All Sports Schedule
Football Ranked No. 12 in Preseason Coaches PollFootball Ranked No. 12 in Preseason Coaches Poll

Football Ranked No. 12 in Preseason Coaches Poll

BATON ROUGE – LSU opens its third season under head coach Brian Kelly ranked No. 12 in the nation as the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll was released on Monday.

The Tigers are coming off a 10-3 mark and a win over Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl last year. LSU closed the 2023 season winning four straight and seven of its last eight games. In two years, Kelly has guided LSU to 20 wins, a pair of bowl victories and the SEC Western Division title in his first season in 2022.

It’s the second consecutive year, and the 23rd time in 24 years, LSU opens the season ranked in the Top 25. Last year, the Tigers were No. 5 in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll.

LSU’s season-opening opponent, USC, is ranked No. 23. The Trojans were 8-5 a year ago. It will mark the first meeting between LSU and USC since 1984 when the Tigers posted a 23-3 win over the Trojans in Los Angeles.

LSU welcomes three preseason Top 25 teams to Tiger Stadium in 2024 as the Tigers host No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 16 Oklahoma. Texas A&M, ranked No. 20, is the other preseason Top 25 team on the LSU schedule.

In all, nine of the 16 SEC teams are in the Top 25 led by Georgia at No. 1, followed by Texas at No. 4. Other SEC teams in the Top 25 include: Missouri at No. 11 and Tennessee at No. 15.

LSU wrapped up its fourth day of training camp on Monday in the first of what will be five practices this week. The Tigers are scheduled to practice in full pads for the first time on Wednesday.

Preseason Coaches Poll

  • Rank School (2023 Record) Points 2023 Final Rank First-place votes
    1 Georgia (13-1) 1,364 3 46
    2 Ohio State (11-2) 1,302 10 7
    3 Oregon (12-2) 1,228 7
    4 Texas (12-2) 1,223 4 1
    5 Alabama (12-2) 1,077 5
    6 Mississippi (11-2) 1,019 9
    7 Notre Dame (10-3) 969 14
    8 Michigan (15-0) 944 1 1
    9 Penn State (10-3) 889 13
    10 Florida State (13-1) 867 6
    11 Missouri (11-2) 808 8
    12 LSU (10-3) 742 12
    13 Utah (8-5) 665 NR
    14 Clemson (9-4) 657 20
    15 Tennessee (9-4) 621 17
    16 Oklahoma (10-3) 609 15
    17 Kansas State (9-4) 416 19
    18 Oklahoma State (10-4) 359 16
    19 Miami (Fla.) (7-6) 292 NR
    20 Texas A&M (7-6) 273 NR
    21 Arizona (10-3) 230 11
    22 North Carolina State (9-4) 216 21
    23 Southern California (8-5) 199 NR
    24 Kansas (9-4) 186 23
    25 Iowa (10-4) 148 21

    Dropped out: No. 2 Washington (14-1); No. 18 Louisville (10-4); No. 24 SMU (11-3); No. 25 West Virginia (9-4).

    Others receiving votes: Washington (14-1) 123; Louisville (10-4) 95; Virginia Tech (7-6) 64; SMU (11-3) 47; Memphis (10-3) 44; Boise State (8-6) 30; Auburn (6-7) 25; West Virginia (9-4) 22; Wisconsin (7-6) 17; Iowa State (7-6) 15; Liberty (13-1) 15; Kentucky (7-6) 12; Florida (5-7) 11; South Carolina (5-7) 10; North Carolina (8-5) 6; Maryland (8-5) 5; UNLV (9-5) 5; Central Florida (6-7) 4; Texas Tech (7-6) 4; Texas-San Antonio (9-4) 3; Appalachian State (9-5) 2; Colorado (4-8) 2; Nebraska (5-7) 2; Texas State (8-5) 2; Tulane (11-3) 2; Air Force (9-4) 1; James Madison (11-2) 1; Miami (Ohio) (11-3) 1; Syracuse (6-7) 1; Troy (11-3) 1.

    The US LBM Board of Coaches for the 2024 season: Tim Albin, Ohio; Major Applewhite, South Alabama; Tim Beck, Coastal Carolina; Mike Bloomgren, Rice; David Braun, Northwestern; Jeff Brohm, Louisville; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Neal Brown, West Virginia; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Jamey Chadwell, Liberty; Bob Chesney, James Madison; Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan; Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Mike Elko, Texas A&M; Tony Elliott, Virginia; Jedd Fisch, Washington; James Franklin, Penn State; Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame; Willie Fritz, Houston; Alex Golesh, South Florida; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Mike Houston, East Carolina; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; Brent Key, Georgia Tech; GJ Kinne, Texas State; Chris Klieman, Kansas State; Dan Lanning, Oregon; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Lance Leipold, Kansas; Pete Lembo, Buffalo; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Mike Locksley, Maryland; Mike MacIntyre, Florida International; Gus Malzahn, Central Florida; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee; Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Bronco Mendenhall, New Mexico; Jeff Monken, Army; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State; Barry Odom, UNLV; Gerad Parker, Troy; Brent Pry, Virginia Tech; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Mark Stoops, Kentucky; Jon Sumrall, Tulane; Lance Taylor, Western Michigan; Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio.