BATON ROUGE — After coming in at No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll on Tuesday, the LSU softball team remained at No. 8 in the NFCA/USA Today poll, it was announced on Wednesday.
After beginning the year at No. 9 in the preseason NFCA poll, LSU (11-1) jumped one place last week to No. 8, to its highest ranking in this poll since the 2005 preseason poll when the Tigers were ranked No. 5.
Last week, LSU took a mid-week game from Louisiana-Monroe, 7-0, at Tiger Park. The Tigers then posted a 4-1 record at the Houston Crowne Plaza Invitational. LSU defeated Missouri State, Houston, Texas State and Indiana before falling to Southern Illinois, which moved into the Top 25 at No. 24 this week.
LSU has now been ranked for 17 straight weeks after having their streak of 103 consecutive weeks snapped on March 30, 2005, a streak that dated back to Feb. 28, 1998. In all, LSU has been ranked in 121 of the 142 polls (.852) that have been released since the program was reinstated in 1997. The Tigers have been ranked in the top 10 for 76 weeks in the program’s history.
The top two spots remained the same as SEC rival Tennessee sits at No. 1 and Arizona State stays at No. 2. Texas A&M jumped over defending national champion Arizona into the third place, followed by the Wildcats at No. 4. Rounding out the Top 10 are Alabama, Oregon State, Northwestern, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas.
The Pac-10 still leads the way with seven teams ranked in the top 25, followed by the SEC and Big 12 with five ranked teams. Among the five SEC teams in the top 25, three are in the top 10, including Tennessee, LSU and Alabama. Georgia comes in at No. 18 and Florida is ranked 19th. Mississippi State is now listed among teams that are receiving votes in the poll.
The NFCA/USA Today poll is voted on by NCAA Division I head coaches representing each conference.
NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll
Rank School Record Pts. Pvs.
1. Tennessee (28) 9-0 747 1
2. Arizona State (2) 13-0 719 2
3. Texas A&M 10-0 678 4
4. Arizona 9-2 666 3
5. Alabama 10-0 634 5
6. Oregon State 6-2 561 7
7. Northwestern 6-4 548 6
8. LSU 11-1 542 8
9. Oklahoma 10-0 478 12
10. Texas 8-2 473 10
11. Stanford 9-2 425 13
12. UCLA 7-4 406 9
13. Michigan 9-1 391 14
14 UL-Lafayette 12-1 366 16
15. Washington 7-1 340 15
16. California 6-4 290 11
17. Baylor 10-2 260 17
18. Georgia 9-3 239 18
19. Florida 10-3 190 20
20. Florida State 8-1 140 22
21. Nebraska 4-3 134 19
22. Fresno State 6-3 133 21
23. N.C. State 7-2 68 NR
24. Southern Illinois 9-2 48 NR
25. Massachusetts 2-2-1 43 23
Others Receiving Votes:
Hawaii 43, BYU 33, Oregon 28, South Florida 28, DePaul 27, Georgia Tech 17, Cal State Fullerton 15, Wisconsin 8, Mississippi State 7, Seven Others Received One Vote Each.