That was a gut-wrenching loss for No. 7 LSU on Saturday night. There's just no getting around it. No. 8 Ole Miss got its revenge against Lane Kiffin and dealt the Tigers' College Football Playoff chances a blow in the process.
As bad as it may hurt, LSU still has plenty of hope of reaching the playoff, which is the goal in Kiffin's first year on the job. The path is just a bit narrower now.
It's probably fair to assume -- a dangerous concept in college football -- that the Tigers are safely in the playoff at 10-2. That gives them one more slip-up over the last nine games, and they certainly have the talent to go 8-1 the rest of the way.
That said, the biggest challenges aren't evenly distributed. LSU will have to feast on less-talented rosters before November, when it faces one of the toughest stretches in the SEC.
Here is how Kiffin and LSU can navigate the path to the playoff after their 32-24 loss to Ole Miss.
Handle business for the next five weeks
There are two pieces of good news for LSU coming out of this game. The first is that the schedule is about to lighten up considerably.
The Tigers do have to regroup quickly before a rivalry game against Texas A&M next weekend, but that matchup doesn't look as daunting after Kentucky dismantled the Aggies in Kyle Field. After that, LSU gets four extremely winnable games, and it will be the clear favorite in each.
Next five games
- Sept. 26: vs. Texas A&M
- Oct. 3: vs. McNeese
- Oct. 10: vs. Kentucky
- Oct. 17: vs. Mississippi State
- Oct. 24: at Auburn
The Wildcats do look tougher after beating the Aggies in College Station, but that's the same team that got hammered by Alabama in Lexington. Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor should scare LSU, but the rest of the Tigers' roster is in a different stratosphere. Auburn just gave up 44 points to Florida at home, so Lane Kiffin might have a field day scheming up that game plan.
The other piece of good news LSU gets moving forward is that the toughest opposing quarterback on its schedule is now in the rearview mirror. Taylor, Arch Manning and Keelon Russell are all dangerous, but none are better than Chambliss at his best.
If the Tigers are going to go 5-0 throughout this stretch, Sam Leavitt will have to avoid the slow starts that have plagued him in each of the last two games. In the loss to Ole Miss, Leavitt had 51 passing yards and 23 rushing yards at the half. That allowed the Rebels to build a 17-point lead, and the Tigers were unable to overcome it in the second half, even though they came very close.
Leavitt improved in the second half, but he still had some misses, and that has to get cleaned up over the next month.
Survive November gauntlet
The reason it's so important for LSU to get to November at 7-1 is that the final month of the season is a gauntlet. In three consecutive weeks, the Tigers host Alabama and Texas before traveling to Tennessee.
LSU does get to finish with Arkansas -- and there's no telling what that team will look like by Thanksgiving -- the Tigers have to get there first. That won't be easy.
Brutal home stretch
- Nov. 7: vs. Alabama
- Nov. 14: vs. Texas
- Nov. 21: at Tennessee
- Nov. 28: at Arkansas
If LSU enters November with one loss, it can afford to go 3-1 in that stretch and still feel good about its College Football Playoff. However, if the Tigers drop another game between now and then, there is likely zero room for error. It's possible LSU could run the table in November, but that is a lot to ask.
There may be a world in which the Tigers could get into the playoff at 9-3 -- although Clemson has done nothing to bolster the non-conference resume -- but losing three games absolutely opens the door to getting snubbed. How would that go over in Baton Rouge after the amount of money that has been poured into LSU's roster?
