LSU Football: Tigers are ranked in 247Sports’ early top 25

If you’re thinking that analysts will be down on LSU football this year because of a tough 2020 season, you would be wrong.

After winning it all in 2019, the Tigers entered the 2020 season ranked as the No. 4 team in the country in the AP Top 25.

The season immediately got off to bad start for LSU — the Tigers dropped their season-opener to Mississippi State.

LSU fell to No. 20 in the top 25 after the loss to the Bulldogs. The Tigers climbed back to No. 17 after beating Vanderbilt in week two.

However, a loss to Missouri in week three dropped LSU from the top 25. They wouldn’t return to the top 25 the reason of the season.

Will LSU football be ranked to start the 2021 season?

While we can’t be certain of how the preseason AP Top 25 will look later this summer, we can at least get a good idea of how the national media feels based on the latest preseason top 25 from 247Sports.

This week’s updated 247Sports top 25 has the Tigers at No. 18 (up from No. 21).

That might be surprising considering LSU went 5-5 last season, but I think it’s about right.

The Tigers finished the 2020 season on a two-game winning streak with wins over the Florida Gators and the Ole Miss Rebels. LSU is returning 20 starters from last season, including quarterback Myles Brennan who was on pace for a historic season last year before injuries shut him down.

That’s momentum and experience that LSU is carrying into the 2021 season.

Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron also seems to feel really good about his 2021 coaching staff (he replaced five assistants from the 2020 team), which should be a good sign for the program’s success moving forward.

I don’t know what kind of season LSU is going to have in 2021, but I feel confident that we’ll see a much better team than we saw last season.

247Sports is confident in that, too.