When did LSU become championship or bust for this year?

When LSU paid a giant buyout for CBK and then hired the biggest name in the sport

And don't forget the $50M NIL roster... so they say.

Most were hopeful for the playoffs the first year. The other is not a fair assessment.

It hasn't. It never was. If you have common sense.

How many of those have lost like four or five starters in that payroll?

I think getting Seaton was the turning point where expectations went to retarded levels. I think the big names we got distracted people from all the holes we have on offense.
The difference in this team competing for a natty this year vs not was OM beating Georgia in the playoffs last year

Have you met our fans?

1) the money (BK's buyout, Lane's salary, money spent on the roster). My counter to that is money doesn't always buy titles though, Indiana wasn't the top spender last year. The Yankees and Dodgers each got swept out of the playoffs against teams with significantly lower payrolls. The roster had a lot of holes last year especially on offense. I don't care what the dollar amount is, it's not my money and there are others that spent around the same of not more. Trying to implement a new system, the QB missing spring, trying to plug up holes in the roster with transfers, that's a tall ask to expect all of that to come together and be the best team in America.

2) Cignetti's Indiana run has warped people's expectations of how fast teams should turn around under new coaches. My counter to that is even Cig's first year, yeah they went 11-2 but they only played 2 ranked teams all year and not only lost but got blown out in both. They were obviously greatly improved from Indiana teams of the past but there was still a noticeable gap between them and true contenders.


If you look at LSU fans expectations in the preseason, the average pick for the final record was around 9-3 and a playoff bubble team. Nobody really expected a natty year 1 despite what talking heads think. The sheer dominance of that Clemson game maybe altered some expectations, people expected to win that game but nobody expected it to be THAT lopsided. That's when people started buying into the hype more, the Ole Miss and Kentucky games were a reality check that Kiffin's program in year 1 isn't a finished product.