The preseason SEC media poll will be released Friday, and LSU is not expected to be picked to win the Southeastern Conference.
But at least one national analyst believes anything short of a trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game would make Lane Kiffin's first season in Baton Rouge a disappointment.
SEC Network analyst Jordan Rodgers made that bold claim during ESPN's First Take.
"If he can't get further than he did at Ole Miss with more resources at LSU, then what are we even doing here?" Rodgers said.
The former Vanderbilt quarterback argued it's "national championship or bust" because of LSU's massive financial investment in the football program. Rodgers pointed to the $54 million buyout of former coach Brian Kelly, an estimated $40 million spent assembling the 2026 roster through recruiting and the transfer portal, and Kiffin's reported $13 million annual salary.
Kiffin, however, has repeatedly tried to temper expectations.
During the spring, he cautioned that LSU's roster, coaching staff and support staff had undergone a dramatic overhaul. In an interview with On3's Wilson Alexander published in May, Kiffin suggested the program's long-term outlook matters more than immediate results.
"I know that this will show, for me, being the right decision," Kiffin said. "It may not be this year because everybody's going to want to compare the two places and everything like that. It'll show in Year 2, 3."
His tone was noticeably different Thursday at SEC Media Days.
"We've put together a roster that can win now," Kiffin said.
Even with that confidence, LSU faces a significant challenge.
The Tigers have 108 players on the roster, and 64 are in their first season with the program, including 42 transfers and 16 freshmen. While talent is essential to competing for championships, building chemistry is often just as important.
Tight end Trey'Dez Green said those concerns disappeared quickly.
"Funny story, when everybody first transferred, I'm like, 'How are we going to gel? Like, how is this going to look?' Because I've never been a part of a team with so many transfers before," Green said.
"Soon as we met with each other, we just clicked, and it's just been a brotherhood ever since. The game of football connects us. There's so much that is our love for the game, how we go about our day-to-day lives and the sacrifices that we make."
Linebacker Whit Weeks echoed that sentiment when discussing fellow linebacker TJ Dottery, who followed Kiffin from Ole Miss to LSU.
"I love playing beside TJ," Weeks said. "Me being hurt during the spring, I kind of got to sit back and watch him and learn how he plays and pick his brain. He's a tremendous athlete, loves to hit. He brings energy every single snap. That's a guy who I want to play with. We've gotten real close off the field as well."
For LSU, the expectations are as high as they've been in years. Whether Rodgers' championship-or-bust standard is realistic remains to be seen, but the Tigers will begin answering those questions on Sept. 5 when they open the season against Clemson.
