The 2018 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 ...

during the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 149th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

. The Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

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 second-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 Tigers, coming off a 9–4 season in Orgeron's first full season, began the year ranked 25th in the preseason AP Poll. In the first game of the year, the team defeated No. 8 Miami (FL) in the Advocare Classic played at

AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

. LSU won its next four games, including on the road against then-No. 7 Auburn, and rose to fifth in the AP Poll, before falling on the road to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The team rebounded with wins over No. 2

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and No. 22

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

before being shutout by eventual SEC champions

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. In the last game of the regular season, LSU lost on the road against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

in an FBS record-tying seven overtimes. The final score of the game, 74–72, set the FBS record for combined points in a single game (146). The team finished the regular season tied for second in the SEC's West Division and was invited to the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area since 1971. From its beginning until 2006, the game was hosted at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has be ...

to play UCF, which the Tigers won by a score of 40–32 to end UCF's active win streak of 25 games. LSU finished the season with an overall record of 10–3 and was ranked 6th in the final AP Poll. The team's defense featured three consensus All-Americans in defensive backs Grant Delpit and

Greedy Williams Andraez Montrell "Greedy" Williams (born December 3, 1997) is an American professional football cornerback. He played college football for the LSU Tigers and was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft. Early ...

, and linebacker Devin White, who was awarded the

Dick Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

as the nation's best linebacker. On offense, the Tigers were led by redshirt junior quarterback

Joe Burrow Joseph Lee Burrow (born December 10, 1996) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes football, O ...

, who finished with 2,894 passing yards and 23 total touchdowns (16 passing and 7 rushing). Senior running back Nick Brossette led the team in rushing with 1,039 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Recruiting

Position key

Recruits

The Tigers signed a total of 22 recruits.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

SEC media poll

The SEC media poll was released on July 20, 2018 with the Tigers selected to finish in fifth place in the West Division.

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Tigers had five players selected to the preseason all-SEC teams. Offense ''2nd team'' Garrett Brumfield – OL Defense ''1st team'' Devin White – LB

– DB ''3rd team'' Rashard Lawrence – DL Specialists Zach Von Rosenberg – P

Schedule

Roster

Game summaries

vs Miami (FL)

Southeastern Louisiana

At Auburn

Louisiana Tech

Ole Miss

At Florida

Georgia

Mississippi State

Alabama

At Arkansas

Rice

At Texas A&M

Highest scoring game in FBS History

Vs. UCF (Fiesta Bowl)

Rankings

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{LSU Tigers football navbox

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 ...

Fiesta Bowl champion seasons