LSU Football: USA Today coaches poll shows how voters truly feel about Ed Orgeron

The 2021 preseason USA Today coaches poll was released on Tuesday and it’s abundantly clear how voters feel about LSU football head coach Orgeron.

After finishing the 2020 season unranked, the Tigers will start the 2021 season as the No. 13 team in the nation in the coaches poll.

LSU comes in just behind Oregon at No. 11 and just ahead of USC at No. 14.

Here’s the full top 25:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Oklahoma
4. Ohio State
5. Georgia
6. Texas A&M
7. Notre Dame
8. Iowa State
9. North Carolina
10. Cincinnati
11. Florida
12. Oregon
13. LSU
14. USC
15. Wisconsin
16. Miami
17. Indiana
18. Iowa
19. Texas
20. Penn State
21. Washington
22. Oklahoma State
23. UL Lafayette
24. Coastal Carolina
25. Ole Miss

The voters must think highly of LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron

I think LSU is going to be a top 10 team in 2021. But that’s because I write about the Tigers on a daily basis and I know what this team is capable of doing this season.

But based solely on last season’s results, LSU probably shouldn’t be a preseason top 15 team.

The Tigers went 5-5 last season with disastrous losses to Mississippi State and Missouri.

LSU finished strong — beating Florida and Ole Miss in the final two games of the season — but it’s important to remember that the Tigers were a shoe toss away from possibly finishing 4-6.

The biggest reason LSU is ranked No. 13 in the preseason coaches poll is — in my opinion — because of Orgeron’s reputation.

Coach O gets the most out of his players. And he’s already showed us that he can take an extremely talented team and lead it to the top of the college football world.

The voters recognize this, which is why a team that underperformed in 2020 (for various reasons, including extreme loss of talent and the impact of COVID-19) is ranked No. 13.

If this was another program with another head coach and the same 2020 outcome, I don’t think we’d see that program ranked No. 13.

Take Indiana for example.

The Hoosiers were 6-2 last season with big wins against Penn State, Michigan, and Wisconsin (plus a close loss to Ohio State).

Pretty impressive, right?

Yet Indiana is only ranked No. 17 in the preseason coaches poll (after finishing No. 13 last season).

It’s not often that I think LSU and Orgeron are getting the respect they deserve. But this is one instance where I think folks got it right.

Maybe that’s because this is the “coaches poll” and not a bunch of writers with agendas that are voting (note: sometimes it’s the program’s SID who actually votes in the coaches poll).