247Sports analyst predicts where LSU football will finish in SEC West

LSU football has a lot to prove in 2020.

This feels ridiculous to say — especially after the way the 2019 season unfolded — but there may not be an SEC team with more to prove than LSU football in 2020.

After completely dominating college football in 2019, the Tigers lost a plethora of talent to the NFL (14 draftees and several other undrafted free agents).

As a result, there are plenty of national analysts that are skeptical that LSU can win the SEC West again this upcoming season.

247Sports analyst Brandon Marcello is one of those who isn’t a big believer in the Tigers.

Marcello recently revealed his predicted order of finish in the SEC and he has LSU finishing third in the west, behind Alabama and Auburn, respectively.

Here’s what Marcello had to say about the Tigers:

"The problem is LSU might not be completely ready to reload and automatically be a top-10 team after losing a record 14 players to the NFL Draft. LSU ranks 127th nationally in returning production on offense and defense."

LSU football’s loss of talent is causing a massive overreaction

I completely agree that LSU shouldn’t be perceived as the favorite to win the SEC in 2020.

But I also don’t think there’s a clear favorite, either. I think the Tigers have the same shot to win the conference as Alabama, Florida, and Georgia (the other perceived favorites). And I certainly think Ed Orgeron’s squad is in a better position than Auburn.

Yes, LSU lost a lot of talent. Yes, they also have to replace a key assistant in Joe Brady, who helped revolutionize the Tigers’ offense.

But we’re talking about the greatest college football team of all time. No one in their right mind is expecting LSU to replicate that same success.

The Tigers are still loaded with talent (I’ve said it many times, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and cornerback Derek Stingley Jr are the best in the nation at their respective positions).

It feels like analysts are penalizing LSU for losing a lot of talent to the NFL, instead of recognizing the talent that’s still on the roster.

This also feels like a slight toward Coach O. I have a feeling that a lot of national analysts still aren’t convinced that Orgeron is a great coach. They seemingly attribute the success in 2019 to Brady and Joe Burrow.

While it takes more than a head coach to make a program successful, I think it’s fairly obvious that LSU isn’t a national champion without Coach O putting the program in the position it was in last season.

Of course, it’s not like being viewed as an “underdog” is bad for LSU. It gives the team plenty of motivation.

And a motivated LSU is bad news for the rest of the sport.