BATON ROUGE — The LSU football team opens the 2003 season ranked No. 14 in the nation by the Associated Press as the wire service released its preseason poll on Saturday.
The Tigers, who are ranked No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, are coming off an 8-5 season and an appearance in the Cotton Bowl. LSU returns 16 starters from last year’s squad. The Tigers are also ranked in the AP preseason top 25 for the third straight year. LSU has held the No. 14 ranking in the AP preseason poll for three consecutive seasons.
Oklahoma is the nation’s top-ranked team, followed by defending national champion Ohio State, Miami (Fla.), Michigan and Texas. Auburn is No. 6, followed by Kansas State, Southern Cal, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. LSU hosts Auburn on Oct. 25 in Tiger Stadium.
Other Southeastern Conference teams joining LSU and Auburn in the poll is Georgia at No. 11 and Tennessee at No. 12. LSU faces Georgia on Sept. 20 in Baton Rouge.
“It’s nice to be recognized in the AP Top 25,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “However, right now our focus is on the process of becoming a better football team each week and we’re more concerned with our ranking at the end of the year than at the beginning.
“It’s very flattering for our program and it’s exciting for our fans to be listed among the top 25 teams in the nation. We have worked very hard to get this type of recognition, but we can’t lose focus on what we’re trying to accomplish here and that’s the process of getting better each week.”
The Tigers open their season on Aug. 30 against Louisiana-Monroe in Tiger Stadium in what will be the first meeting between the two schools.