The Tigers exceeded all expectations in Brian Kelly’s first season at the helm, winning 10 games while winning the SEC West.
Now, those expectations are set to rise quite a bit in 2023 as LSU returns one of the most talented rosters in college football. Some see this team as a College Football Playoff contender, and maybe even a team that could capture a national title.
You can include Athlon’s Phil Steele, who had high praise for the Tigers in his annual season preview magazine, among that group. Steele was impressed with how quickly Kelly managed to reverse the misfortunes from the prior two campaigns, and he called this team a “legitimate national title contender” in 2023.
“LSU trailed Auburn by 17 and Mississippi State by 13 but won each,” Steele said, per On3. “They lost to Tennessee by 27. LSU trailed Ole Miss by 17, beat Bama in OT and got past Arkansas by 3 (Hogs QB out). Showing their tight rope act they were -5 YPG in SEC play but got to the SEC title game and blew out Purdue 63-7 in the bowl for a 10-4 year and were No. 16.
“This year, they are preseason top 10 and do have better talent and are in Kelly’s second year. They do rate a -3.0 in my Stock Market Indicator and were two plays away from being 7-5 last year but are more experienced, grew as the season went on and the defending SEC West champs are a legitimate National Title contender in Kelly’s second year.”
Achieving that potential will be easier said than done as LSU has a difficult schedule that features a non-conference matchup against a likely top-10 team in Florida State to open the season as well as a road game against Alabama.
Still, as Steele rights, this should be a more talented team in Year 2. The Tigers played with fire quite a bit last season and ultimately overachieved, but now they’ll have to meet expectations that have skyrocketed very quickly.
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