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LSU Football Rises in Expert Computer Model's Rankings After Massive Week 1 Win

Originally posted on LSU Tigers on SI | By Zack Nagy | Last updated Sep 2, 2025 9:00 AM ET

The LSU Tigers were Week 1 winners after capturing the program's first season-opening victory since 2019 with a win at No. 4 Clemson.

Brian Kelly and the Bayou Bengals marched into Memorial Stadium on Saturday night with five consecutive Week 1 losses and walked out snapping the skid.

LSU remained in headlines leading into the Top-10 matchup with virtually every "expert computer model" favoring Clemson.

But Kelly and Co. didn't allow the outside noise to phase them after making a statement in Week 1.

LSU's shot-caller hopped on The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday afternoon to discuss the program's mindset heading into the clash.

“To me, you know, more than anything else is you address that with your team and you address it and say, ‘Look, there’ the deal. The challenge will be us. The challenge is us each and every week,” said Kelly. “That is staying with our process, staying locked in on the things that we have done so well. We need to continue to do that.”

“When we get outside of that and start listening to what other people have to say and get concerned with all those things? Like, our team didn’t play angry. They played aggressive. They could have been angry and emotional and out of control and doing crazy things based upon what people were saying about them, but they didn’t do that.

"And they can’t do it when they’re saying great things about you,” Kelly added. “You really have to remove that and focus on what’s important, and that is, you know, your preparation for your next opponent so you can go 1-0.”

Now, all eyes are on the Bayou Bengals with the program rising in Bill Connelly's SP+ expert computer model's rankings.

What is SP+? According to ESPN, "in a single sentence, it's a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency that I originally created at Football Outsiders in 2008. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing.

"It is not a résumé ranking (hence the lack of unbeatens near the top), so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling -- no good predictive system does."

The SP+ Rankings: Week 1 Edition

No. 1: Georgia Bulldogs
No. 2: Ohio State Buckeyes
No. 3: Oregon Ducks
No. 4: Ole Miss Rebels
No. 5: LSU Tigers
No. 6: Penn State Nittany Lions
No. 7: Tennessee Volunteers
No. 8: Oklahoma Sooners
No. 9: Florida Gators
No. 10: Miami Hurricanes

The LSU Tigers come in at No. 5 in the SP+ Power Rankings with Kelly's program emerging as a near consensus top-five program, according to multiple platforms' rankings.

The remainder of the SP+ Rankings:

No. 11: Alabama Crimson Tide
No. 12: South Carolina Gamecocks
No. 13: Texas Longhorns
No. 14: USC Trojans
No. 15: Michigan Wolverines
No. 16: Misouri Tigers
No. 17: Texas A&M Aggies
No. 18: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
No. 19: Utah Utes
No. 20: Louisville Cardinals
No. 21: Illinois Fighting Illini
No. 22: Auburn Tigers
No. 23: Texas Tech Red Raiders
No. 24: Clemson Tigers
No. 25: Kansas Jayhawks

The LSU Tigers will return to action on Saturday night in Death Valley with an in-state clash against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

This article first appeared on LSU Tigers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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