This season is seemingly a College Football Playoff or bust season for Brian Kelly and the LSU Football team. The last two seasons, the LSU Football team fielded College Football Playoff caliber offenses but, the defenses, especially in 2023 have let the offense down. In the second year with Blake Baker calling the defense and a ton of belief in the coaching staff, the Tigers defense should be the best its been under Brian Kelly.
The difficult part about judging the improvement on defense is the fact that the SEC is going to field so many dominant offenses. The SEC returns so many solid starting quarterbacks as Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart, and Quinn Ewers, who will be the only players drafted at the position from the SEC. When you look at the rankings of the quarterbacks coming into 2025, the top ten is dominated by the SEC.
While LSU has the 2nd ranked quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, the Tigers will face off against DJ Lagway, Cade Klubnik, LaNorris Sellers, and John Mateer.
Based on the timing of the matchup, Cade Klubnik will be the toughest quarterback to knock off for LSU. The Tigers face off against Cade Klubnik in week one on the road in Clemson, which is a tough environment, and against the Clemson Tigers, who return a loaded roster. Beating Clemson can be the pivotal win on LSU's College Football Playoff hopes while a loss would only extend the dreaded opening game losing streak.
The quarterback who is getting the most hype, whether it's deserved or not, is Florida's DJ Lagway, who LSU faced in 2024. Lagway showed a ton of promise as a true freshman, but he still finished the season with just 12 touchdowns to 9 interceptions. When LSU faced Lagway, he was injured, which took away his rushing ability, but LSU held him to 13-26 passing for 226 yards and a touchdown.
LaNorris Sellers is the quarterback in the top ten who could easily take the biggest jump and find himself in the Heisman Conversation. The aspect of Sellers' game is his ability as a rusher, as LSU has struggled containing rushing quarterbacks, which was always at its peak against Jalen Milroe.
The biggest wild card is John Mateer, who enters the SEC after transferring into Oklahoma from Washington State. Mateer had a massive season last year, passing for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns with 7 interceptions while rushing for 826 yards and 15 touchdowns. The difficult part in projecting how Mateer will fare is the difficulty of facing SEC seasons and how bad Oklahoma's offensive line and wide receiver core will be.
Aside from the quarterbacks that are seen as some of the best in the sport, LSU may end up facing top quarterbacks who emerge during the season. Alabama has a quarterback battle on its hands, but all three quarterbacks were highly touted recruits who could end up breaking out like Mac Jones. Marcel Reed of Texas A&M came into the game last season and completely flipped the game, and he'll only be better with his experience. Diego Pavia works magic and will scare any team he faces. Austin Simmons showed promise in a limited role, and Lane Kiffin constantly gets production out of his quarterbacks.
If LSU is going to be a College Football Playoff team, the Tigers defense will need to take that next step Tigers fans have been waiting for. The team will be led by its strong linebacker core of Whit Weeks, Harold Perkins Jr, and Dahvon Keys. The defensive front seemingly reloaded via the transfer portal but, they'll need to carry their past performances to LSU. The secondary remains the biggest question as LSU's backend will be made up of mostly new pieces which could take some time to gel.