnt going to win another natty but best coach since saban. It was right move to can him but how do you justify saying he inherited? Are you talking about 2005-2007? I can see that argument maybe

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You've got to add 2001. Guaranteed spot winning the conference.

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You're right.. I was just looking at top 10 finishes without thinking about the auto bid. Will edit to correct

Uh…it had happen once (2019) in the 9-10 years before he arrived. I understand you want to make a point by including additional years, but those years aren’t relevant. It only happened TWICE from 1971-1999. Also irrelevant.

“Miles had 5 in 13!” Whatever…none occurred in his last 5 years. Was the program trending up or down?

What is more relevant:

1. The state of the program when he was hired?
2. The five years before?
3. 10?
4. Since 2000? (Only this one supports your premise)
5. Historically?

Kelly walked into a gutted program and he’s rebuilding it. All that matters is what the state was when he walked into it and what immense resources (facilities, recruits, money, support) he has to build upon.

People also forget the SEC is a much tougher conference today than it was in the first half of the 2000s.

1 playoff appearance in the last 12 years certainly doesn’t put us in the elite category anymore. It won’t be long before the recruits weren’t even born during the Les Miles era.

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In short, if we can beat OU and win our bowl game and end up in top 10 I’d say it was a “good” year.

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Are you saying you think we will end up top 10 in the rankings by beating an average Oklahoma team and a likely very average bowl matchup?? Because that will not move the needle nearly enough. At this point we should hope to end up top 20-25 in the final poll.

1998 Tennessee football:

13-0

For context LSU finished the 2018 regular season at #11 which would be a playoff spot and their final ranking in the AP poll was #6.

So Orgeron would have had 2 playoff teams.

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When someone cherry picks year increments (especially if doing so creates a narrative that ONLY is supported given those specific dates) and then builds an argument around that data, it’s typically not “just posting stats.”

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"Since 2000" isn't really cherry picking though, is it? I mean it's not like I went with "since 1977 but only odd-numbered years in which we played under a full moon". That would be cherry picking.

The whole idea was just to show where LSU has been in recent history, and how often we should expect to be a CFP team in its current format based on that recent history. Sure, I could have cut it off at 1994 or 2002, but 2000 is a nice, round number.

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Otherwise, I invite you to restate your case using the last 10 years and see if you still come to the same conclusion.

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I don't really have a case. Like everyone else I'm disappointed we aren't playing for an expanded CFP spot this weekend in year 3 of the BK era.

At the same time, I understand he had to rebuild a program that went 11-12 the two years before he got here, playing with about 45 scholarship players. He was able to stabilize things with a much-improved 20-7 record over his first two years. But we really aren't better in year 3 than we were in year 1. The defensive personnel certainly isn't. The number of exciting young players isn't.

So overall, Kelly gets credit for stopping the bleeding, but objectively the progress has stalled in year 3. Year 4 is big.