PALMER: Breaking down LSU’s 2025 schedule

By Hunt Palmer

If we’ve learned much from the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, it’s that schedules matter. The strength of that schedule may not mater a ton to the committee, but avoiding as much risk as possible seemed to pay off for Indiana, Texas and SMU among others.

LSU’s opponents for 2025 were already set prior to Wednesday’s schedule release. The order was still in doubt. For those unaware, when the 2024 SEC schedule was released, the first including Texas and Oklahoma, the conference announced that every team would play the same eight opponents in 2024 and 2025. The home sites would be flipped.

We learned that order Wednesday night, so here are my thoughts on LSU 2025 slate.

Aug. 30 – at Clemson

• This will be another fun August for talking heads like myself. Gearing up for Clemson creates more discussion and excitement than gearing up for Furman or Rice. LSU fans will make the trip to the imposter Death Valley. College Gameday may show up. LSU’s brand will be featured on college football’s first big weekend. All that is great. The game still shouldn’t be played. The goal for an SEC team should be 10-2. How you get to 10 is irrelevant. How you get to two is irrelevant. You need 10 on one side of the dash and two on the other side. “At Clemson” doesn’t help with that. Cade Klubnik should be back fresh off of a College Football Playoff appearance. Just don’t expect Dabo to poach anyone in the portal.

Sept. 6 – Louisiana Tech

• Tech went 5-7 this year under Sonny Cumbie. They lost a, 35-14, game at Arkansas three weeks ago. This one will either be a sad return of an 0-1 team to Tiger Stadium for the fourth year in a row or a rousing welcome to the first 1-0 team since 2019.

Sept. 13 – Florida

• Doesn’t this look different that it did a month ago? Billy Napier and DJ Lagway will be back, and the feeling in Gainesville is that things are finally moving forward. LSU and Florida playing in 97-degree weather will be a little bit of a changeup, but this game, because of the date, will have some significant SEC implications. Florida’s two-week open is light. They play LIU. If you don’t know what that is, that’s ok. I wasn’t certain, but it is Long Island University. I haven’t forgiven the Sharks for blowing the Friday night regional game in Chapel Hill last summer. I doubt they atone for it by beating Florida in August. Then the Gators host USF before coming to Baton Rouge. After LSU, Florida plays at Miami, BYE, Texas, at Texas A&M. Yo.

Sept. 20 – Southeastern Louisiana

• I have little hope LSU will wear traditional jerseys for this one. I just hope Southeastern doesn’t come out in the heinous all-yellow that the baseball team wears.

Sept. 27 – at Ole Miss

• As I type this on December 12, I can’t really know what Ole Miss will look like. In my opinion, beating Georgia, 28-10, was proof of concept that this transfer portal money dump is the best thing for Ole Miss football. Will The Grove Collective pony up another $17mm? It started with DaShawn Womack. Austin Simmons looked good in his drive against Georgia. Seems like he’ll be the quarterback. The offense loses Tre Harris and didn’t really have a running back to speak of. Defense loses Walter Nolan, Princeley Umanmielen, Trey Amos and most of the high-dollar playmakers. Can Lane Kiffin restock the shelves? My guess is that he will overhaul the roster. My other guess is that it won’t be quite as talented. That said, the game is on the road. It’ll be tough.

Oct. 4 – BYE

• I like this double bye thing. Pencil me in for a tee time somewhere at about 8:30. Texas at Florida will probably be the primetime game. I can watch that with a steak and no postgame show obligations.

Oct. 11 – South Carolina

• South Carolina was one of the 12 best teams in college football by the end of November. If Kyle Kennard doesn’t shove Garrett Nussmeier, that’s a playoff team. But he did. And now the SEC Defensive Player of the Year is gone. But LaNorris Sellers comes back as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and Dylan Stewart just inked a new deal to remain a force off the edge for the Gamecocks defense. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggins is gone to coach Appalachian State. Mike Shula, who had served on staff for two seasons, will assume those duties. Both teams will be coming off of their first bye week.

Oct. 18 – at Vanderbilt

• I thought Vanderbilt’s consistency all season was more impressive than the three hours against Alabama. Clark Lea’s team beat Virginia Tech, smothered Kentucky, hung with Texas and Missouri. They were almost never an easy out. Diego Pavia probably won’t win his suit to remain in college, and I just don’t trust Vanderbilt to put together another six-win season. I’ve always said the best two words on an SEC schedule are “at Vandy”. Kalen DeBoer probably disagrees, but the truth remains.

Oct. 25 – Texas A&M

• Mike Elko and Texas A&M are going to hit the portal very hard. It’s tough to gauge what that roster is going to look like. Marcel Reed is probably going to be the quarterback. The defensive line will be hit hard in the draft. Based on resources and my respect for Elko as a defensive coach, A&M will probably be pretty good. This will be the Aggies’ fifth SEC game in a row and second straight on the road. They travel to Fayetteville for the first time as an SEC member the week prior. The spot probably favors LSU even if we don’t know what the rosters will look like.

Nov. 1 – BYE

Nov. 8 – at Alabama

• I don’t even know what to make of Alabama. Right now, I’m not prepared to suggest this will be anything but a really difficult football game for LSU. The Tide has been a national championship contender entering this game every year since 2008. That will likely be the case again. They do travel to Georgia on Sept. 27. Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee come to Tuscaloosa on Oct 18. The Tide rolls to South Carolina two weeks before this one. Sprinkle in the opener at Doak Campbell in Tallahassee on Aug 30, and there are some losable games. But this one should be massive. Here’s the truth, LSU’s final two SEC opponents may have interim head coaches. Neither is on firm footing right now.

Nov. 15 – Arkansas

• Sam Pittman kept his job in 2024 because of money. Arkansas didn’t want to pay the buyout. He won six games this year, and the Tennessee game saved his job. There has been a mass exodus out of Fayetteville in the last 72 hours, and it hasn’t just backups looking for playing time. Luke Hasz is leaving a void at tight end. Center Addison Nichols is bolting. Wide out Isaiah Sategna, too. And six scholarship defensive backs have entered the portal. not to mention starting running back Ja’Quinden Jackson is entering the draft. So is edge rusher Landon Jackson. And the SEC’s leading receiver, Andrew Armstrong, is gone. Taylen Green has some talent, but he’s not an elite player at the position. I think Arkansas loses at Ole Miss, against Notre Dame, at Tennessee and against Auburn. That would put the Hogs at 3-5 with Mississippi State coming to Fayetteville. If Pittman were to lose that game, I think they let him go before the bye week that precedes LSU. Arkansas travels to Texas the week after LSU.

Nov. 22 – Western Kentucky

• LSU didn’t have this late season non-conference game this season, UCLA took its place in September. This will be Senior Night. And the mood with either be locked in with two or fewer losses and a shot at the playoff or somber as another season drifts by. Western Kentucky won eight games this year. They were beaten, 62-0, in the opener in Bryant-Denny and, 52-12, in the Conference USA title game by Jacksonville State.

Nov. 29 – at Oklahoma

• Will Brent Venables get this thing turned around between now and September? He needs a new quarterback to pair with his new offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, who he pried from Washington State. Here’s the end of the Oklahoma schedule form October 11 on: Texas (Dallas), at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, BYE, at Alabama, Missouri, LSU. They’ll also play our friend Bryce Underwood as well as Auburn in Norman in September. It’s an uphill battle for Venables and one that needs to be won with money and proper talent evaluation.

In all, I break LSU’s schedule down like this.

PART 1: at Clemson, Louisiana Tech, Florida, Southeastern Louisiana, at Ole Miss

• You have to navigate this at 4-1 before the bye. That, in all likelihood, means you need to split the road games and beat Lagway and Florida in Tiger Stadium. You do that, especially if the loss is to Clemson, and you’re in perfectly fine shape.

PART 2: South Carolina, at Vanderbilt, Texas A&M

• This has to be a clean run. Use Tiger Stadium against teams at near the top of the mid-tier of the SEC. Beat Vanderbilt. If you get through Parts 1&2 at 7-1, you’re in good shape. Sounds obvious, but stay tuned.

PART 3: at Alabama, Arkansas, Western Kentucky, at Oklahoma

• Forgive me, I’m still not at a point that I can comfortably predict LSU to go to Bryant-Denny and win. The last two LSU teams to do that have been the best two in my lifetime. So, you need a cushion going into that game. If you’re 7-1 entering T-Town and 7-2 leaving, the last three are very manageable. Maybe Oklahoma will completely turn this thing around, and that game could be a bear. I’ll have to see that to believe it. And I think Arkansas is toast.

That’s LSU’s path to the playoff. Now, Garret Nussmeier’s return was the biggest offseason domino. What follows will be vital as well. LSU needs 12-15 players from the transfer portal, and they need them to be high impact players. Everyone I the country (but Clemson) feels that way right now. We’ll see how successful LSU is at assembling this new talent to take on a tough schedule.