LSU is drawing plenty of praise right now, but Lane Kiffin isn’t interested in letting that turn into a distraction.
The Tigers have become a popular pick in a hurry. FanDuel listed LSU with the third-best odds to win the College Football Playoff this week, tied with No.
1 Miami and trailing only Georgia and Notre Dame. ESPN’s Football Power Index has also moved sharply in LSU’s direction, jumping the Tigers from about a 28% chance of reaching the CFP after the Oct. 10 loss to Kentucky to nearly 51% now.
Even Nick Saban has joined the chorus. On “College GameDay” Saturday, he called LSU his sleeper pick to win the national championship. College football analyst David Pollack went even further on his podcast, saying, “Nobody wants to play LSU right now.”
Kiffin, though, isn’t buying the hype - and he doesn’t want his team buying it either.
“We just show them the polls,” Kiffin said at his Monday news conference to kick off Alabama week. “There’s no rat poison in the polls about us playing well. We just go by that.”
The rankings still have LSU at No. 15 in both the AP media poll and the USA Today coaches poll heading into Saturday’s game against No. 9 Alabama at 2:30 p.m. on ABC in Tiger Stadium.
The first College Football Playoff rankings were a little kinder, slotting the Tigers at No. 14.
Alabama, meanwhile, sits much higher in the CFP picture at No. 5, eight spots ahead of Tennessee despite the Crimson Tide’s 26-10 loss to the Volunteers in October.
LSU is not being treated as a fraud. But there are reasons the Tigers’ four Power Four wins haven’t exactly been put on the highest shelf.
Clemson is 5-3 and looks ordinary. Texas A&M is 4-4 and has fallen well short of expectations.
Mississippi State was without star quarterback Kamario Taylor. Auburn, despite its stunning win at Georgia, has been exposed over the last two weeks by LSU and Ole Miss as the kind of team that may end up 6-6.
So why the surge in respect? In large part, it comes down to the eye test.
LSU has started to look like a team peaking at the right time, especially with tight end Trey’Dez Green back in the mix. The Tigers appear to be, as a vintage Les Miles line would put it, “coming to health” at just the right moment.
There’s also the possibility of another boost still waiting in the wings. If Whit Weeks can somehow make it back after breaking his leg Sept. 26 against Texas A&M, LSU would get a major physical and emotional lift for the stretch run.
The offense has started to click again, with Green’s return playing a big role. Sam Leavitt has cleaned up the turnovers, throwing none in the last two wins over Mississippi State and Auburn. On defense, LSU has adjusted to life without Weeks and Dashawn Spears.
The schedule ahead is where all of this gets real. ESPN ranks LSU’s strength of schedule 36th nationally, but the Tigers’ remaining slate is the third-toughest in the country. That stretch includes Alabama and Texas at home, a trip to Tennessee on Nov. 21 and a season finale at Arkansas.
That leaves LSU’s season hanging in a narrow window between praise and pressure.
“You’re one week away from everybody saying we’re great, ‘LSU is back,’ if we win this week,” Kiffin said. “If we lose, it’ll be, ‘OK, get rid of the coach.’ ”
Leavitt echoed that mindset when asked Tuesday whether he planned to watch the CFP rankings later that night.
“I really don’t care. We could be one or we could be 50.
“We have to go win games. You have to stay in the moment.”
That’s the reality for LSU now. The Tigers have put themselves in position where the applause is loud, but the margin for error is thin. With losses already at Ole Miss and Kentucky, they may not have much room left if they want to stay in the 12-team field.
Maybe LSU can survive one loss in its next three against Alabama, Texas or Tennessee. But the committee’s first rankings Tuesday showed it is willing to make bold choices early, and a team with three regular-season losses is hardly a safe bet to get in.
For now, the flowers can wait. Maybe until late January in Las Vegas, after the CFP championship game - with a victory cigar from the Joe Burrow collection.
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