By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU was picked to finish fifth on Friday in the Southeastern Conference media poll at the SEC Media Days in Tampa, Florida, behind No. 1 pick Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Georgia is the only team in the top four that LSU does not play.
So, after all these mandates of Lane Kiffin reaching playoffs or NC or bust, he’s picked 5th. Cue up MADTV’s “Lowered Expectations.”https://t.co/9RHW15N7gL
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) July 24, 2026
Many national and some local media members have said it is national championship or bust for the Tigers and first-year head coach Lane Kiffin. While Kiffin has downplayed that sentiment, he said that challenge is part of why he came to Baton Rouge from Ole Miss after last regular season.
“The team comes off of a 7-6 season, and then the expectations that everybody in the media has that we’re supposed to be this great team right away, that’s an awesome challenge,” Kiffin said. “You want to talk about getting uncomfortable, that does it.”
The Tigers have a tough nine-game SEC schedule for the first time ever this season. The conference added the ninth game for its latest TV deal amid a projected move to a 16-team playoff schedule from 12, but that has not happened yet. The move could boost SEC teams’ strength of schedule points, but the College Football Playoff doesn’t exactly include that. And Kiffin said the nine will do more harm than good.
“I was against it,” Kiffin said. “What you’re going to have is more conference losses, and you don’t prove anything. If we’re all in the same conference, and we keep playing each other we don’t really prove that we’re better than anyone else.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and league coaches at SEC Media Days discussed how the College Football Playoff Committee does not plan to reward SEC schools for the tougher strength of schedule.
“Until we can get to a world where people can actually look at teams and say, ‘That team that is 9-3 with their schedule is a better team than that 11-1 team in a different conference,’ which now I think we aren’t even close to doing that. I think it causes a problem because we don’t have enough non-conference in our sport.”
Kiffin may have been thinking about his 9-3 Ole Miss team in 2024 that didn’t make the CFP. That team, however, did not deserve to reach the playoffs because of the very strength of schedule argument Kiffin is making. His No. 6 Rebels that year lost at home to an unranked Kentucky team that finished 4-8 and 1-7 in the league. And he lost as the No. 9 team to Florida, which finished 8-5 and 4-4. Ole Miss finished 9-3 and 5-3 in the ’24 regular season with a win over No. 3 Georgia, which finished 11-2 and 6-2, but the two “bad” losses canceled that one out. The Rebels’ third loss was to No. 13 LSU on the road in overtime in a game in which Ole Miss outgained the Tigers.
Strength of schedule is a great argument, especially if you win the games against the ranked teams and don’t lose to a couple of bad ones.
Alabama, which also finished 9-3 and 5-3 in 2024, also missed the playoffs, largely because of bad losses outweighing impressive wins. What killed the Tide that year was a 24-3 loss at unranked Oklahoma, which finished 6-7 and 2-6, in the regular season finale. Alabama also had a loss at unranked Vanderbilt, which finished 7-6 and 3-5. Those losses canceled out a win over No. 2 Georgia.
As for the 2026 conference schedule, LSU senior linebacker Whit Weeks said the Tigers’ defense will be put to the test against the fast-paced offenses of Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State and Tennessee. But going against former Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr.’s quick tempo in practice has prepared them.
“We play four of the fastest offenses in the country, outside of our own offense, and it’s tough playing tempo teams, but we get to see that every day at practice,” he said. “And at practice you don’t have refs spotting the ball, so it goes even faster than a game.”
LSU’s 2026 Schedule
Sat, Sept. 5 Clemson
Sat, Sept. 12 Louisiana Tech
Sat, Sept. 19 at Ole Miss
Sat, Sept. 26 Texas A&M
Sat, Oct. 3 McNeese State
Sat, Oct. 10 at Kentucky
Sat, Oct. 17 Mississippi State
Sat, Oct 24 at Auburn
Sat, Nov 7 Alabama
Sat, Nov 14 Texas
Sat, Nov 21 at Tennessee
Sat, Nov 28 at Arkansas
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