LSU Football 2016 SEC West Prediction: 2nd
With Spring Practice in full swing, I make my annual SEC predictions for the upcoming 2016 football season.
The LSU football team came very close to having a new head coach this season. The athletic director for the Tigers came very close to pulling the trigger on replacing Les Miles with Jimbo Fisher. When Fisher decided not to come, he kept the embattled Les Miles on board. Will the Tigers bounce back in a big way in 2016?
| Opponent | Home or Away | Predicted Outcome | Wins | Losses | SEC Wins | SEC Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Badgers | Away | Loss | 1 | |||
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks | Home | Win | 1 | |||
| Mississippi State Bulldogs | Home | Win | 2 | 1 | ||
| Auburn Tigers | Away | Win | 3 | 2 | ||
| Missouri Tigers | Home | Win | 4 | 3 | ||
| Florida Gators | Away | Win | 5 | 4 | ||
| Southern Miss Golden Eagles | Home | Win | 6 | |||
| Ole Miss Rebels | Home | Win | 7 | 5 | ||
| Alabama Crimson Tide | Home | Loss | 2 | 1 | ||
| Arkansas Razorbacks | Away | Loss | 3 | 2 | ||
| South Alabama Jaguars | Home | Win | 8 | |||
| Texas A&M Aggies | Away | Win | 9 | 6 | ||
| Overall 9-3, SEC 6-2 |
It’s time to make a full confession on what I assumed I would predict for the LSU football team. Every season when I do these predictions, I always have an idea on where I think each team will finish in the division before I start looking at schedules. And every year, once I start predicting games, there seems to be a team that I project to have a better season than I thought they would at first glance.
This year’s team who gets that nod is the LSU football team. I had in my head they would be fifth or sixth in the West, but once I looked at the schedule and each game, it simply did not work out that way.
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My working assumption is the LSU football coaching staff didn’t do enough to shake up the staff to see significant improvement. I also thought they would start a downward spiral because of it.
But the Tigers have a lot of advantageous games at home. And because of that, I think they have a solid season, though fans might still be a little frustrated if they don’t beat Alabama again and finish second in the West.
The key game on the schedule though is the first one in SEC play. If the LSU football team loses to Wisconsin and then to our own Mississippi State Bulldogs, the season might fall apart on them. Lots of games on the schedule could go either way, and it wouldn’t surprise me one way or another if it’s great or a disappointment.