{"id":192462,"date":"2025-07-09T02:39:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T02:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/192462\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T02:39:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T02:39:23","slug":"lsu-tigers-football-phil-steele-2025-forecast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/192462\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU Tigers Football: Phil Steele 2025 Forecast"},"content":{"rendered":"

LSU<\/a> is entering Year 4 under head coach Brian Kelly<\/a>, and expectations are through the roof. College football expert Phil Steele only added to these lofty expectations with his 2025 forecast for the Tigers, starting with a preview of the team\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n

Offense<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year I said they would drop by over a TD per game and they fell to 31 [points per game] and 432 [yards per game],\u201d Steele wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis year they are improved at the skill positions but do lose 4 NFL draft picks off the OLine so that will be the biggest question. This time my computer is calling for them to get to 34.7 ppg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly four extra points per game would be a massive upswing for LSU. However, it\u2019s certainly possible. This year will be Garrett Nussmeier<\/a>\u2018s second as the team\u2019s full-time starter behind center.<\/p>\n

Nussmeier tallied 4,052 passing yards and 29 touchdowns last season, but also threw 12 interceptions. With a year of experience under his belt, Nussmeier is aiming to cut down on his turnovers this fall, while also utilizing his legs more to escape pressure.<\/p>\n

Nussmeier won\u2019t have a shortage of targets. LSU is returning its leading receiver from last season, Aaron Anderson<\/a>, while adding star transfer Barion Brown<\/a>. Steele\u2019s confidence in LSU next season isn\u2019t limited to the team\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n

Defense<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year they lose all 4 starting DL but hit the portal hard and have a veteran back 7,\u201d Steele said. \u201cThey are in the 2nd year of the defense. I look for continued improvement from the stop unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In total, LSU is returning just three starters from last season on defense. Of course, it helps that one of those starters is linebacker Whit Weeks, who will be a frontrunner to win SEC Defensive Player of the Year this fall after tallying the second-most tackles in the country this season.<\/p>\n

However, more important than any individual player, LSU is running it back with defensive coordinator Blake Baker. LSU\u2019s defense made significant strides under Baker last season, holding opponents to 364.4 yards per game.<\/p>\n

LSU\u2019s 2025 Forecast<\/p>\n

For reference, LSU\u2019s defense gave up 416.6 yards per game in the 2023 campaign without Baker at the helm. Steele believes LSU is more than capable of making a run for the national title this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year they jump up to #47 on my Exp Chart plus Kelly brought in the top classes of transfers and hopes to hit home runs like he did in 2023,\u201d Steele wrote. \u201cThe key will be the line play on both sides of the ball as they lose 4 OL to the NFL draft and all 4 starting DL. They do have road trips to Clemson<\/a>, Ole Miss<\/a>, Bama<\/a> and Oklahoma<\/a> but are a legitimate national title contender with a potent offense and improved defense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LSU is entering Year 4 under head coach Brian Kelly, and expectations are through the roof. College football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26732,34416,15515,7,5796,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-192462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-aaron-anderson-22-edna-karr","9":"tag-barion-brown-22-pearl-cohn","10":"tag-brian-kelly-79-st-johns-preparatory-school","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-garrett-nussmeier-21-marcus","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114820963944576141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}