The last time the LSU Tiger football team was unranked in the preseason Coaches Poll, an outsider was taking over the team after it had hit rock bottom.

Then it was Nick Saban in 2000 taking over for Gerry Dinardo, fast forward 22 years and it's Brian Kelly replacing Ed Orgeron and the Tigers have no national expectations for early success. 

Back-to-back non-winning seasons will do that for a proud program, but one glance at the USA Today/ AFCA Coaches Poll shows that the Tigers are earing some disrespect for their past two seasons following the 2019 National Championship.

Once again Alabama has been picked to be the team to beat in college football after receiving 54 of 66 first-place votes.  This is the seventh time Alabama has been ranked at the top of the poll in the last 13 years.

The defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs are the next highest ranked SEC team checking in at third.

As for LSU, the Tigers are receiving votes and would be ranked 30th if the Poll extended that far. It's also safe to say that LSU will finish much higher than some of the teams ranked above them in this preseason poll, as this poll appears to be a ranking of past success and failure as much as it is about this upcoming 2022 Fall football season.

RANK        TEAM                RECORD  POINTS  1ST        PREVIOUS  CHANGE   HI/LO

1             Alabama              0-0         1634      54           NR          —           1/1

2             Ohio State           0-0         1564      5             NR          —           2/2

3             Georgia               0-0         1542      6             NR          —           3/3

4             Clemson              0-0         1356      0             NR          —           4/4

5             Notre Dame        0-0         1284      0             NR          —           5/5

6             Michigan             0-0         1232      0             NR          —           6/6

7             Texas A&M          0-0         1219      0             NR          —           7/7

8             Utah                   0-0         1134      0             NR          —           8/8

9             Oklahoma           0-0         1027      0             NR          —           9/9

10           Baylor                 0-0         891        0             NR          —           10/10

11           Oklahoma State   0-0         859        0             NR          —           11/11

12           Oregon               0-0         734        0             NR          —           12/12

13           NC State              0-0         726        0             NR          —           13/13

14           Michigan State     0-0         711        0             NR          —           14/14

15           Southern Cal.      0-0         602        0             NR          —           15/15

16           Pittsburgh            0-0         450        0             NR          —           16/16

17           Miami                 0-0         433        0             NR          —           17/17

18           Texas                  0-0         383        1             NR          —           18/18

19           Wake Forest        0-0         381        0             NR          —           19/19

20           Wisconsin            0-0         369        0             NR          —           20/20

21           Kentucky              0-0         353        0             NR          —           21/21

22           Cincinnati            0-0         339        0             NR          —           22/22

23           Arkansas              0-0         334        0             NR          —           23/23

24           Mississippi           0-0         327        0             NR          —           24/24

25           Houston               0-0         257        0             NR          —           25/25

Iowa 248; Penn State 246; Tennessee 163; Brigham Young 152; Louisiana State 143; Auburn 98; Central Florida 55;

North Carolina 34; San Diego State 25; Fresno State 21; Mississippi State 19; Florida 17; South Carolina 5; UL Lafayette 2; Florida State 1.