It’s time to punch some tickets.
The #2 LSU gymnastics team gets one last meet at home, and they’ll either advance or stay here. The Tigers won their regional semifinal in dominant fashion, but now they have to take on #7 Stanford, #10 Michigan and #15 Clemson for a spot in Fort Worth. The top two teams from this meet will punch their tickets to Texas. LSU is searching for their 22nd regional title in program history. The meet begins at 5:00, and doors open at 3:30. Weather permitting, there will be a fan
fest outside the PMAC from 3:30-5:00 with inflatables and, of course, the big championship trophy. For those unable to attend, the meet will be streamed on ESPN+ with John Roethlisberger and Sam Peszek on play-by-play and with Mary Joe Roehrig as on-site rules analyst. Live stats can be found here.
LSU’s history against the other teams
LSU’s only meet against Clemson was in the regional semifinal. LSU won 198.375-196.800.
LSU is 9-6 all-time against Stanford, 2-1 against them at home and 7-6 against them in the postseason. The two teams last met at the 2024 NCAA semifinals where LSU won 198.1125-197.0750.
LSU is 15-13-1 all-time against Michigan, 401 against them at home and 10-11-1 against them in the postseason. The two teams last met at the 2025 Pennsylvania Regional semifinals where LSU won 198.100-197.050.
#15 Clemson (196.686 NQS, 12-9 overall (5-8 regular season), ACC Champs) (start on beam)
2025 finishes: 29th overall, 5th at ACCs
Program overview: best finish ever: whatever they do this year 1 ACC title (‘26), 0 individual NCAA titles, 0 nationals appearances, 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: #18 on vault [49.097], #14 on bars [49.217], #15 on beam [49.119], #17 on floor [49.261]
Preview: Clemson is in their first regional final in program history thanks in part to a solid vault rotation and to Auburn having a bars meltdown. This meet is a great chance to finish the season strong, but it’s going to take a lot to get past any of the top three teams. Since the introduction of the current format in 2019, only three teams have advanced out of a regional final with a score below 197.300, and they all did so in 2019. Clemson’s season high is a 197.175 followed closely by the 197.100 that earned them their ACC title. That’s not what today is about, though. It’s about ending the season on empty and proving that this team has a very strong foundation.
#7 Stanford (197.248 NQS, 17-5 overall (10-4 regular season), 2nd at ACCs) (start on bars)
2025 finishes: 18th overall, ACC Champions
Program overview: best finish: 3rd (’04 and ’08), 6 conference titles (5 Pac-10, 1 ACC), 5 individual NCAA titles (last was Anna Roberts on VT in ’24), 17 nationals appearances (last in ’24), 7 Super Six Appearances (last in ’15), 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: t-#15 on vault [49.128], #6 on bars [49.375], #7 on beam [49.318], #5 on floor [49.443]
Preview: Stanford had the second choice of event order after LSU chose to start on vault. For some reason, the Cardinal chose to end on their worst event: vault. The other three teams in this meet are finishing on their best event. Worst of all, according to College Gym News analysis done in 2023, a team starting on bars tends to score lower than a team starting on any other event. If Stanford wants to stave off Michigan entering the final rotation, they need to build up a solid lead on their three best events. Beam has to be better than it was Thursday more than any other event. They have the talent to advance, but they have to hit. It’s worth noting that Stanford has four scores higher than 197.600, and three of those have been in road meets. If they can get into that range, they’ll be in a great spot.
#10 Michigan (197.111 NQS, 21-8 overall (11-4 regular season), 4th at B1Gs) (start on floor)
2025 finishes: 17th overall, 4th at B1Gs
Program overview: 1 team title (’21), 27 B1G titles (last in ’23), 9 individual NCAA titles (last was Natalie Wojcik on BB in ’19), 26 nationals appearances (last in ’22), 10 Super 6 appearances (last in ‘11), 1 Four on the Floor appearances (‘21)
Event rankings: #13 on vault [49.172], #15 on bars [49.178], #5 on beam [49.347], #9 on floor [49.400]
Preview: Michigan has the luxury of finishing this meet on their best event, an event they struggled on when competing Thursday. This team is solid and has the potential to do much better than they’ve done all season. On February 28, Michigan scored a season high of 197.475. They have done progressively worse in each meet since. That, obviously, has to change today. They need to figure out what went wrong on vault and beam since those went poorly last time. If they want to get past Stanford, they need to keep the meet close entering the final rotation. Michigan has a 0.200-ish advantage on average for that final rotation, so if they’re that close coming in, it will be intense.
#2 LSU (197.920 NQS, 20-5-1 overall (11-3-1 regular season), 3rd at SECs) (start on vault)
LSU is ranked second on vault [49.440], third on bars [49.445], third on beam [49.488] and first on floor [49.543].
If LSU does what they do on a regular basis, they should cruise to another nationals appearance. LSU’s cruising altitude is around 197.900 in general, and being at home probably bumps that to 198. Stanford is the only team that’s had a better score that 197.900 that’s on this floor. If they’re calm and composed, they’ll be fine. Hopefully, they don’t get caught up trying to top what they did on Thursday, because that will end poorly. Expect lineups to be the same as usual.
It should be a rowdy atmosphere in the PMAC in a tight battle to escape to Fort Worth. Hopefully it’s a fun time.
