For now, we’d like to apologize to Ed Orgeron. I was sure that his abject failures as a head coach would show through this year, his second full season leading the LSU Tigers. But he opened the season blowing out the Miami Hurricanes in a game nobody saw coming.
Betsided
Orgeron deserves a ton of credit for that game. And his team overall did the most impressive thing of anybody in the conference over the weekend. They are one of four teams to beat a Power Five opponent in the conference, and they are one of two to beat a Top 25 team. Finally, they are the only one to blow out such a team.
As a result, these guys belong at No. 1 in our SEC Power Rankings. How long that lasts, we’re not sure. After all, Mark Richt has a tendency to always choke in big games. So this could be more about him.
Still, as of now, LSU has proven enough on paper for us to keep them here. They appeared to find their identity, and we just can’t say enough about blowing out a team like Miami on primetime Sunday night. The stage was not too big.
We’ll find out more about this team going forward, though. They face the Auburn Tigers on the road in two weeks, which is going to be an even bigger game for them. So before a brutal October stretch, they’ll give us great insight to who they are before September ends.
It’s crazy when Ed Orgeron could be coaching the best team in the SEC. But there’s no denying that they were the top team in our SEC Power Rankings based on our first weekend of games. So for now, it looks like maybe the Alabama-LSU rivalry as the two class teams of the SEC will return. We’ll just have to wait and see.