What the Week 3 AP Top 25 says about LSU Football

The Week 3 AP Top 25 poll was released on Sunday afternoon. LSU Football remains ranked No. 14, which tells us what voters think about the Tigers.

LSU Football destroyed Grambling State 72-10 in Baton Rouge on Saturday. However, the massive victory over the historic HBCU program didn’t move the needle for AP Top 25 voters. The Tigers remain ranked No. 14 ahead of their Week 3 game at Mississippi State.

LSU not moving up in the rankings tells us that voters are unsure of Brian Kelly’s team. Beating up on Grambling wasn’t enough to wash away the stench of Week 1’s 45-24 loss to Florida State.

Judging a Power Five program based on a win over an FCS program is challenging. Indeed, all we can ask is that the Power Five program wins by the expected margin that prevents sportsbooks from creating odds. LSU Football put up a 62-point scoring differential on Grambling, but the HBCU made the Tigers’ defense look bad in the first half.

I saw an LSU Football fan gripe that LSU dropped nine spots after losing to Florida State. However, Alabama only dropped seven spots after losing to Texas on Saturday. The second part of the complaint is that the Seminoles jumped to a higher ranking after Week 1 than the Longhorns did after Week 2.

Such is an interesting comparison but not worth the aggravation. Ultimately, voter expectations and recency bias influence the early AP Top 25 rankings.

What matters to LSU Football is improving week-to-week and not losing a second game. As we know, the College Football Playoff committee refuses to let a 2-loss team into the Top 4. Chaos could change that in the final year of the four-team format, but I won’t hold my breath.

The Tigers will begin their conference slate with a road game in Starkville on Saturday. Mississippi State is 2-0 and playing tough football.

A win by LSU in Week 3 will likely result in climbing the AP Top 25.