For all the national talk surrounding Lane Kiffin’s first LSU team, the SEC Media Days poll offered a much cooler read on the Tigers.
LSU, the program many around the country have been pushing into championship-or-bust territory because of Kiffin’s No. 1, 41-man portal class and his $13.5 million salary, was picked to finish fifth in the SEC in a reporters’ poll released Friday in Tampa, Florida. The Tigers also drew only two votes to win the league.
That’s a long way from the kind of runaway optimism some have attached to LSU this summer. SEC Network analyst Ben Watson said this week that Kiffin has to make the national title game in his first season, while others have framed the year as College Football Playoff or bust.
Georgia was the clear favorite to win the 2026 SEC Championship, collecting 88 votes. Texas followed with 57 votes and was projected as the Bulldogs’ opponent in the title game, setting up a rematch of the 2024 SEC Championship Game. The SEC Championship Game is set for December 5 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The conference’s new format will shape that race. Beginning in 2026, each school will play nine SEC games, and every team must also schedule at least one opponent from the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten or Big 12 conferences, or Notre Dame. The SEC Championship Game participants will be the two teams with the best overall SEC winning percentages during the regular season.
History says the preseason favorite doesn’t always cash in. Since 1992, only 10 times in 34 years has the team predicted to win the SEC at Media Days gone on to win the championship game.
Behind Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M, LSU landed just ahead of Alabama in the predicted order of finish. The full top half of the poll had Georgia first with 2,519 points, Texas second with 2,449, Ole Miss third with 2,004, Texas A&M fourth with 1,967, and LSU fifth with 1,961. Alabama was sixth with 1,930 points, followed by Oklahoma with 1,914, Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, South Carolina, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Arkansas.
In Other News...
Trey'Dez Green Is Already Hyping One New LSU Defender Hard
At SEC Media Days, Trey'Dez Green sounded like someone who has already seen enough from LSU's newest defensive addition to know the Tigers may have found a tone-setter. Green pointed to the transfer safety's leadership and presence since arriving in Baton Rouge, a promising sign for a defense that already carries high expectations under coordinator Blake Baker.
The buzz around him is not just internal, either. ESPN placed the safety No. 6 among defensive players in its preseason rankings, and LSU is counting on that kind of profile to translate into a breakout season on the field. For a team trying to build around a fast, physical defense, the question now is how quickly that early impression turns into production once the games start. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffins Ole Miss Exit Just Turned More Personal For LSU
Lane Kiffins move to LSU has already started reshaping the rivalry in ways that go beyond the usual offseason noise. Ole Miss interim head coach Pete Golding has been working to keep quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy focused on what they can still build in Oxford, stressing that staying put gives them a chance to leave something behind with the Rebels rather than start over somewhere else.
The fact that both players stayed only sharpens the intrigue around what comes next for LSU and Ole Miss. Kiffin is set to see his old program in Week 3, and for LSU, that trip to Oxford now carries a little more edge after the Rebels had to sort through the fallout of his exit and convince key pieces not to follow him out the door. [Read more 🡒]
Olivia Dunne Admits One Unexpected DM Left Her Completely Shaken
Olivia Dunne said in a recent interview that one unexpected direct message was enough to make her seriously consider deleting Instagram. The LSU gymnast and social media star did not go into the contents of the note, but she described the exchange as jarring enough to shake her confidence in the platform for a moment.
The timing only adds to why the story has drawn attention, with Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan recently arrested in Miami on multiple sex crime charges and facing extradition to the United Kingdom. The brothers deny the allegations, and their lawyer has publicly defended them, leaving Dunne's account as another reminder of how quickly a public figure's inbox can turn into a very uneasy place. [Read more 🡒]