The 2020 LSU Tigers football team represented

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football in the United States, organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level, the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Fo ...

. The Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in

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, and competed in the West Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC). They were led by fourth year head coach

Ed Orgeron Edward James Orgeron Jr. (; born July 27, 1961), nicknamed "Coach O", is an American former American football, college football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Louisiana State University (LSU), a position he held from midw ...

. 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 Max Johnson (born July 25, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the North Carolina Tar Heels football, North Carolina Tar Heels. Johnson attended and played high school football at Oconee County High School in Watkinsville, Georgia and ...

, 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.

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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 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, when the Tigers went 3–8. The .500 season is the first for LSU since a 5–5–1 ledger in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. 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 Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...

requirements for the 2020 bowl season. This self-imposed bowl ban was enacted due to an NCAA investigation at LSU over allegations of improper booster payments to their players.

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.

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,

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, and UTSA, which were all canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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. :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 Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

. :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. :Schedule Source:

Personnel

Coaching staff

Current staff as of February 10, 2020 Ed Orgeron LSU vs NWLA

Rankings

Players drafted into the NFL

References

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LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

LSU Tigers football seasons

LSU Tigers football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers, Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athle ...