LSU Football: The first sign that analysts are starting to believe in the Tigers longterm
By Zach Ragan
Are analysts finally starting to believe in LSU football?
Winning the national championship in dominating fashion last season didn’t earn LSU football much respect.
Sure, analysts appreciated the historic season the Tigers had last year. But that didn’t mean they suddenly believed in the longterm future of the program.
Entering the 2020 season, most analysts aren’t giving LSU much of a chance to repeat as SEC champs, citing the extreme loss of talent the Tigers suffered after the 2019 season.
And look, they’re correct that there’s no way LSU is going to steamroll through their opponents in 2020 as they did in 2019. Losing 14 players to the NFL is going to have an impact on the program.
Plus the Tigers are moving to a 4-3 defense under new defensive coordinator Bo Pelini (who replaced previous defensive coordinator Dave Aranda). It’ll take some time for the team to find its groove.
But while there are reasons to believe that LSU will regress a bit in 2020, there are also reasons to believe that Ed Orgeron’s program is reaching an elite level that very few other programs have reached.
And at least one college football analyst is starting to see the light.
LSU football is entering Alabama/Clemson/Ohio State territory
Pete Fiutak, an analyst who has published College Football News since 1998, recently revealed his preseason power rankings and he has LSU at No. 5 (via 247Sports).
That seems to be a fair ranking, considering the Tigers will have a new starting quarterback in Myles Brennan.
“No, LSU won’t be able to do that again, and no, you don’t lose that much talent and keep it all going. However, LSU might be about to enter the Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson territory of programs that lose NFL talents and replace them with other NFL talents without losing a blip of production,” wrote Fiutak.
It’s about time that analysts recognize that LSU may have lost a plethora of talent, but the cupboard is far from bare.
The Tigers have been recruiting at a high level in recent years. The program is definitely in a position where it can withstand a mass exodus of talent thanks to the young elite talent on the roster.
Next. Recruiting analyst makes huge prediction for LSU. dark
LSU is about to prove to the nation that they weren’t a one-year wonder in 2019.