Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. As cliche as that sounds, it befits how proceedings went down in Kyle Field for the LSU Tigers(6-2). After seemingly heading to a commendable road win through the first half, chaos ensued. 3 Garrett Nussmeier interceptions and 5 consecutive Texas A&M scoring drives later, the score read 38-23 in favor of the Aggies. Brian Kelly and the team now find themselves in a pickle. The season lives on a knife-edge with no room for further slip-ups. But the Tigers are afforded a lifeline in the form of the new CFP format.

The expanded 12-team playoffs are in their first year of implementation, and there is no precedent for how many teams from each conference make it through. LSU, who are 3-1 in conference play, are at the mercy of the committee come December. The SEC is widely expected to fetch multiple berths, so there is still everything to play for in Baton Rouge. If the Tigers manage to win out the remainder of their schedule, a rationale does open up.

LSU plummeted from no.8 all the way down to no.16 in the latest AP Poll. Albeit, their schedule is nicely set up for a backdoor entry into the Top 12. LSU’s next game is against No. 14 Bama in Tiger Stadium. A win against The Tide would definitely garner the committee’s attention and help their cause.​​ 

They also have a game against Vandy, who were ranked 25th up until last week and are still on the periphery. A 10-2 finish with such scalps in the run-in could suffice in pushing LSU up the ranks.

Other major programs also find themselves in an uphill battle to make it to the CFP, so the Tigers have got to hope results elsewhere fall in their favour. Oddsmakers have them at +225 to make it to the postseason.

With plenty of conjecture around what lies ahead for his team, Brian Kelly steps into a bye week now, looking to refocus his players after a grueling loss. This loss ended LSU’s 104-game winning streak when leading by double digits at halftime, and was the longest active streak across college football.

He will be the one tasked with deflecting thoughts about the bigger picture away from the team and have them laser-focused on facing Bama in a fortnight. But he cannot dodge the questions for himself, and he chimes in on what he believes lies ahead.

Kelly’s comments on the loss and what lies ahead

After the loss, Brian Kelly was asked about his team’s playoff chances in the postgame presser. To this, he said, “We lost our margin. We have no margin for error”. Without dwelling much on the hypotheticals, he reiterated the need to improve on offense.

“We know what we need to continue to work on from an offensive standpoint. We need to build some balance so [that] Garrett is not out there trying to make a play every down“, Kelly said. Nussmeier will also have to take onus himself and work on cleaning up his mistakes as they approach the final 4 game stretch.

Out of these 4 games, 3 are poised to take place at Tiger Stadium. Fans will have their work cut out for them as they push their team on towards the promise land.

After 2 years of progress under Kelly, missing the playoffs will be a backwards step for the program. The stage is set for a potential “loser goes home” elimination game against The Crimson Tide next up.