BATON ROUGE — For the second straight year, LSU heads into a football season ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation as the Tigers have been selected No. 6 in the USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released on Friday.
Southern Cal is the nation’s No. 1 rated team, followed by Texas at No. 2, and Tennessee, LSU’s opponent on Sept. 24 in Tiger Stadium, at No. 3. Michigan and Oklahoma round out the top five.
Joining LSU in the top 10 include Virginia Tech at No. 7, Miami (Fla.), at No. 8, Ohio State at No. 9 and Iowa at No. 10. Other Southeastern Conference teams in the Top 25 include Florida at No. 11, Georgia at No. 13, Auburn at No. 15, and Alabama at No. 24.
Arizona State, LSU’s second opponent of the season, is ranked No. 18 in the preseason poll. The Tigers open the season on Sept. 3 at home against defending Sun Belt Conference Champion North Texas.
LSU opened the 2004 season ranked No. 3 in the nation in the USA Today Coaches Poll following its 13-1 national championship season in 2003.
First-year LSU coach Les Miles inherits a Tiger squad that returns 17 starters from a team that posted a 9-3 mark and reached a January bowl game for an unprecedented fourth consecutive season.
Rank
Team (first-place votes)
Southern California (60)
Texas (2)
Tennessee
Michigan
Oklahoma
LSU
Virginia Tech
Miami (Fla.)
Ohio State
Iowa
Florida
Florida State
Georgia
Louisville
Auburn
Purdue
Texas A&M
Arizona State
Boise State
California
Texas Tech
Boston College
Virginia
Alabama
Pittsburgh
Others receiving votes
Fresno State (9-3) 188; Oregon (5-6) 145; Utah (12-0) 103; Georgia Tech (7-5) 88; Wisconsin (9-3) 79; North Carolina State (5-6) 69; Bowling Green (9-3) 63; Penn State (4-7) 44; Colorado (8-5) 40; Minnesota (7-5) 34; UCLA (6-6) 24; Texas-El Paso (8-4) 22; Nebraska (5-6) 21; Kansas State (4-7) 20; South Carolina (6-5) 16; Notre Dame (6-6) 13; West Virginia (8-4) 12; Wyoming (7-5) 12; Clemson (6-5) 9; New Mexico (7-5) 9; Arizona (3-8) 8; Northern Illinois (9-3) 8; Southern Mississippi (7-5) 7; Toledo (9-4) 7; Washington State (5-6) 7; Iowa State (7-5) 6; Michigan State (5-7) 6; Memphis (8-4) 5; Washington (1-10) 4; Miami (Ohio) (8-5) 3; Maryland (5-6) 2; UAB (7-5) 1; Duke (2-9) 1; Kansas (4-7) 1.