LSU took a massive step forward in 2022.
The team won 10 games after going just 6-7 in the final year under coach [autotag]Ed Orgeron[/autotag], and it captured an SEC West title thanks to an upset win over Alabama that will certainly be the most remembered moment of the season.
It wasn’t all great in Brian Kelly’s first season, though. The Tigers lost a frustrating game in Week 1 to Florida State, were embarrassed at home by Tennessee, forfeited their playoff hopes with a loss to a sub-.500 Texas A&M team and weren’t particularly competitive against Georgia in the SEC title game.
If this team is going to get back to championship-level play, it has quite a bit of room to grow.
The Tigers are set to return a lot of talent in 2023, though, including quarterback [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag]. It added even more through the transfer portal and high school recruiting.
It’s not unthinkable that this team could improve significantly, and it’s for that reason that LSU was named a team with national championship potential this fall by 247Sports’ Dean Straka.
Remember when LSU was quietly mentioned as possibly be one of the SEC’s surprise teams last summer under Brian Kelly? All that positive stock was sold following the season-opening loss to Florida State before folks started coming around again. The Tigers would go on towinthe SEC West and now get transfer quarterback Jayden Daniels back for another campaign, strengthening the SEC’s deepest room at the position. Linebacker Harold Perkins is the SEC’s top returning defender and it’s not particularly close. And did we mention LSU has the top-ranked transfer class as of publication? There’s a lot to like about this team in 2023.
The hard part for LSU is getting to the playoff based on its schedule. Florida State once again looms in Week 1 — this time in Orlando – and the annual meeting with Alabama is in Tuscaloosa this time around. If the Tigers get back to the SEC title game, Georgia or Tennessee — teams that both cruised right past the Tigers in 2022 — likely await. But if the Tigers find a way to get in, they can feel decent about their chances regardless of who they are staring down across the line of scrimmage.
An SEC West schedule certainly doesn’t do the team any favors, and if the Tigers are going to take the division, they will likely have to win again vs. Alabama, this time in Tuscaloosa. Still, Kelly has put together a very talented roster, and it will be far from a rebuilding year in 2023.
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