LSU football begins the season ranked No. 11 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25.
Head Coach Lane Kiffin, however, said preseason rankings are difficult to evaluate in the current era of college football because of the amount of roster turnover from year to year.
“I mean, we don't know as coaches, let alone media or coaches know other teams, because we barely know our own team how we'll play because you have so many new players,” Kiffin said.
The Tigers will face five teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25: Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Texas and Tennessee.
LSU is ranked 13th in the coaches poll.
The Tigers opening opponent, Clemson, is not ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 for the first time in 15 years. Clemson just missed out on the rankings, and would be ranked 26th based on the voting… if the poll went beyond the top 25.
Full AP Top 25
1.Ohio State
2.Oregon
3.Georgia
4.Notre Dame
5.Texas
6.Indiana
7.Miami
8.Texas A&M
9.Mississippi
10.Oklahoma
11.LSU
12.Texas Tech
13.Alabama
14.BYU
15.USC
16.Michigan
17.Washington
18.Penn State
19.SMU
20.Tennessee
21.Utah
22.Iowa
23.Houston
24.Louisville
25.Missouri
Others Receiving votes:
Clemson 112, Florida 51, Boise State 43, Arizona 32, TCU 11, Navy 10, South Carolina 10, Illinois 9, Oklahoma State 8, Vanderbilt 8, Pittsburgh 7, Virginia Tech 6, Minnesota 5, UNLV 4, New Mexico 4, Georgia Tech 4, Louisiana 4, James Madison 3, Auburn 3, Memphis 2, California 2, Liberty 1, Western Michigan 1, Tulane 1, Virginia 1
