re: Important Series + RPI Tracker 5/16-5/20

D1 currently has 15 at-large teams in their projected field with an RPI worse than LSU’s, a number of those like Xavier likely due to bad weekends that will see them out of the field in the next projection. Florida and Ole Miss are the only 2 teams higher in the RPI not in their projected field due to their poor overall records.

5 of the teams behind LSU have strong conference records and are likely in ahead of LSU despite RPI (though LSU did beat 2 of them): Texas, ULL, WVU, Oregon, and Illinois.

Here are the other 10 behind LSU:

KSU: #34 RPI, 31-21, 15-14 in B12
Coastal Carolina: #35 RPI, 32-21, 15-14 in Sun Belt
TCU: #36 RPI, 31-18, 14-15 in B12
Xavier: #40 RPI, likely out of the field.
UCF: #43 RPI, 32-18, 13-15 in B12
UNCW: #48 RPI, 35-19, 19-7 in CAA
Ga Tech: #50 RPI, likely out of the field after getting swept by FSU and falling to 30-22 and 14-16 in ACC.
Troy: #53 RPI, 35–19, 17-11 in Sun Belt
Cincinnati: #57 RPI, 31-23, 17-13 in B12, lost 2 of 3 to OU
Utah: #76 RPI, likely out of the field with 2 losses to USC

That’s 3-4 spots that likely opened up and 4 other teams below or barely above .500 in conference (KSU, Coastal Carolina, TCU, and UCF) that I believe LSU can pass with a win tomorrow. There aren’t a lot of other strong contenders to take those spots.