LSU starting to become popular pick to make College Football Playoff

The LSU Tigers were a team with a lot of questions heading into their huge matchup with Ole Miss. They still have questions but they proved themselves to be one of the top teams in the country with a 29-26 victory in overtime.

The key was quarterback Garrett Nussmeier at the end of the game. He converted multiple fourth downs, including a touchdown to Aaron Anderson to tie the game and found top target Kyren Lacy for the game-winning walk off touchdown on their first play of overtime.

With a 5-1 record, the Tigers only have a neutral site loss along with a top ten win under their belt and they are becoming a very popular pick for the College Football Playoff.

LSU is projected to be 11th seed in College Football Playoff

In his projection at the halfway point, our own Travis May at A to Z Sports has the Tigers as the 11th seed in the College Football Playoff taking on the sixth seed Georgia Bulldogs in his latest projections. He doesn't have the Tigers making much noise, as they fail to advance to the second round.

This 2024 Georgia Bulldogs has its imperfections. They rank outside the top ten among SEC teams in pass rush pressures . They have multiple defensive backs who continue to give up too many explosive plays by Georgia's standard. Yet, Carson Beck and the dominant offensive line for the Bulldogs continue to do enough every week, bringing a good amount of explosive plays of their own.

Garrett Nussmeier just put together one of his most important games ever , the wide receivers continue to make plays, and the pass protection is elite every week . However, LSU has still shown entirely too much inconsistency on defense and tend to post spurts where the offense struggles for multiple quarters in a row. If that happens against Georgia they will most certainly lose, and likely will regardless.

The Tigers making the College Football Playoff shouldn't be much of a surprise. They have done a great job in rebounding from their opening weekend loss against the USC Trojans. Nussmeier's growth over the last few weeks should have fans really optimistic, as should the defense holding the Rebels to only 26 points.

Head coach Brian Kelly has made the College Football Playoff twice with Notre Dame in both 2018 and 2020. The Tigers have six games left to earn their way into the dance and they are well on their way to doing so.