A Sport Gone Mad: LSU Is Fourth, and That's Where They Should Be

(Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images)

After muddling through the bog in Starkville, the LSU Tigers find themselves ranked fourth in the country by a trio of national polls.

This fact just serves to underscore the insanity that now rules the college football season. And it's not as if this is just this year—it's every year now.

Does anyone really believe that LSU is the fourth-best team in the nation? That a team that needed a miraculous pair of stops to escape Mississippi State with a win should be in the top five?

That a team whose offense mustered a mere 30 yards rushing on 31 attempts against unranked Mississippi State should be just behind the top three?

That the Tigers, who needed four turnovers from the Bulldogs, including an interception returned for a touchdown and a bobbing, weaving, stumbling punt return by Chad Jones, could compete for a national title right now?

I don't.

LSU's performance in Starkville was poor. No other way to put it.

The Bulldogs kept handing the reins to the game to LSU, who just kept handing them right back.

The Tigers started well, taking a quick lead when Patrick Peterson returned Tyson Lee's first pass for a touchdown, and it looked like it might be the easy day that LSU is accustomed to having in Starkville.

Not so fast. LSU was fortunate to get out of there with a win, only after stuffing Mississippi State twice from inside the one-yard line late in the game.

When LSU struggled against Washington (who was crushed 34-14 by Stanford) I said perhaps they struggled with not knowing what to expect from a new coach.

They faced another new coach Saturday morning, but this time they had plenty of game film on Dan Mullen's boys.

A top ten team handles a team like Mississippi State.

A top ten team ruthlessly disposes of far less talented teams, puts the game away early and shows a dominating form.

A top ten team does not struggle to run the ball against a weak front. A top ten team does not only play when their season is on the line.

But despite their struggles, they rose three spots to No. 4 in the polls.

But this gets even crazier.

The pollsters really had no choice but move LSU up. LSU started Saturday at seventh, but then Ole Miss (4), Penn State (5), and California (6) all lost this weekend.

And in one sense, the Tigers deserve to be there. They are undefeated, and ranked right behind them at No. 5 is Boise State, also undefeated. But then comes Virginia Tech, USC, OU and Ohio State, all with one loss.

Cincinnati is undefeated at 10th.

Other undefeateds in the poll are TCU (11), Houston (12), Iowa (13) Kansas (18) and Michigan (22).

Given those choices, LSU is ranked where they deserve to be.

Which just goes to show that the only constant in college football is pure craziness.

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