Orgeron: ‘Doesn’t matter’ if LSU is No. 1 in CFP
ATLANTA — Retaking the No. 1 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings wasn’t a goal of LSU coach Ed Orgeron and his players after they beat No. 4 Georgia 37-10 in the SEC championship game on Saturday.
Orgeron said his team isn’t concerned with whether the selection committee sees fit to have them retake the top spot from Ohio State, which leapfrogged LSU from No. 2 to No. 1 two weeks ago. The Buckeyes also finished the season 13-0 after rallying to beat No. 8 Wisconsin 34-21 in the Big Ten title game later Saturday night.
“I think we’re a darn good football team,” Orgeron said. “We don’t know. I’ve told the team it doesn’t matter. It don’t matter where they rank us, where they tell us to go. We’ve got to win the next game. That’s all that matters.”
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who transferred from Ohio State before the start of last season, said it doesn’t matter where or whom the Tigers play in the first round of the playoff.
“We’ll play anybody, anywhere,” he said. “I said in the postgame, you can take us to Canada, and we’ll play on a gravel lot.”
However, a tweet from the team’s official account took a more declarative stance on the matter, calling LSU “second to none.”
Beating Georgia gave LSU its fifth win over an AP Top 10 team this season, which ties a record in the AP Poll era (1936-present) for most Top-10 victories in a single season.
LSU defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko said the committee is entitled to its opinion and, “We just have to learn to play football.”
“It doesn’t matter at this point,” he said of finishing No. 1 or 2. “We’re still going to have postseason play. We as a team, regardless if we’re No. 1 or No. 4, it doesn’t matter who we play or where we play, if we play to the LSU standard of performance then I think we’ll be fine.”
With LSU and Ohio State both boasting perfect records, it would a surprise if No. 3 Clemson moved up, even though they also improved to 13-0 with a dominant 62-17 win over Virginia in the ACC title game on Saturday.
But Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence isn’t overly concerned about the rankings heading into the national semifinals. Asked if he thought the defending champions are the best team in the country, he replied: “I think so, but hopefully in a couple weeks we will get the chance to prove it.”