BATON ROUGE — LSU’s football team is ranked ninth in the preseason USA Today college football coaches poll, it was announced on Friday.
The Tigers finished the 2005 season ranked No. 5 in the coaches poll following an 11-2 record and a convincing victory over Miami in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
LSU received 1,037 points from the 63 Division I-A coaches that vote.
Ohio State received 1,487 points and 28 first-place votes is No. 1, followed by Texas, Notre Dame and Southern Cal are tied for third, while Oklahoma completes the top five.
Auburn, LSU’s Sept. 16 opponent, is sixth with West Virginia seventh, Florida, the Tigers’ Oct. 7 opponent, eighth and Florida State at No. 10 behind LSU.
LSU opens the season on Sept. 2 with Louisiana-Lafayette in Tiger Stadium.
Preseason USA Today Poll
1. Ohio State (28) 0-0 1,487
2. Texas (11) 0-0 1,378
3. USC (1) 0-0 1,348
3. Notre Dame (9) 0-0 1,348
5. Oklahoma (13) 0-0 1,320
6. Auburn (1) 0-0 1,206
7. West Virginia 0-0 1,202
8. Florida 0-0 1,054
9. LSU 0-0 1,037
10. Florida State 0-0 874
11. Miami (FL) 0-0 839
12. California 0-0 798
13. Louisville 0-0 785
14. Georgia 0-0 784
15. Michigan 0-0 778
16. Virginia Tech 0-0 591
17. Iowa 0-0 519
18. Clemson 0-0 493
19. Penn State 0-0 406
20. Oregon 0-0 373
21. TCU 0-0 270
22. Nebraska 0-0 261
23. Tennessee 0-0 216
24. Alabama 0-0 210
25. Texas Tech 0-0 198
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Arizona State 182, Boston College 87, Utah 84, Arkansas 64, South Carolina 55, Boise State 46, Wisconsin 37, UCLA 29, Georgia Tech 28, Fresno State 14, Tulsa 11, Iowa State 9, Minnesota 9, Maryland 8, Purdue 7, Texas A&M 6, Memphis 5, Nevada 3, UTEP 3, Rutgers 2, Northern Illinois 2, Northwestern 2, Oregon State 2, Arizona 2, Brigham Young 2, Colorado 1, Duke 1.