LSU ranked 12th in preseason football coaches poll

BATON ROUGE — The LSU football team is ranked No. 12 in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll, the USA Today announced Thursday.

The preseason ranking is the second-highest for the program in the last five seasons. It marks the 17th-straight season LSU has been ranked in the preseason coaches poll. The Tigers finished last season ranked No. 14 after an 8-4 record and victory over Louisville in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.

LSU will face off against four teams ranked in the preseason Top-25 in 2017 with Alabama at No. 1, Auburn at No. 13, Florida at No. 16 and Tennessee at No. 24. Head coach Ed Orgeron opens his first season as the head coach of the Tigers on Saturday, Sept. 2, against BYU in Houston. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Rank, Team (First-Place Votes), 2016 Record, Points, 2016 Finish
1, Alabama (49), 14-1, 1603, 2
2, Ohio State (5), 11-2, 1512, 6
3, Florida State (4), 10-3, 1434, 8
4, Southern California, 10-3, 1415, 5
5, Clemson (7), 14-1, 1367, 1
6, Penn State, 11-3, 1257, 7
7, Washington, 12-2, 1245, 4
8, Oklahoma, 11-2, 1237, 3
9, Michigan, 10-3, 959, 10
10, Wisconsin, 11-3, 936, 9
11, Oklahoma State, 10-3, 912, 11
12, LSU, 8-4, 834, 14
13, Auburn, 8-5, 819, 22
14, Stanford, 10-3, 732, 12
15, Georgia, 8-5, 701, 36
16, Florida, 9-4, 681, 13
17, Louisville, 9-4, 676, 20
18, Miami, 9-4, 472, 23
19, Kansas State, 9-4, 339, 27
20, West Virginia, 10-3, 319, 17
21, South Florida, 11-2, 247, 19
22, Virginia Tech, 10-4, 235, 16
23, Texas, 5-7, 193, NR
24, Tennessee, 9-4, 155, 24
25, Utah, 9-4, 109, 21

Others Receiving Votes
Washington State 99; Colorado 72; TCU 58; Boise State 49; Notre Dame 49; Texas A&M 46; Pittsburgh 45; North Carolina State 39; Oregon 37; Northwestern 25; Nebraska 23; Memphis 22; Arkansas 22; Mississippi State 19; San Diego State 18; Appalachian State 11; Brigham Young 10; Georgia Tech 10; Tulsa 10; Wyoming 9; Western Michigan 8; Temple 8; North Carolina 8; Houston 7; Troy 6; Minnesota 6; Iowa 5; Louisiana Tech 4; Syracuse 3; Arizona 2; Army 1; Colorado State 1; Michigan State 1; Maryland 1; Toledo 1; UCLA 1.

List of Voters
The Amway Board of Coaches is made up of 65 head coaches at Bowl Subdivision schools. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The board for the 2017 season: Major Applewhite, Houston; David Bailiff, Rice; David Beaty, Kansas; Bret Bielema, Arkansas; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; John Bonamego, Central Michigan; Terry Bowden, Akron; Jeff Brohm, Purdue; Matt Campbell, Iowa State; Rod Carey, Northern Illinois; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Butch Davis, Florida International; Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; DJ Durkin, Maryland; Shawn Elliott, Georgia State; Larry Fedora, North Carolina; Luke Fickell, Cincinnati; Jimbo Fisher, Florida State; P.J. Fleck, Minnesota; James Franklin, Penn State; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech; Bryan Harsin, Boise State; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tom Herman, Texas; Doc Holliday, Marshall; Mark Hudspeth, Louisiana-Lafayette; Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech; Joey Jones, South Alabama; Mike Leach, Washington State; Lance Leipold, Buffalo; Tim Lester, Western Michigan; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Rocky Long, San Diego State; Mike MacIntyre, Colorado; Gus Malzahn, Auburn; Derek Mason, Vanderbilt; Urban Meyer, Ohio State; Jeff Monken, Army; Philip Montgomery, Tulsa; Scottie Montgomery, East Carolina; Jim Mora, UCLA; Dan Mullen, Mississippi State; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Barry Odom, Missouri; Gary Patterson, TCU; Mike Riley, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, Arizona; Nick Rolovich, Hawaii; Nick Saban, Alabama; Tony Sanchez, UNLV; Mike Sanford Jr., Western Kentucky; Scott Satterfield, Appalachian State; Bill Snyder, Kansas State; Frank Solich, Ohio; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Mark Stoops, Kentucky; Tyson Summers, Georgia Southern; Dabo Swinney, Clemson; Matt Wells, Utah State; Mark Whipple, Massachusetts; Kyle Whittingham, Utah; Bobby Wilder, Old Dominion; Everett Withers, Texas State.