LSU took the top spot in the second College Football Playoff ranking after a 46-41 win against then No. 3 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron said Wednesday on the SEC’s weekly coaches teleconference that his staff doesn’t talk about the rankings but did say No. 1 is “where you want to be at LSU.”
“Right now we are No. 1 in the country. But that doesn’t mean anything when we are going in to Ole Miss,” Orgeron said. “That’s not going to beat Ole Miss. We have to remember how we got here. It’s harder to stay on top. We are going to have to compete every week.
“Everybody is gunning for us. It’s a different scenario. Now we are the hunted so our guys have to understand that.”
The Tigers (9-0) head to Oxford this weekend for a matchup with the Rebels (4-6) and Orgeron said he’s stressed to his team that this will be a tough game despite Ole Miss’ record.
“We know it’s going to be a battle,” he said. “We know what this game means to those guys. It’s going to be a wild crowd and it’s going to be a challenge.”
Orgeron said he thinks his team will be ready for the 6 p.m. CT kickoff.
“Obviously, after a huge game against Alabama, a huge win, we gotta come back down to reality — come back down to the basics, focus in on the task at hand and I do believe our team will do that,” Orgeron said.