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Last year at this time, the 2025 LSU baseball team was rounding into post-season shape as the Tigers charged to the school’s eighth national championship in June.
This year’s 2026 LSU baseball team (ranked #2 in the preseason) lost its ninth straight SEC contest on Sunday after being swept by Mississippi State in Starkville. It marked the first time LSU has lost nine SEC baseball games in a row at any time in the school’s long and decorated history dating back to 1933.
The Tigers are 24-21 on the year. LSU is only 6-12 in the very difficult SEC. Only South Carolina (5-13) and Missouri (3-15) have a worse conference record through Sunday’s games.
Eight wasn’t enough for LSU at Mississippi State over the weekend
LSU scored eight runs in each of its three straight losses at Starkville, MS last weekend. In each game, the Tigers got off to a fast start. Unfortunately, the later innings saw the Tigers’ pitching falter while the offensive bats struggled against a talented Mississippi State bullpen.
LSU dropped Friday’s opener 10-8 in 11 innings. Saturday night’s game had LSU bolt out to a 7-2 lead starting the seventh inning. The Tigers lost 9-8. LSU led Sunday’s finale 8-5 midway through the sixth inning before losing 13-8.
Mississippi State improved to 34-10 on the year and 10-8 in the SEC.
The Bulldogs are part of a 5-way logjam for fourth place in the SEC. Mississippi State is tied with Auburn, Florida, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma at 10-8 in the league.
LSU has suffered through a number of key personnel losses in recent weeks. Coach Jay Johnson can only do so much when his pitchers are getting hammered nightly and the Tiger bats go cold at the most inopportune moments.
LSU fans who already booked hotel rooms for Omaha’s College World Series in June might need to be on the lookout for another team to root for if they still go to Nebraska.
At least for the year 2026, the defending champions of NCAA Division I college baseball are toast.
Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia went undrafted by the NFL last weekend
Diego Pavia single-handedly made Vanderbilt football interesting to watch for the past two seasons. His ability to scramble, run, and/or or pass kept SEC defenses off balance and the Commodores in the game.
The Vandy quarterback (generously listed at 6’0” by the school) helped the Commodores improve from 2-10 in 2023 to 7-6 in 2024. Vanderbilt posted a school record 10-3 season in 2025.
Diego Pavia played with an incredible and very infectious confidence on the field during his two seasons with Vanderbilt. He finished in second place in the Heisman Trophy voting last year. Despite being relatively short by college QB standards, Pavia remained confident he would be drafted by an NFL team last weekend.
Diego Pavia’s belief in himself has gone a little over-the-top at times. His ego can block a bit of reality. Vanderbilt’s offense was wisely structured to take advantage of the quarterback’s skills. NFL teams want their incoming quarterbacks to fit into the head coach’s system.
As his final season ended, Diego Pavia morphed another Johnny Manziel type of personality.
You might remember that Texas A&M’s “Johnny Football” won the Heisman Trophy in 2012.
Johnny Manziel was known for his personal confidence and arrogance (and off-field substance abuse). It worked against him as a professional football player. Selected in the first round by the Cleveland Browns, “Johnny Football” started just eight games and went just 2-6 over his two NFL seasons.
The NFL combine measured Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia at 5’9” tall. He would become the shortest quarterback in the NFL this year.
Seven rounds and 257 names were called last weekend in Pittsburgh at the NFL Draft. Diego Pavia wasn’t one of them. He became the first Heisman Trophy finalist to go undrafted since 2013.
The good news is that Diego Pavia was signed as a free agent by the Baltimore Ravens on Tuesday. That team only had two quarterbacks on the roster. Pavia will have a decent chance to become an NFL back-up QB if he performs well during training camp and in preseason games.
Texas Tech’s very expensive transfer quarterback is in deep trouble for gambling
Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson told the NFL Draft media last week that he turned down a $6 million NIL offer to stay at Bama for his final year of eligibility.
Instead, Simpson gambled on his NFL chances. To the surprise of many (including me), Ty Simpson was selected with the 13th overall pick in Round 1 by the Los Angeles Rams.
One sports site reported that Ty Simpson’s first NFL contract will be worth $24 million over his first four years with the Rams.
Yes, that’s the same $6 million that Alabama allegedly offered.
Had Ty Simpson been drafted as the last selection of the first round (#32 overall), he would be slated to make an estimated $16 million over four years.
Texas Tech University in Lubbock has very wealthy athletics backers who have been funneling millions of dollars into the Red Raiders’ NIL cooperative.
Last season, Texas Tech effectively outbid other prominent schools to sign several key transfer players. It culminated with the Red Raiders going 11-1 in the regular season and playing in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
Texas Tech recently opened its NIL wallet to sign University of Cincinnati transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby for a reported $5 million next season.
Sorsby started his college career at the University of Indiana prior to transferring to the Cincinnati Bearcats last year.
Brendan Sorsby’s lone season with Cincinnati had him tossing 27 touchdown passes with only five interceptions. He had been one of the most heavily recruited players in the NCAA Transfer Portal a few months ago.
On Monday, Texas Tech announced that their new $5 million quarterback (who hasn’t played a down in Lubbock) had checked himself into a gambling treatment program.
Reports surfaced that Brendan Sorsby has a history of betting on college football games. That includes games involving Indiana (to win) while he was on that team as a freshman.
Former LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte just completed his third year playing for the New England Patriots. Boutte published a lengthy report in January, 2026 detailing a period where he was heavily involved with online sports gambling.
Kayshon Boutte claims to have lost $90,000 gambling involving thousands of wagers during a period at LSU where he was rehabilitating from a severe ankle injury. He was arrested in January, 2024 (a year into his NFL career) as part of an online gambling investigation. The charges were dropped six months later.
The ex-Tiger’s fascinating PG-13 rated story does have a positive ending and is worth the read (click here).
Kayshon Boutte believes that most college athletes who get involved in gambling are “going through something.” He added, “Don’t give up on them. Maybe they just need some help.”
The NCAA is now investigating Texas Tech transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby for gambling allegations.
Current NCAA rules call for significant punishment if a college athlete wagers more than a cumulative total of $800 or more.
Based on Sorsby’s voluntary check-in for gambling addictions, it’s safe to say that he is above the $800 threshold.
Sorsby could lose his final year of college eligibility. Pro scouting reports indicated that Brendan Sorsby had a good chance to become a first round NFL draft choice next April.
All of that could be in jeopardy now.
Texas Tech will (of course) spend whatever money is necessary to cut a deal with the NCAA to give their $5 million transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby a chance on the field this fall. Voluntarily entering a gambling addiction treatment program could go a long way to help his chances with the NCAA.
Online gambling (all types including sports betting) has become epidemic. Colleges report that 75% of all students gambled at least once during the last year. Nearly 20% gamble weekly or more frequently.
Let’s hope that Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby (much like former LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte) can turn things around soon and help others going down that same path.