LSU Football: 247Sports had a chance to respect Tigers and they blew it

LSU football simply isn’t getting any respect from national outlets this offseason.

247Sports had a chance this week to show LSU football some respect, but much like they have all offseason, they blew it.

The sports network revealed their updated Top 25 rankings, sans the Pac-12 and Big 10, and they still don’t think much of the defending national champs.

247Sports has the Tigers at No. 7 in their updated rankings, which is up two spots from where they had LSU in late June (Penn State and Ohio State were previously ahead of Tigers).

There’s no doubt that LSU won’t be as good in 2020 as they were in 2019, but this ranking is simply silly.

Why 247Sports is completely wrong about LSU football’s ranking

I would probably have LSU at No. 4 or No. 5 if I were ranking the top 25 teams. Clemson is obviously at the top (they have the best quarterback).

Then there’s Georgia and Alabama, both teams are slightly ahead of the Tigers.

But after that? There are no clear cut teams above LSU.

I certainly don’t think Oklahoma, who will also have a new quarterback in 2020 (after the departure of Jalen Hurts to the NFL), is better than LSU. The two teams weren’t even close last year in the College Football Playoff. Even without Joe Burrow, the Tigers are still the more talented team.

And Notre Dame ahead of LSU? I just don’t see it. The Irish will have a new offensive coordinator (which is relevant since LSU’s detractors like to point to the loss of passing game coordinator Joe Brady as a reason the Tigers will regress in 2020), plus they only have five starters returning on defense.

It’s just extremely apparent that 247Sports and other national analysts don’t believe in the job Ed Orgeron has done in Baton Rouge.

But that’s okay. Coach O and the Tigers are going to make a lot of folks look foolish in 2020.