BATON ROUGE – For the 10th straight year, LSU will open the season among the top 25 teams in the nation as the Tigers are ranked No. 16 in the USA Today preseason poll which was released on Friday.
LSU has been ranked in every preseason Top 25 dating back to the 2001 season. Furthermore, LSU has played 64 of its 66 games in the Les Miles era as a top 25 team, including all 13 games in 2009.
LSU is also one of six Southeastern Conference teams in the poll, led by Alabama at No. 1 and Florida at No. 3. Other SEC teams in the Top 25 include: Arkansas at No. 19, Georgia at No. 21, and Auburn at No. 23.
LSU will face a total of six teams in 2010 that are ranked in the preseason Top 25 – No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Florida, No. 18 North Carolina, No. 19 Arkansas, No. 23 Auburn, and No. 24 West Virginia.
The Tigers open their sixth season under Miles on Sept. 4 when they travel to Atlanta to face the 18th-ranekd North Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. The North Carolina contest will mark the first time since 2005 that the Tigers will open a season against a ranked opponent. That year, LSU rallied for a 35-31 win over No. 15 Arizona State in Tempe.
Tickets in LSU’s sections are available for $60 at www.LSUtix.net.
LSU returns 12 starters and 42 letterwinners from last year’s squad that posted a 9-4 record and played in a New Year’s Day Bowl.
USA TODAY TOP 25 COACHES’ POLL – Aug. 6, 2010
The preseason Top 25 football coaches poll, with team’s 2009 records in parentheses, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in the final poll of the 2009 season and first-place votes received:
Rank, School (2009 record), Points, Final 2009 rank, First-place votes
1. Alabama (14-0), 1469, 1, 55
2. Ohio State (11-2), 1392, 5, 4
3. Florida (13-1), 1245, 3, 0
4. Texas (13-1), 1240, 2, 0
5. Boise State (14-0), 1215, 4, 0
6. Virginia Tech (10-3), 1052, 10, 0
7. TCU (12-1), 1051, 6, 0
8. Oklahoma (8-5), 1035, not ranked, 0
9. Nebraska (10-4), 1001, 14, 0
10. Iowa (11-2), 952, 7, 0
11. Oregon (10-3), 940, 11, 0
12. Wisconsin (10-3), 778, 16, 0
13. Miami (Fla.) (9-4), 728, 19, 0
14. Penn State (11-2), 508, 8, 0
15. Pittsburgh (10-3), 492, 15, 0
16. LSU (9-4), 476, 17, 0
17. Georgia Tech (11-3), 455, 13, 0
18. North Carolina (8-5), 445, not ranked, 0
19. Arkansas (8-5), 438, not ranked, 0
20. Florida State (7-6), 374, not ranked, 0
21. Georgia (8-5), 312, not ranked, 0
22. Oregon State (8-5), 263, not ranked, 0
23. Auburn (8-5), 260, not ranked, 0
24. (tie), West Virginia (9-4), 169, 22, 0
24. (tie), Utah (10-3), 169, 18, 0
Others receiving votes (with 2009 records): Cincinnati (12-1) 135; Houston (10-4) 76; Brigham Young (11-2) 66; Arizona (8-5) 65; Mississippi (9-4) 48; Clemson (9-5) 44; Stanford (8-5) 41; Connecticut (8-5) 40; Notre Dame (6-6) 38; South Carolina (7-6) 38; Washington (5-7) 26; Missouri (8-5) 23; Navy (10-4) 12; Oklahoma State (9-4) 11; Boston College (8-5) 10; Michigan State (6-7) 10; Arizona State (4-8) 6; California (8-5) 6; Texas Tech (9-4) 5; South Florida (8-5) 4; Texas A&M (6-7) 3; Northwestern (8-5) 2; Temple (9-4) 2; Central Michigan (12-2) 1; Mississippi State (5-7) 1; Nevada (8-5) 1; Northern Illinois (7-6) 1; Southern Methodist (8-5) 1.
The USA TODAY Board of Coaches is made up of 59 head coaches at Bowl Subdivision schools. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The board for the 2010 season: Robb Akey, Idaho; David Bailiff, Rice; Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Tim Beckman, Toledo; Todd Berry, Louisiana-Monroe; Bret Bielema, Wisconsin; Art Briles, Baylor; Dave Christensen, Wyoming; David Cutcliffe, Duke; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Todd Dodge, North Texas; Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech; Dan Enos, Central Michigan; Steve Fairchild, Colorado State; Larry Fedora, Southern Miss; Jimbo Fisher, Florida State; Al Golden, Temple; Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Jim Harbaugh, Stanford; Mike Haywood, Miami (Ohio); Butch Jones, Cincinnati; Brian Kelly, Notre Dame; Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois; Mike Locksley, New Mexico; Mike London, Virginia; Bill Lynch, Indiana; Mike MacIntyre, San Jose State; Doug Marrone, Syracuse; Urban Meyer, Florida; Dan Mullen, Mississippi State; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Tom O’Brien, North Carolina State; George O’Leary, Central Florida; Bo Pelini, Nebraska; Chris Petersen, Boise State; Bobby Petrino, Arkansas; Gary Pinkel, Missouri; Larry Porter, Memphis; Jeff Quinn, Buffalo; Paul Rhoads, Iowa State; Mark Richt, Georgia; Mike Riley, Oregon State; Rich Rodriguez, Michigan; Nick Saban, Alabama; Steve Sarkisian, Washington; Greg Schiano, Rutgers; Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic; Mike Sherman, Texas A&M; Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Mike Stoops, Arizona; Charlie Strong, Louisville; Kevin Sumlin, Houston; Bob Toledo, Tulane; Jim Tressel, Ohio State; Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech; Kyle Whittingham, Utah; Paul Wulff, Washington State; Ron Zook, Illinois. Because it is serving an NCAA-imposed bowl ban, Southern California is not eligible to receive votes this season under AFCA policy
SEC – USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll Notes
- The SEC had six teams ranked in the preseason USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, which is the most of any conference. The ACC had five, Big Ten had four, and the Big 12 had three, while the Mountain West, Big East and Pac-10 had two each. The WAC had one school ranked in the Top 25.
- Taking into account all teams that received votes, the SEC led with nine teams receiving votes followed by the Big 12, ACC and Pac-10 with seven each, the Big Ten with six and the Big East had five.
- SEC teams accounted for 22.4 percent of total points received in the preseason poll. SEC teams had 4,287 points of a possible 19,175 points (59 coaches x 325 points per ballot).
- Alabama is the top-ranked team in this season’s preseason USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll. Since 1992, the SEC has had a team ranked first in the preseason poll six times, including a current three-year streak. The list includes: 2010 – Alabama; 2009 – Florida; 2008 – Georgia; 2001- Florida; 1997 – Florida; 1994 – Florida.
- The SEC has two teams ranked among the top 10 in this season’s preseason USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll. Since 1992, the SEC has had at least two teams ranked in the preseason poll every year. The most was four in 2009. Since 2005, the SEC has had seven of its teams ranked among the preseason top 10. A breakdown of each year’s SEC teams in the preseason Top 10 includes: 2010 – Alabama (1), Florida (3); 2009 – Florida (1), Alabama (5), LSU (9), Ole Miss (10); 2008 – Georgia (1), Florida (5), LSU (6); 2007 – LSU (2), Florida (3); 2006 – Auburn (6), Florida (8), LSU (9); 2005 – Tennessee (3), LSU (6); 2004 – LSU (3), Georgia (4), Florida (10); 2003 – Auburn (6), Georgia (9); 2002 – Tennessee (5), Florida (7); 2001 – Florida (1), Tennessee (8); 2000 – Alabama (3), Florida (7); 1999 – Tennessee (2), Florida (5); 1998 – Florida (4), LSU (8), Tennessee (10); 1997 – Florida (1), Tennessee (5); 1996 – Tennessee (2), Florida (4); 1995 – Florida (5), Auburn (7); 1994 – Florida (1), Alabama (10); 1993 – Alabama (2), Tennessee (9); 1992 – Florida (6), Alabama (9).
- Since 2001 (last 10 years including 2010), the SEC has had 10 of its 12 teams ranked in the preseason USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll. In the last three seasons (since 2008), eight of the SEC’s 12 teams have been ranked in the preseason poll. Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and LSU are ranked in this season’s preseason poll, while Ole Miss was ranked in 2009, Tennessee in 2008, South Carolina in 2002 and Mississippi State in 2001.