LSU Football Ranked No. 16 in Preseason AP Top 25

The preseason AP top rankings are hot off the presses and the Tigers will start the 2021 season ranked No. 16 in the country. LSU continues its streak of 21 years being a preseason top 25 team as the last time the purple and gold weren't ranked entering the season was 2000.

Most recently in 2020, the Tigers entered the season with a No. 6 preseason ranking fresh off a 15-0 record and a national championship.

The AP poll is just the latest ranking in a long, varied list that includes LSU coming in at No. 13 in the preseason coaches poll and No. 21 in the Sports Illustrated top 25. All of these different rankings for LSU just further goes to show the wide opinions of what this team's expectations from a media perspective are.

There doesn't seem to be much of any kind of consistent correlation as the Tigeres do return a number of veteran starters and always have talent. But the real improvements will need to come through offseason development and the new coaching staff Ed Orgeron has brought in before any kind of projections can be made on this team.

The Tigers came in ranked behind SEC foes Alabama (No. 1), Georgia (No. 5), Texas A&M (No. 6) and Florida (No. 13). No other SEC teams cracked the top 25 as the purple and gold came in the lowest in the AP poll.

Here's the full list of the AP top 25 rankings:

1. Alabama

2. Oklahoma

3. Clemson

4. Ohio State

5. Georgia

6. Texas A&M

7. Iowa State

8. Cincinnati

9. Notre Dame

10. North Carolina

11. Oregon

12. Wisconsin

13. Florida

14. Miami

15. USC

16. LSU

17. Indiana

18. Iowa

19. Penn State

20. Washington

21. Texas

22. Coastal Carolina

23. Louisiana

24. Utah

25. Arizona State