2020 LSU Tigers football team

The 2020 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and competed in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by fourth year head coach Ed Orgeron.

2020 LSU Tigers football
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	West Division
Record	5–5 (5–5 SEC)
Head coach	Ed Orgeron (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Steve Ensminger (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Bo Pelini (4th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Tiger Stadium
Seasons ← 2019 2021 →

2020 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
No. 13 Florida x		8	–	2					8	–	4
No. 7 Georgia		7	–	2					8	–	2
Missouri		5	–	5					5	–	5
Kentucky		4	–	6					5	–	6
Tennessee*		3	–	7					3	–	7
South Carolina		2	–	8					2	–	8
Vanderbilt		0	–	9					0	–	9
West Division
No. 1 Alabama x$#^		10	–	0					13	–	0
No. 4 Texas A&M		8	–	1					9	–	1
Auburn		6	–	4					6	–	5
LSU*		5	–	5					5	–	5
Ole Miss		4	–	5					5	–	5
Arkansas		3	–	7					3	–	7
Mississippi State		3	–	7					4	–	7
Championship: Alabama 52, Florida 46
# – College Football Playoff champion ^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions * – Tennessee vacated all wins due to NCAA violations. LSU was ineligible for postseason due to self imposed ban. Note: Due to COVID-19, the SEC played a conference-only schedule. Rankings from AP Poll.

The season was not an easy one for LSU, who were the defending national champions. After starting the year with a stunning home loss to Mississippi State, the Tigers were only able to string together five wins. In addition to losing a record 14 players to the NFL draft the year before, All-American wide receiver, Ja'Marr Chase opted out of play before the season. The Tigers also lost their starting quarterback, Myles Brennan, three games in and had to rely on true freshmen, TJ Finley and Max Johnson, for the remainder of the year. In spite of these obstacles, the Tigers managed to end the season on a positive note with wins over sixth-ranked Florida and Ole Miss, the former as a 24-point underdog. The Tigers also had a scheduled home game vs. Missouri switched to Columbia three days before kickoff due to the threat of Hurricane Delta along the Louisiana coast.

By comparison, LSU had already eclipsed more losses by their seventh game of the season than they had in all of 2018 and 2019 combined. Still, the victories over Florida and Ole Miss allowed LSU to avert its first losing season since 1999, when the Tigers went 3–8. The .500 season is the first for LSU since a 5–5–1 ledger in 1974.

On December 9, LSU announced a self-imposed bowl ban for the 2020 season. Although the Tigers did not finish the season with six wins, the NCAA removed bowl eligibility requirements for the 2020 bowl season.^[1] This self-imposed bowl ban was enacted due to an NCAA investigation at LSU over allegations of improper booster payments to their players.^[2]

Preseason

SEC Media Days

In the preseason media poll, LSU was predicted to finish in second in the West Division behind Alabama. LSU received the second-most votes (tied with Georgia) to win the SEC Championship Game.^[3]

Media poll (West Division) Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place) 1 Alabama 660 (86) 2 LSU 489 (8) 3 Auburn 488 4 Texas A&M 454 (2) T5 Ole Miss 238 T5 Mississippi State 238 7 Arkansas 121

Media poll (SEC Championship) Rank Team Votes 1 Alabama 77 T2 Georgia 7 T2 LSU 7 4 Florida 5

Schedule

LSU Tigers announced its 2020 football schedule on August 7, 2019. The 2020 schedule originally consisted of 7 home, 4 away, and 1 neutral site game in the regular season.

The Tigers had games scheduled against Nicholls, Rice, Texas, and UTSA, which were all canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4][5][6] Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, LSU, like the other SEC members played a 10-game all conference schedule. The games vs. Vanderbilt and Missouri were not on the Tigers' original schedule.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 26	2:30 p.m.	Mississippi State	No. 6	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	CBS	L 34–44	21,124
October 3	7:30 p.m.	at Vanderbilt	No. 20	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	SECN	W 41–7	2,000
October 10	11:00 a.m.	at Missouri	No. 17	Faurot Field Columbia, MO[a]	SECN Alt.	L 41–45	10,013
October 24	6:00 p.m.	South Carolina		Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA	ESPN	W 52–24	21,855
October 31	2:30 p.m.	at Auburn		Jordan-Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (Tiger Bowl)	CBS	L 11–48	17,490
November 21	11:00 a.m.	at Arkansas		Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR (rivalry)	SECN	W 27–24	16,500
November 28	6:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Texas A&M		Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)	ESPN	L 7–20	23,607
December 5	7:00 p.m.	No. 1 Alabama		Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	CBS	L 17–55	22,349
December 12[b]	6:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Florida		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	W 37–34	16,610
December 19	2:30 p.m.	Ole Miss		Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (Magnolia Bowl)	SECN	W 53–48	21,905
Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 24) released prior to game All times are in Central time

^{^[a]} The game between LSU and Missouri was originally scheduled to take place in Baton Rouge. However, in light of Hurricane Delta, the game was moved to Columbia, Missouri.

^{^[b]} The game between LSU and Florida was originally scheduled to take place on October 17. However, due to COVID-19 management requirements in response to positive tests and subsequent quarantine of individuals within the Florida program, the game was rescheduled for December 12.^[7]

Schedule Source:^[8]

Personnel

Coaching staff

Current staff as of February 10, 2020

Head Coach Ed Orgeron

Name	Position
Ed Orgeron	Head coach
Steve Ensminger	Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach
Bo Pelini	Defensive coordinator/linebackers coach
Scott Linehan	Passing game coordinator
James Cregg	Offensive line coach/running game coordinator
Mickey Joseph	Wide receivers coach/assistant head coach
Kevin Faulk	Running backs coach
Bill Johnson	Defensive line coach
Corey Raymond	Cornerbacks coach/recruiting coordinator
Bill Busch	Safeties coach
Greg McMahon	Special teams coordinator
Tommy Moffitt	Strength and conditioning coordinator
Russ Callaway	Senior offensive assistant & analyst

Rankings

Further information: 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	6 (1)	6*	6 (1)	6 (1)	20	17	RV
Coaches	5	5*	5 (3)	5 (1)	17	16	RV
CFP	Not released																	Not released

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2021 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
1	5	Ja'Marr Chase	WR	Cincinnati Bengals
2	59	Terrace Marshall Jr.	WR	Carolina Panthers
4	115	Jabril Cox	ILB	Dallas Cowboys
4	122	Tyler Shelvin	DT	Cincinnati Bengals
6	205	Racey McMath	WR	Tennessee Titans
6	224	JaCoby Stevens	S	Philadelphia Eagles
7	237	Kary Vincent Jr.	CB	Denver Broncos

References

1. "DI Council approves football bowl eligibility requirements waiver". NCAA.org (Press release). October 14, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
2. Scarborough, Alex. "LSU football self-imposes one-year bowl ban for 2020 season". ESPN. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
3. "Preseason SEC media poll, All-SEC Team announced". SECSports.com. Southeastern Conference. September 23, 2020.
4. Talty, John (July 30, 2020). "SEC moves to conference-only 2020 schedule, pushes back start of season". AL.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
5. Dellenger, Ross. "Sources: SEC Adopts Conference-Only Schedule With Sept. 26 Start". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
6. Dellenger, Ross (August 7, 2020). "SEC's New Schedule: Winners, Losers and... Mizzou". si.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
7. LSU at Florida Football Game Postponed
8. "2020 LSU Tigers Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved January 27, 2020.