PALMER: LSU facing a ‘must win’ in October

By Hunt Palmer

As many predicted, LSU is hosting a playoff game.

It’s just two months early.

LSU’s season is on the line Saturday night in Death Valley. With a loss, the Tigers will tumble out of the top 25 and playoff picture before Halloween. With a win, they’ll live to fight another day.

In College football, losses hurt worse than any other American sport. Teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB can survive a few bad weeks. It’s not ideal, but it can be done. Every season a near-.500 NFL team sneaks into the playoffs. A June Swoon can be navigated in Major League Baseball. The NBA invented a tournament to try to manufacture interest and stakes in November.

In the collegiate ranks, a clunky couple of weeks in January doesn’t derail a season. It just hurts potential seeding. Same goes for April in baseball. In college football, a third poor showing is a death knell to playoff dreams.

That what LSU is up against Saturday night.

The Tigers have earned that. The offense hasn’t found a running game. The red zone issues have persisted. The quarterback has battled injuries. First halves have felt rudderless. The defense has smothered outmanned opponents but struggled to muzzle the two top 20 offenses they’ve faced.

It’s not “win or go home,” but it is “win or find new motivation.”

In this era of college athletics, it’s not about building programs as much as it it’s about building teams. This team was sculpted to make the playoffs. And it will be disassembled quickly come January.

The quarterback is out of eligibility. An exodus is coming at wide receiver. The top two linemen are likely headed out. Defensively, the three new ends will be gone, and the two veteran tackles are done. Both starting Weeks brothers and Harold Perkins will move on. As will Mansoor Delane and AJ Haulcy.

Of LSU’s primary 22, as many as 16 are very unlikely to be back in 2026.

This was the team pegged to make a push. And the season is on the brink.

But it’s not over. LSU is just a field goal underdog to a top three team on Saturday night. Should the Tigers find a way to win, they’ll get a week off to get healthy before another mammoth challenge in Tuscaloosa. To this point, LSU hasn’t shown much to conjure up much confidence, but that only takes three hours.

Texas A&M is in unfamiliar territory. The Aggies haven’t been 7-0 since the mid-90s and are trying for the 14th time to make the SEC Championship Game. They’re also bidding for a first ever College Football Playoff berth. The weight of those expectations is heavy in College Station, but it’s a preferable position to LSU’s.

No one in purple and gold on Saturday has hidden from the expectations. They’ve maintained a 1-0 mindset after big wins and humbling losses. In the playoff, 1-0 is all that matters.

For LSU, that time has come early.