BATON ROUGE — After a two-year absence from the national rankings, the LSU football team is back in the Associated Press Top 25 as the Tigers are ranked No. 24 in the nation in this week’s poll.
The top 25 ranking is the first for the Tigers since October 11, 1998 when LSU was ranked No. 21 in the nation. The Tigers lost to Kentucky the following week and haven’t been back in the poll until this week.
“Our goal is to finish the season ranked in the top 25,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “It’s nice for the players to be recognized for their efforts up to this point, but we’re not going to ranked for long if we don’t take care of business against Arkansas on Friday.”
LSU enters Friday’s regular-season finale against Arkansas with a 7-3 overall mark and a 5-2 record in Southeastern Conference play. The Tigers, who have won four straight games, can clinch a share of the SEC Western Division crown with a win over the Razorbacks.
Oklahoma continues to be the nation’s top-ranked team, followed by Miami (Fla.), Florida State, Washington and Oregon State. Other SEC teams in the top 25 include Florida at No. 7, Auburn at No. 17, Georgia at No. 19, Mississippi State at No. 23 and Tennessee at No. 25.