The Tigers, under first-year coach
Les Miles, return 16 starters from last year's 9-3 team. A year ago, the Tigers
reached a January bowl game for a record fourth straight season and finished the
year ranked No. 16 in the country.
Southern
Cal, the defending national
champion, received 60 of a possible 65 first place votes and is ranked No. 1 in
the nation. Texas got four first place votes
and is ranked No. 2 in the nation, followed by Tennessee, Michigan and LSU.
Ohio
State starts the bottom half of the top
10, followed by Oklahoma at No. 7, Virginia Tech No. 8, Miami
No. 9, and Florida No. 10. Louisville, ranked No. 12 in the nation,
received the last first place vote from one of the 65 media voters.
Other Southeastern Conference teams
in the AP Top 25 include Georgia at No. 13 and Auburn at No. 16.
Arizona State, LSU's opponent on Sept. 10 in Baton Rouge, is ranked No.
20 in the nation.
In all, LSU faces four teams in the
AP Top 25 with all of those contests coming in Tiger Stadium. In addition to the
Arizona State game, the Tigers host Tennessee on Sept. 24, followed by Florida on Oct. 15 and Auburn a week later on Oct. 22.
The Tigers, the 2003 BCS National
Champion, opened 2004 ranked No. 4 in the nation. LSU has not been ranked in the
AP preseason Top 10 in back-to-back years since 1997-'98 when the Tigers were
No. 10 and No. 7 respectively.
LSU opens its first year under
Miles on Sept. 3, hosting North Texas at 7 p.m.
in Tiger Stadium.
The AP Top 25 - Week
1
Rank
Team
Points
1.
Southern Cal
(60)
1619
2.
Texas
(4)
1500
3.
Tennessee
1376
4.
Michigan
1329
5.
LSU
1291
6.
Ohio
State
1205
7.
Oklahoma
1204
8.
Virginia
Tech
1184
9.
Miami
1142
10.
Florida
1080
11.
Iowa
1011
12.
Louisville
(1)
892
13.
Georgia
869
14.
Florida
State
764
15.
Purdue
711
16.
Auburn
650
17.
Texas
A&M
576
18.
Boise
State
375
19.
California
358
20.
Arizona
State
313
21.
Texas
Tech
256
22.
Boston
College
232
23.
Pittsburgh
211
24.
Fresno
State
196
25.
Virginia
153