LSU the first team out of College Football Playoff in ESPN's preseason field of 12 projection

For the first time in the College Football Playoff era, the postseason will expand to include 12 teams in 2024.

No longer do power conference teams need to bank on winning their league to make the CFP, and there are sure to be a much larger number of teams contending going into the final month of the year.

As a preseason top-15 team, LSU will hope it’s among those teams. The Tigers have missed the playoff in coach Brian Kelly’s first two campaigns, but they’ll hope to sneak into a 12-team field despite losing a lot of production.

ESPN broke down its projected 12-team field, and while it has LSU in the mix, it ultimately lists it as the first team out.

The Tigers will finish No. 12 in the selection committee’s ranking on Selection Day, but because the five highest-ranked champions earn a spot in the bracket, LSU gets bumped out in favor of Boise State (see above). The Tigers will finish with three losses — to Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Alabama — and just miss the cut.

It would be unfortunate if things played out as predicted here. As ESPN’s Heather Dinich notes, LSU would get bumped if it finished No. 12 in all likelihood in favor of the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion.

The Tigers will hope to prove the prediction wrong and make the CFP field in Year 3 under Kelly.

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