LSU Is No. 15 In 1st CFP Rankings With ‘No Margin For Error’

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU coach Brian Kelly said it best after the 38-23 loss at Texas A&M on Oct. 26.

“I mean, we’ve lost our margin, right?,” he said after blowing a 17-7 halftime lead. “We have no margin for error (to reach the playoffs).”

The Tigers were No. 8 in the Associated Press poll before the loss and tumbled to No. 16, then jumped back up to No. 14 the next week after the No. 10 Aggies were upset at South Carolina and fell to No. 15.

On Tuesday night in the first College Football Playoff rankings, LSU (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) checked in at No. 15 – three spots out of the new, 12-team playoff format with four games to play and right behind No. 14 Texas A&M (7-2, 5-1 SEC).

The Tigers could find themselves right back in the top 12 at this time next week should they get by No. 11 Alabama (6-2, 3-2 SEC), which will be in Tiger Stadium on Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC) in a playoff elimination game in prime time. The Crimson Tide is a 2.5-point favorite.

Then if LSU can hold serve at Florida (4-4, 2-5 SEC) on Nov. 16, at home against Vanderbilt (6-3, 3-2 SEC) on Nov. 23, and at home against Oklahoma (5-4, 1-4 SEC) in the regular season finale on Nov. 30, it will make it.

“We have to stay in the moment,” LSU senior defensive end Sai’vion Jones said Tuesday before the rankings came out. “Don’t get too wrapped up in the rankings. We just have to beat Alabama. We can’t think about anything else.”

For now, the top four teams, who will get first-round byes in the playoffs after the last regular season poll on Dec. 8, in this first CFP rankings were Oregon (9-0), Ohio State (7-1), Georgia (7-1) and Miami (9-0).

They were followed by No. 5 Texas (7-1), No. 6 Penn State (7-1), No. 7 Tennessee (7-1), No. 8 Indiana (9-0), No. 9 Brigham Young (8-0) and No. 10 Notre Dame (7-1).

Following No. 11 Alabama were No. 12 Boise State (7-1), No. 13 SMU (8-1), No. 14 Texas A&M (7-2) and No. 15 LSU (6-2).

Ole Miss (7-2) is No. 16, but the Rebels can change that in a hurry on Saturday when they host No. 3 Georgia (2:30 p.m., ABC).

The rest of the CFP rankings had Iowa State (7-1), Pittsburgh (7-1), Kansas State (7-2) and Colorado (6-2) from No. 17 through 20.

The final five featured Washington State (7-1), Louisville (6-3), Clemson (6-2), Missouri (6-2) and Army (8-0).

The rankings will come out on four more Tuesday nights on ESPN before the final regular season rankings on Sunday, Dec. 8, after the suddenly mostly meaningless various conference championship games. The playoffs begin on Dec. 20 and 21 with the No. 5-12 seeds playing at the better seed’s home stadium. The national championship game will be in Atlanta on Jan. 20.