College football analyst Josh Pate didn’t mince words after the Week 3 AP poll dropped, and his gripe was aimed squarely at LSU’s placement.
“LSU at seven is laughable,” Pate said on his show, taking issue with the Tigers sitting at No. 7 despite a 2-0 start. His bigger complaint was that voters seemed to be grading teams on preseason expectations instead of what they’ve actually done in September.
LSU opened the season with a jolt, rolling past Clemson 51-10 at Tiger Stadium on Sept. 5. The Tigers piled up 644 yards, held Clemson to 145, and got a huge debut from quarterback Sam Leavitt, the Arizona State transfer who threw for 230 yards and ran for 113 more.
The next week was far less clean. LSU beat Louisiana Tech 45-14 on Sept. 12, but Leavitt also threw three interceptions, including one returned 100 yards for a touchdown.
The Bayou Bengals were tied to a 10-7 halftime edge before pulling away with 28 unanswered points in the second half. Even with the victory, the night came with 528 total yards and 101 penalty yards.
That resume moved LSU from No. 11 in the preseason poll to No. 8 after the Clemson win, then up again to No. 7 after beating Louisiana Tech.
Pate’s frustration wasn’t with Indiana being ranked highly. It was with the gap between the Hoosiers and LSU.
Indiana sits at No. 4 as the defending national champion after beating North Texas 52-16 and Howard 55-0, a combined 107-16 margin against two teams outside the Power Four. Still, North Texas actually outgained Indiana 367-365 in the opener.
“The four teams ahead of LSU are Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame and Indiana. Texas took over the top spot after rallying past Ohio State 24-23, and the Buckeyes fell to No. 6.”
Pate argued that LSU’s body of work should stack up favorably against Indiana’s at this point.
“Outside of that, there's no way that you look at what LSU's done so far and look at what Indiana's done and say, 'Oh, Indiana's resume warrants top five whereas LSU's does not,'” Pate said.
He also pushed back on the idea of projecting future strength instead of rewarding what’s already happened.
“I don't even care if you think Indiana's going to be better. Wait for them to prove it.
Is that not how voting should work?” Pate said.
This wasn’t a one-off reaction. Pate made a similar point a week earlier, when LSU was sitting at No. 8 and some individual ballots had the Tigers as low as 16th.
LSU gets another big test Saturday night at Ole Miss, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Oxford will also host ESPN’s “College GameDay.” The Rebels are 2-0 and ranked No. 8, just behind the Tigers.
The trip sends Lane Kiffin back to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, where he coached for six seasons before taking the LSU job in late November 2025. Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, promoted from defensive coordinator, guided the Rebels to a College Football Playoff semifinal last season. Ole Miss beat LSU 24-19 in Oxford in 2025.
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Delanes first pro moment came with an immediate catch, though it also brought an early concern for Kansas City. He re-injured a right shoulder issue on the play and did not return, leaving the Chiefs with one of the days sharpest defensive flashes and an unsettling update on a player they expected to lean on right away. [Read more 🡒]