Sept. 8 Football National Rankings

BATON ROUGE – LSU leaped into the Top 10 in both national polls following Saturday’s dominant 51-10 win over Clemson in Tiger Stadium. 

LSU jumped five spots from No. 13 to No. 8 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and moved up three positions from No. 11 to No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday. 

The No. 8 national ranking marks the eighth time in the past nine years, dating back to 2018, LSU has broken into the Top 10 at some point during the season. 

The 41-point win over No. 23 Clemson was the largest margin of victory by an LSU team over a Top 25 opponent since beating No. 9 Virginia Tech, 48-7, in Tiger Stadium in 2007. 

Against Clemson, the Tigers racked up 644 total yards (309 rushing, 335 passing), while the defense allowed only 145 total yards and limited Clemson to just eight first downs. Clemson ran only six plays in LSU’s territory for the entire game, three of which came following an interception on the second play of the contest. 

Overall, LSU won its 22nd straight game against non-conference opponents in Death Valley, while Lane Kiffin beat a non-conference opponent for the 22nd consecutive time. 

LSU returns to action on Saturday when the Tigers welcome Louisiana Tech to Tiger Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network-plus. 

2026 AP Top 25

Sept. 8, 2026

Rank	Team (First-Place Votes)	Points	Previous
1	Ohio State (46)	1684	1
2	Georgia	1532	3
3	Notre Dame (4)	1512	4
4	Texas (2)	1462	5
5	Indiana (8)	1428	6
6	Oregon (3)	1422	2
7	Miami (Fla.) (1)	1405	7
8	LSU (5)	1315	11
9	Ole Miss	1154	9
10	Texas A&M	1079	8
11	Oklahoma	1039	10
12	Alabama	910	13
13	Texas Tech	900	12
14	USC	861	t-14
15	BYU	840	t-14
16	Penn State	621	18
17	SMU	501	19
18	Tennessee	491	20
19	Washington	489	17
20	Utah	381	21
21	Iowa	369	22
22	Houston	214	23
23	Missouri	182	25
24	Louisville	163	24
25	Virginia	89	NR

Others receiving votes:
Boise State 86, Florida 83, Michigan 69, Arizona 33, Memphis 23, South Carolina 19, Western Michigan 12, Pittsburgh 11, Navy 10, UCLA 7, Virginia Tech 6, Illinois 6, James Madison 4, Minnesota 4, Colorado 3, Auburn 2, Arizona State 2, Vanderbilt 2.

2026 US LBM Coaches Top 25

Sept. 8, 2026

Rank	Team (First-Place Votes)	Points	Previous
1	Ohio State (50)	1801	1
2	Georgia (7)	1672	3
3	Texas (1)	1600	4
4	Notre Dame (4)	1558	5
5	Indiana (11)	1537	6
6	Oregon (1)	1524	2
7	Miami (Fla.)	1477	7
8	LSU	1279	13
9	Texas A&M	1204	8
10	Oklahoma	1184	9
11	Ole Miss	1141	10
12	Alabama	1059	11
13	Texas Tech	955	12
14	USC	919	14
15	BYU	838	15
16	Penn State	612	17
17	SMU	517	20
18	Tennessee	513	18
19	Washington	432	19
20	Utah	415	21
21	Iowa	411	22
22	Houston	236	24
23	Missouri	231	25
24	Michigan	164	16
t-25	Virginia	157	NR
t-25	Florida	157	NR

Others Receiving Votes
Louisville 125; Illinois 45; Boise State 43; Arizona 42; South Carolina 36; Memphis 24; Auburn 19; Vanderbilt 17; Pittsburgh 14; Virginia Tech 11; Nebraska 11; Arizona State 11; Minnesota 9; Western Michigan 7; New Mexico 7; North Dakota State 6; Kansas State 6; Navy 5; UCLA 4; Duke 4; UNLV 3; Clemson 3; San Diego State 2; North Carolina 2; Colorado 1.

List Of Voters
The US LBM Board of Coaches for the 2026 season: Tim Albin, Charlotte; Blake Anderson, Southern Mississippi; Dave Aranda, Baylor; David Braun, Northwestern; Jeff Brohm, Louisville; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Neal Brown, North Texas; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Jamey Chadwell, Liberty; Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Manny Diaz, Duke; Jake Dickert, Wake Forest; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, TCU; Jason Eck, New Mexico; Mike Elko, Texas A&M; Tony Elliott, Virginia; Matt Entz, Fresno State; Jedd Fisch, Washington; James Franklin, Virginia Tech; Willie Fritz, Houston; Scott Frost, Central Florida; Tony Gibson, Marshall; Alex Golesh, Auburn; Will Hall, Tulane; Blake Harrell, East Carolina; John Hauser, Ohio; Clay Helton, Georgia Southern; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Charles Huff, Memphis; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; KC Keeler, Temple; Charles Kelly, Jacksonville State; Brent Key, Georgia Tech; Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic; Collin Klein, Kansas State; Tre Lamb, Tulsa; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Lance Leipold, Kansas; Pete Lembo, Buffalo; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State; Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Jeff Monken, Army; Kirby Moore, Washington State; Eric Morris, Oklahoma State; Dan Mullen, UNLV; Billy Napier, James Madison; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Brian Newberry, Navy; Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State; Barry Odom, Purdue; Tim Polasek, North Dakota State; Tavita Pritchard, Stanford; Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion; Matt Rhule, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia; Morgan Scalley, Utah; JaMarcus Shephard, Oregon State; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Will Stein, Kentucky; Jon Sumrall, Florida; Lance Taylor, Western Michigan; Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio; Scotty Walden, Texas-El Paso; Kyle Whittingham, Michigan; Casey Woods, Missouri State.