{"id":89251,"date":"2026-07-16T11:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=89251"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:06:30","slug":"lsu-sleeper-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/07\/16\/lsu-sleeper-games\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU Sleeper Games That Could Wreck the Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

An eventful off-season<\/a> has led to LSU quickly becoming one of the most polarizing teams in the country, adding to the intrigue of some of its bigger games. Sure, traveling to Ole Miss and hosting Texas will make headlines, but the LSU sleeper games could be even more impactful. For example, a loss at Tennessee wouldn\u2019t be quite as disenchanting to the playoff committee as a loss to Arkansas.<\/p>\n

The Tigers have a dangerous string of games in what most would consider a relatively easy stretch in their schedule. While the SEC must prove it has elite teams, the depth in the league is objectively impressive. We\u2019ll explain why LSU\u2019s so-called \u201cbreak\u201d in its schedule is more dangerous than it looks at first glance.<\/p>\n

LSU Sleeper Games<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Taming the Wildcats<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On October 10th<\/sup>, LSU will travel to Lexington, KY for the first time since 2021. Although the scene will be new for most of the Tigers, there will be several familiar faces on the home sideline. Former Offensive Coordinator Joe Sloan is now serving the same role for the Wildcats. Speaking of offense, former Tigers Nic Anderson and Lance Heard will start at wide receiver and left tackle, respectively. Another former Bayou Bengal, Ahmad Breaux, will figure into the defensive line rotation.<\/p>\n

Kentucky lured former Oregon Offensive Coordinator Will Stein to Lexington to be its head coach. The new era brings high hopes of an innovative offense and a more exciting, hopeful, and successful style of play. Frankly, it should. Stein is a proven quarterback whisperer and play caller.<\/p>\n

This game presents multiple challenges for the Tigers. LSU hasn\u2019t fared well in recent trips to Lexington, as evidenced by a 1-3 record in its last four games there. Stein has promising weapons to work with in Notre Dame transfer Kenny Minchey at quarterback and Texas transfer CJ Baxter at running back. A few timely offensive plays complemented by Jay Bateman\u2019s aggressive, opportunistic defense could create a tense environment for the Tigers.<\/p>\n

Cowbell Chaos<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As new LSU quarterback<\/a> Sam Leavitt found out last year (albeit in a different uniform), Starkville is rarely a fun trip. LSU will hit the road again to play Mississippi State the week after playing Kentucky. The Bulldogs weren\u2019t quite good but not terribly bad in 2025, finishing with a 5-8 record.<\/p>\n

Bulldog Quarterback Kamario Taylor<\/a> is quite literally the biggest threat to LSU in this game. Taylor is 6\u2019-4\u201d and 230 pounds with elite playmaking ability. The sophomore is fast and physical, but he also has surprising elusiveness in the open field. A true dual threat, he\u2019s not hesitant when pushing the ball down the field. We expect the LSU defense to continue to improve under Blake Baker, but it still has to prove it can stop mobile quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

Mississippi State does not have as many weapons on the perimeter as some of the more talented teams on LSU\u2019s schedule, but the backfield is imposing. Fluff Bothwell<\/a> is an underrated running back who offers another headache when game planning to stop this offense. He averaged roughly five yards per carry in 2025 after transferring from South Alabama. The Bulldog offense makes this a tricky game for the Tigers. But an LSU day game in Starkville evokes memories of underachieving Tigers on Jefferson Pilot Sports in surprisingly close games.<\/p>\n

A Scare in Jordan-Hare?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The last team in this three-game stretch will likely be the most daunting. Auburn is flying under the radar, but the roster indicates that there is no poverty on the Plains. Hugh Freeze\u2019s decision to put his trust in Jackson Arnold at quarterback cost him his job<\/a> in 2025. Enter Alex Golesh, former South Florida head coach. Golesh brought his own quarterback along with a few more weapons to address the offensive side of the ball for Auburn.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Byron Brown was key in Golesh turning the USF program around. The Bulls won four total games in the three years leading up to Golesh taking the job. They won 23 games in the last three years. It\u2019s no coincidence that Brown was the starting quarterback in those years. Brown is another dual-threat quarterback who will put pressure on the defense to remain sound in its pursuit.<\/p>\n

The Auburn defense is loaded. Xavier Atkins could be the best linebacker in the conference. Da\u2019Shawn Womack<\/a> and Jared Smith<\/a> are disruptive off the edge, and the secondary is solid. This will be another early game for LSU with an 11:00 Central time start. Historically, the Tigers are more vulnerable in these games. As crazy as this sounds, a visit to Auburn will be yet another LSU sleeper game that could derail the Tigers\u2019 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An eventful off-season has led to LSU quickly becoming one of the most polarizing teams in the country, adding to the intrigue of some of its bigger games. Sure, traveling to Ole Miss and hosting Texas will make headlines, but the LSU sleeper games could be even more impactful. For example, a loss at Tennessee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4690,"featured_media":89260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35584,3],"tags":[5095],"class_list":["post-89251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-lsu-tigers","category-sec","tag-steve-sarkisian"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89261,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89251\/revisions\/89261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}