By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
They are college football preseason polls, and they can be considered to be just that – starting points.
But in most cases, voters in preseason polls tend to fill out their ballots by how they feel the season will end.
And if that is the case in the 2026 season, three of the five most prestigious preseason college football polls do not have LSU and new coach Lane Kiffin reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Of the five polls reviewed by Tiger Rag – ESPN, The Athletic/New York Times, CBS, Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, LSU made the top 12 in just two – Sports Illustrated at No. 8 and ESPN at No. 10. The Sporting News has the Tigers at No. 14, while The Athletic/New York Times and CBS has them at No. 13.
The Tigers were a very average 7-6 overall last season and 3-5 in the Southeastern Conference as coach Brian Kelly was fired after a 5-3 and 2-3 start in his fourth season with zero playoffs.
LSU’s Shakespearean, Bloody October dominated La. Sports Writers Association contest winners – @whalexander_ . Other winners – @ByPiperHutch @MattMoscona and @RPIII_Sports https://t.co/AZNKYSWbZc
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 29, 2026
New coach Lane Kiffin was the blockbuster hire of the off-season as he worked wonders at Ole Miss, taking the Rebels to four seasons of 10 wins or more out of six, climaxing with the program’s first College Football Playoff berth last season following an 11-1, 7-1 SEC regular season.
It was Ole Miss’ best run since the 1950s and ’60s under coach Johnny Vaught. But Kiffin went 5-5 in his first season in 2020 before the 10-3 breakthrough in 2021. It took time. And the LSU Kiffin took over last December is not much better than the Ole Miss program he inherited. But Kiffin did sign perhaps the best Transfer Portal class in history last January and one of the largest with 41 players – basically two classes.
Kiffin signed 11 players ranked in the top 12 at their position, including No. 1 quarterback Sam Leavitt of Arizona State, No. 1 offensive tackle Jordan Seaton of Colorado, No. 1 edge Princewill Umanmielen of Ole Miss, No. 2 safety Ty Benefield of Boise State, No. 3 guard Devin Harper of Ole Miss, No. 6 edge Jordan Ross of Tennessee, No. 8 linebacker TJ Dottery of Ole Miss and No. 10 safety Faheem Delane of Ohio State.
And Kiffin finished off Kelly’s recruiting class of 2025-26 with a No. 13 ranking.
Still, Kiffin signed the No. 1 portal class in 2024 with 27, and he stumbled to a 10-3 and 5-3 mark that season and failed to reach the playoffs with ridiculous losses to bad teams Kentucky and Florida.
It takes time. Kiffin has said that. Yet so many LSU fans in addition to media covering LSU are assuming the very best – as in LSU’s first College Football Playoff since 2019 and perhaps its first national title since then.”
“I think that is what a lot of people assume,” Kiffin said last spring. “But there’s a lot that goes into building a team. A lot goes into making the right team. And once they’re there, there are also breaks, injuries, breaks in games. Within that roster is, how do they play together? How well does the quarterback play, especially? You’ve got to do a lot of work within that – get the right guys and get them to mesh together.”
LSU also plays its most SEC road games in history with five in the new nine-game league schedule in 2026, including at Ole Miss (No. 8 by The Sporting News) on Sept. 19 and at Tennessee (No. 17 by CBS) on Nov. 21. Texas, which is No. 4 in The Athletic and TSN, will be at LSU on Nov. 14.
The Sporting News appears cautiously optimistic about LSU with its No. 14 ranking:
“LSU enters Year 1 with Lane Kiffin, and half of the projected starters are from the transfer portal. Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt and Colorado tackle Jordan Seaton are the high-profile newcomers on offense along with Kansas State’s Jayce Brown (712 yards, 5 TDs) and Hawaii’s Jackson Harris (963 yards, 12 TDs) at receiver. Running backs Caden Durham and Harlem Berry return. The defense should be solid with linebacker Whit Weeks and Boise State transfer safety Ty Benefield. It won’t take long to find out how this will work. LSU opens with Clemson (Sept. 5) before Kiffin’s highly anticipated return to Ole Miss (Sept. 19).”
On the other end of the spectrum is Sports Illustrated’s No. 8 projection:
“This is largely a bet on Sam Leavitt returning healthy at quarterback, and Lane Kiffin doing Lane Kiffin things as expected. The early returns are that the offensive line looks much better than the porous unit the Tigers had last season, and there are skill guys for days between what was already on the roster and what came in from the portal. Putting up points is key, but don’t sleep on the team having a freaky fast and physical defense to really delight the fan base.”
LSU PRESEASON RANKINGS
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED – 8. LSU.
ESPN – 10. LSU
THE ATHLETIC/NEW YORK TIMES – 13. LSU
ESPN – 14. LSU
THE SPORTING NEWS – 14. LSU
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