BATON ROUGE - College football analyst Phil Steele has placed the LSU Tigers at No. 5 in his predicted preseason AP top 10.

In his past outings, Steele has hit 66 out of 70 teams that actually make it to the AP top 10 resulting in a 94.3 success rate. He takes several factors into account including team performance in previous bowl game, returning starters and recruiting classes.

Alabama comes in at No. 1 ahead of the Clemson Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Florida State Seminoles and the Tigers in fifth position.

Here’s everything Phil Steele had to say about the Bayou Bengals:

"Les Miles was on the verge of being fired late last year, but he has proven to be a Tiger with nine lives and bounced back with one of the nation’s top recruiting classes. I have great respect for the folks at ESPN Stats & Info, and their Football Power Index (FPI) has LSU rated No. 1 -- one of my main sets of power ratings agrees with that. The Tigers have 18 returning starters, which is the most in the SEC, and one of those returnees is running back and Heisman favorite Leonard Fournette. While LSU was depleted by the number of players leaving early for the NFL in 2012 and 2013, and three left early after last season, just one starter left early after 2015 (offensive lineman Jerald Hawkins)."

The Tigers’ season-opener will pit the team against Wisconsin at historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Saturday, Sept. 3.

You can view Steele's full top 10 (or 11 in this case) by clicking here.