LSU Competes for Second Gymnastics Title
· Yahoo Sports
Welcome to the biggest stage in the sport once again.
The #2 LSU gymnastics team is back in the final meet of the season for the 11th time in 18 seasons. Today, the Tigers face #1 Oklahoma, #3 Florida and #13 Minnesota for a chance at their second national title in three years. The path won’t be easy, and the stakes are as big as possible, but the chance to be here is what makes people come to places like LSU. The meet begins at 3:00 p.m. on ABC with John Roethlisberger, Sam Peszek and Aly Raisman on the call, Taylor Davis on the floor reporting and Mary Joe Roehrig as rules analyst. ESPN has completely dropped the ball on their coverage using the double dual format and keeps missing routines, so your best bet to make sure to see every routine is to find one of the team streams on ESPN+. There will be a preview show thirty minutes prior to the meet on ABC as well. For live stats, see the next two links. (session link, scores link)
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I will be using the same rankings that I used on Thursday in today’s piece, and those are the average for each team from Week 8 until the regional final. I didn’t want to use the semifinal scores because those make the math a lot messier. Each ranking will be relative to the teams in this meet.
#1 Oklahoma (198.063 [3rd], 32-1-1 overall (16-0-1 regular season), finished 2nd at SECs, begins on vault)
Semifinal scores: 198.3000 (49.7500 VT, 49.4750 UB, 49.5375 BB, 49.5375 FX)
Event rankings: 1st on vault [49.528], 2nd on bars [49.506], 3rd on beam [49.513], 2nd on floor [49.516]
Preview: They’re back to keep their spot on the throne. Oklahoma is still the queen of the castle and proved it by posting the highest score in an NCAA semifinal ever, breaking LSU’s record of 198.2750 from 2017. It’s worth noting that after LSU set that record, Oklahoma set the record for highest score in an NCAA final to win the natty. Oklahoma’s had an issue this season that they haven’t in years past: consistency. By Oklahoma’s lofty standards, they’ve had troubles. Their vault team hasn’t been as consistent with landings as usual and beam hasn’t been as good, either. In a meet like this one, minor mistakes will add up. They learned that the hard way when the SEC title slipped from their grasp on the final routine of the night. That meet is what makes me curious. It’ll come down to how they hit. By the way, Oklahoma’s never finished behind LSU in a national final.
#13 Minnesota (197.271 [4th], 27-9 overall (12-4 regular season), 4th at B1Gs, begins on bars)
Semifinal scores: 197.4625 (49.2500 VT, 49.3875 UB, 49.3875 BB, 49.4375 FX)
Event rankings: 4th on vault [49.239], 4th on bars [49.329], 4th on beam [49.329], 4th on floor [49.375]
Preview: Cinderella lives in Dinkytown. Statistically, Minnesota has no chance of winning the national championship. Statistically, they had no chance of making nationals, much less the national championship. Go hit routines and win, it’s not that hard. This team deserves all the love they’ve gotten, especially considering they had to replace almost the entire assistant coaching staff from last season. They did that and it worked out quite well. Unfortunately, they have the rotation of death. Both of the teams in second entering the final rotation of the semifinals went to vault and dropped to third, and Minnesota isn’t a strong vaulting team to begin with. If the Gophers are going to pull off the most shocking championship win of all time, they’ll need to hit on levels they haven’t hit before and hope everyone else gets too tight worrying about their conference rivals.
#3 Florida (198.093 [1st], 29-2 overall (12-2 regular season), SEC champions, begins on beam)
Semifinal scores: 197.7875 (49.2250 VT, 49.6625 UB, 49.4625 BB, 49.4375 FX)
Event rankings: 3rd on vault [49.364], 1st on bars [49.625], 1st on beam [49.607], 3rd on floor [49.496]
Preview: This is the team that gets over the hump…right? It has to be…right?? Florida couldn’t be in a better position to win this title if it wanted to. They get the best rotation for them, one that allows them to end on an event they can hammer, and they come in hungry. This team had five straight 198s and owns the two highest scores of 2026. If they’re on their game, they might be unstoppable. There is one slight issue: we’ve seen this script before. Florida had the championship in their grasp in 2022 until they didn’t. Florida had one of the best final meets in NCAA history in 2023, but Oklahoma tied the NCAA record. Florida has had a decade’s worth of chances and they’ve all come up short. This year’s team is unbelievably good, and they are the favorites to win on paper. If they put the meet together, they can finally get the hardware to prove it after over a decade.
#2 LSU (198.081 [2nd], 25-6-1 overall (11-3-1 regular season), 3rd at SECs, begins on floor)
Semifinal scores: 197.4375 (49.4750 VT, 49.1875 UB, 49.2500 BB, 49.5250 FX)
Event rankings: 2nd on vault [49.500], 3rd on bars [49.441], 2nd on beam [49.541], 1st on floor [49.600]
Preview: All throughout the 2026 season, I’ve said normal is enough. That is no longer the case. It’s the national flipping championship with a very tight three-way race. It’s just like SECs, but the hardware on offer here gets its own banner and parade. I won’t mince words about Thursday: it sucked that they were so off. Getting past that terrible meet is damn good. If anything, it takes a load off their back after getting bounced early last year. My main hope is that this team gives it their all no matter the result. That said, they need to channel whatever worked in their best meets of the season if they want any shot of beating Florida or Oklahoma.
If I had to be completely honest, I’d say LSU has a very tough time pulling this one out. The main issue that holds them back is that they don’t have extremely strong leads on events like they did in 2024. That team started the meet with a massive Konnor McClain floor routine and then finished with Sierra Ballard leading off beam. Oklahoma and Florida have better depth throughout their lineups that allow them to build scores easier and more consistently.
After LSU lost to Georgia, I had the weirdest feeling I’ve ever had. I told a friend that despite the loss, I had never felt more confident in an LSU team being good enough to win the title in January. At no point have I waivered from that belief. Even when LSU’s had their bad meets, they’ve shown they can bounce back and fix things. Even during bad meets, they can fix things and keep from snowballing.
I am going to be almost as nervous as I was in 2024. At least this team doesn’t have the pressure of trying to get the first natty ever. If this team is as nervous as they seemed to be on Thursday, they’ve got zero chance of winning. If this team is loose, free and joyous, they have a chance. Honestly, this could come down to slight differences in perfection. Ending on beam is just fantastic for my blood pressure, and hopefully there isn’t a stupid fall or major break that forces mine to spike. That said, LSU drilled beam at Oklahoma and at Florida, their last two meets in which they ended on beam. This kind of pressure is a privilege, and hopefully they take advantage of the moment. How the meet goes will determine when I get a recap out, especially if it’s a heartbreaker.