BATON ROUGE — A day after its 49-10 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday, LSU continued its climb up the national rankings as the Tigers moved up to No. 4 in the nation in both the Associated Press poll and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.
The No. 4 ranking is the highest for the Tigers this late in the season since 1962 when LSU was ranked No. 4 in the AP poll for the week of Nov. 3. Overall, the No. 4 ranking is the highest for the Tigers since 1987 when LSU appeared at No. 4 in the third and fourth weeks of the season.
Last week, the Tigers were No. 7 in the AP poll and No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.
The Tigers, 8-1 overall and 4-1 in Southeastern Conference action, are off to their best start through nine games since the 1973 LSU team won its first nine games. The Tigers are open this week and they don’t return to action until Nov. 15 when they travel to face Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Oklahoma is the consensus No. 1 ranked team in both polls, followed by Southern Cal, Florida State, LSU, and Virginia Tech. The bottom half of the AP top 10 has Miami at No. 6, followed by Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, and Iowa.
Other SEC teams in the AP Top 25 include Georgia at No. 9, Florida at No. 17, Tennessee at No. 18, and Ole Miss at No. 20. In the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll Georgia is No. 9, followed by Tennessee at No. 17, Florida at No. 19, and Ole Miss at No. 24.
In other news, LSU continues to have one of the nation’s top-rated defenses as the Tigers rank first in the country in scoring defense (9.6 points per game), second in rushing defense (60.3 yards per game), fourth in total defense (264.2 yards per game) and sixth in pass efficiency defense (104.7 rating).
Offensively, the Tigers rank second in the SEC and 16th in nation with 35.7 points per game, while LSU leads the SEC and ranks third in the nation in punt returns (15.7 yards per return), and they rank first in the league and sixth in the nation in kickoff returns (25.8 yards per return).
Despite being kicked away from all game against Louisiana Tech, Skyler Green continues to lead the nation in punt return average with 287 yards and two touchdowns in 11 returns for a 26.1 average. LSU quarterback Matt Mauck leads the SEC and ranks 12th in the nation in pass efficiency with a 156.7 rating. Through nine games, Mauck has completed 150 of 230 passes for 1,924 yards and 19 touchdowns.