BATON ROUGE – LSU opens its second season under head coach Brian Kelly ranked No. 5 in the nation as the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll was released on Monday.
The Tigers are coming off a 10-4 record a year ago as LSU claimed the SEC Western Division crown and beat Purdue, 63-7, in the Citrus Bowl.
The Tigers return 25 players who have started at least one game in an LSU uniform, including quarterback Jayden Daniels along with five offensive linemen, four receivers and four running backs. LSU added eight players through the transfer portal who were starters at their previous school.
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The No. 5 preseason ranking is the highest for the Tigers since 2020 when LSU followed up its national championship season ranked No. 5 to open the year. LSU’s highest preseason ranking came in 2007 when the Tigers opened the year at No. 2.
LSU’s season-opening opponent Florida State is ranked No. 8 in the nation. The LSU-Florida State matchup will be the only contest during the first full weekend of college football featuring two Top 10 teams.
LSU is one of three SEC teams in the preseason Top 5 as they are joined by top-ranked Georgia and No. 3 Alabama. Other SEC teams in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll include Tennessee at No. 10, Ole Miss at No. 22 and Texas A&M at No. 25.
Rank School (record) Points Last year’s final rank First-place votes
1 Georgia (15-0) 1,643 1 61
2 Michigan (13-1) 1,510 3 0
3 Alabama (11-2) 1,489 5 4
4 Ohio State (11-2) 1,485 4 1
5 LSU (10-4) 1,294 15 0
6 Southern California (11-3) 1,228 13 0
7 Penn State (11-2) 1,181 7 0
8 Florida State (10-3) 1,145 10 0
9 Clemson (11-3) 1,078 12 0
10 Tennessee (11-2) 991 6 0
11 Washington (11-2) 941 8 0
12 Texas (8-5) 848 25 0
13 Notre Dame (9-4) 841 18 0
14 Utah (10-4) 839 11 0
15 Oregon (10-3) 820 16 0
16 TCU (13-2) 655 2 0
17 Kansas State (10-4) 440 14 0
18 Oregon State (10-3) 365 17 0
19 Oklahoma (6-7) 320 NR 0
20 North Carolina (9-5) 315 NR 0
21 Wisconsin (7-6) 309 NR 0
22 Mississippi (8-5) 303 NR 0
23 Tulane (12-2) 225 9 0
24 Texas Tech (8-5) 200 NR 0
25 Texas A&M (5-7) 196 NR 0
