Money talks in roster building, and LSU spent more of it. Kiffin's portal haul reportedly included signing offensive tackle Jordan Seaton as the highest-paid offensive lineman in college football history, on top of pass rusher Princewill Umanmielen and a five-star freshman class led by defensive lineman Lamar Brown. Arkansas countered with sheer volume, bringing in over 40 transfers of its own, many following Silverfield from Memphis, but the preseason SEC media poll wasn't fooled by the numbers game.
That poll has LSU projected 5th in the SEC and Arkansas picked to finish dead last, which is about as lopsided a gap as you'll see between two rivals kicking off the same season. LSU also landed 9 players on the All-SEC preseason teams, including tight end Trey'Dez Green and tackle Seaton on offense. Arkansas doesn't have that kind of returning star power to point to yet, which is part of why the outside expectations sit where they do.
By the time this one kicks off, both teams will have played a full season under first-year coaches, and how each locker room has absorbed that change matters more than any preseason ranking. If Leavitt's foot holds up and Kiffin's roster overhaul clicks the way the investment suggests it should, LSU should be the far more finished product walking into Fayetteville. Arkansas's path to pulling off the upset in the Battle for the Boot runs through its home crowd and whatever continuity Silverfield has managed to build with his Memphis transfers by late November.