Nick Saban Picks LSU as a College Football Playoff Team
The expanded College Football Playoff field is going to help a lot of teams in 2024. More and more experts are circling the LSU football program as a group that will be helped by the expanded field.
While there are some who project LSU to be the "first team left out", there are others who point at LSU to be one of the more dangerous "at large" teams in the field. Which is good, and bad, at the same time.
Its good because you're in the playoffs where anything can happen. Its bad, because as an "at large" team, you're going to be on the road for your playoff journey. The road path hasn't harmed too many NFL teams who get into the playoffs as a Wild Card team. But college football can be much more dependent on home-field advantage.
One of the voices who are predicting the LSU Tigers as a College Football Playoff team is former coach, and rival, Nick Saban.
Saban won a National Championship at LSU before eventually making his way to Alabama, where he became the greatest college football coach of all time. Much of that success came at the expense of LSU (and the rest of the SEC). But all of that means Saban is not only an expert voice in the game, he's intimately knowledgeable about the SEC, Alabama, and LSU.
All of that will serve Saban well with his new job, as an expert on ESPN's College Gameday.
While working his Week 0 duties with ESPN, Saban was asked to predict the College Football Playoff field, and in his predictions, he included LSU.
Being very specific about Saban's prediction, he sends LSU on the road to play Oregon in the first round. Honestly, I would take that if I was an LSU fan. Of course you want to be the highest seed, get a bye, and host games. But if you're going to be an "at large" team and have to go on the road, going to Oregon to face a new coach isn't the worst setup.
Saban also predicted Alabama would be in the mix. He gave them a higher seed and suggested they'd host a playoff game.
But this should all be taken with a grain of salt. Because the prediction was made before the season kicked off, and one of the teams Saban projected as a Top 4 seed already hit turmoil. Florida State lost their Week 0 matchup with Georgia Tech, which could impact their Top 4 seed prediction.
Either way, its good to see Saban showing LSU some love.