The Fighting Tigers of LSU will begin the second year of Brian Kelly’s tenure rated highly by the coaches of college football.
LSU will begin the season ranked fifth in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll, which was released Monday. The Tigers are coming off a 10-4 season where they claimed the SEC West before beating Purdue in the Citrus Bowl 65-7.
Kelly’s team returns 25 players that have starting experience at LSU, including Jayden Daniels, all five offensive linemen, four receivers, and four running backs. In addition, LSU has added eight former starters to their roster via the transfer portal.
This is the highest rating for the Tigers since 2020 when they followed up the historic national title run by being ranked fifth in the preseason poll. The highest rating in school history came in 2007 when the team was rated #2.
LSU will open the 2023 season with Florida State, who is ranked eighth to open the season. The game in Orlando will be the only contest of the opening weekend between two Top-10 teams.
LSU is one of three SEC programs in the preseason Top 5, along with #1 Georgia and #3 Alabama. Tennessee (10, Ole Miss (22), and Texas A&M (25) also represent the conference in the preseason coaches poll.