LSU Football Drops Out of AP Top 25 Following Loss to UCLA

Tigers No. 29 in AP Poll following loss to Bruins, have plenty of work to do over next two weeks

To no real surprise, LSU's time in the AP top 25 was short lived to start the 2021 season. The Tigers fell completely out of the top 25 standings following their season opening loss to UCLA. 

The Bruins on the other hand made one of the biggest jumps in the standings to No. 16 following their first win over a top 25 opponent. Other SEC programs who remain firmly implanted in the top 25 include Alabama (No. 1), Georgia (No. 2), Texas A&M (No. 5), Florida (No. 13), Ole Miss (No. 20) and Auburn (No. 25). 

For the purple and gold, dropping out of the top 25 is neither surprising or unexpected as the team was thoroughly outplayed in Los Angeles coming off a 5-5 season. A new coaching staff and the return of a relatively veteran team with talent was what made the Tigers a preseason top 25 team to begin with.

But Saturday's season opener proved there is still a lot of work to be done if the program hopes to have a bounce back season. Spirits in the locker room haven't soured even after the loss according to coach Ed Orgeron, which wasn't the case in 2020 following the Mississippi State loss. 

"Totally different, all our guys were early for the meeting, watched the film and then I told them the truth," Orgeron said on Off the Bench. "We have tremendous leadership, we have some hungry guys, our team is very optimistic, I do believe we have a good football team."

Here's the complete AP top 25 rankings after week one:

1 Alabama (59) 

2 UGA (4) 

3 OSU 

4 Oklahoma 

5 TAMU 

6 Clemson 

7 Cincinnati 

8 Notre Dame 

9 Iowa St 

10 Iowa 

11 Penn St 

12 Oregon 

13 Florida 

14 USC 

15 Texas 

16 UCLA 

17 Coastal Carolina 

18 Wisconsin 

19 Va Tech 

20 Ole Miss 

21 Utah 

22 Miami 

23 Arizona St 

24 North Carolina 

25 Auburn