The LSU Football team's hopes of competing for a College Football Playoff bid and eventually a National Championship were crushed by Alabama on Saturday Night. The rest of the way they'll be playing to determine which meaningless bowl game they'll play in which is disappointing.
LSU entered the game ranked 13th in the US LBM Coaches Poll, 14th in the Associated Press' AP Poll, and 15th in the College Football Playoff rankings. Everyone knew they'd slide down but, the question was how far would they fall.
The Coaches Poll has given us our first indication as LSU has fallen from 13th to 22nd nearly falling out of the Top 25.
LSU falls nine spots to No. 22 in the latest Coaches Poll.
— Jerit Roser (@JeritRoser) November 10, 2024
Bama climbs to No. 9.
Georgia & Miami fall eight spots each to No. 10 & No. 12.
Everyone else moves up accordingly, including an Indiana jump four spots to No. 6.
Tulane + Cajuns received 26th & 27th most votes. pic.twitter.com/p6ZoVEJOIW
The game vaulted Alabama up two places to ninth while Ole Miss jumped up to 11th after their massive win against Georgia.
Had LSU beaten either the USC Trojans or the Texas A&M Aggies they most likely would've still been in the race in the 10th to 15th range but, those two ugly losses will be known as the ones that derailed the season.
Over the next three weeks it would take utter chaos for LSU to make the jump into the top 15th let alone the College Football Playoff conversation. LSU faces Florida, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma the next three weeks which are all winnable games.
The focus should be on developing the underclassmen
Given that the next three weeks don't mean a ton for LSU as they're out of contention for the College Football Playoff the team should go with a different approach. Brian Kelly should use these three weeks to evaluate and develop the underclassmen for next season. The true freshmen receivers should get their first sets of reps, the freshmen safeties should certainly see playing time, and the freshmen who were already playing should see their playing time grow. LSU will return some nice pieces for next season and if Kelly can start to develop some of the younger guys now he'll know what he needs in the transfer portal.