BATON ROUGE — LSU enters the 2001 season ranked No. 14 in the nation as the Associated Press preseason poll was released on Saturday.
The Tigers are one of six Southeastern Conference teams in the AP Top 25 led by top-ranked Florida. Other SEC teams in the poll include Tennessee at No. 8, Mississippi State at No. 20, South Carolina No. 21, and Alabama No. 25. All but South Carolina are on LSU’s schedule this season.
The SEC leads all leagues with six representatives in the top 25.
“Predictions are no substitute for performance,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “It’s flattering to be recognized as a top 25 team, but we understand that our success this year will be based on our consistency in performance.
“We also realize the challenges of playing in a tough league like the SEC. We play six bowl teams from a year ago, including two top 10 teams from the SEC’s Eastern Division. We have a tough road ahead of us and we need to focus on the process of what we need to do to be able to compete at a high level each week.”
The Tigers open their season on September 1 as they play host to Tulane in Tiger Stadium.
2001 Associated Press Preseason Top 25
Record Pts Pvs 1. Florida (20) 10-3 1,716 10 2. Miami (33) 11-1 1,700 2 3. Oklahoma (10) 13-0 1,588 1 4. Nebraska (4) 10-2 1,525 8 5. Texas (5) 9-3 1,461 12 6. Florida St. 11-2 1,441 5 7. Oregon 10-2 1,354 7 8. Tennessee 8-4 1,344 - 9. Virginia Tech 11-1 1,169 6 10. Georgia Tech 9-3 1,005 17 11. Oregon St. 11-1 974 4 12. Michigan 9-3 919 11 13. Kansas St. 11-3 902 9 14. LSU 8-4 763 22 15. Washington 11-1 683 3 16. Northwestern 8-4 667 - 17. UCLA 6-6 639 - 18. Notre Dame 9-3 599 15 19. Clemson 9-3 569 16 20. Mississippi St. 8-4 521 24 21. South Carolina 8-4 350 19 22. Wisconsin 9-4 237 23 23. Ohio St. 8-4 181 - 24. Colorado St. 10-2 179 14 25. Alabama 3-8 136 -
Others receiving votes: Purdue 127, Colorado 105, Georgia 84, Southern Cal 74, East Carolina 65, Pittsburgh 62, Louisville 53, Michigan St. 32, Texas A&M 28, Arkansas 22, Illinois 21, Marshall 12, Mississippi 12, UNLV 12, Southern Miss. 10, Penn St. 9, Auburn 8, Stanford 8, TCU 7, Fresno St. 6, Iowa St. 5, Kansas 5, N.C. State 3, W. Michigan 2, West Virginia 2, Arizona St. 1, Indiana 1, Syracuse 1, Toledo 1.