After a 42-28 win over No. 7 Florida on Saturday, LSU moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 in the AP poll.
The combination of LSU’s win and South Carolina’s upset of No. 3 Georgia, who fell to No. 10, vaulted the Tigers near the top of college football’s rankings. LSU (6-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) received 12 first-place votes, the second most behind No. 1 Alabama (6-0, 3-0 SEC).
In the Coaches Poll, LSU received three first-place votes and is ranked No. 3 behind Alabama and Clemson.
LSU’s No. 2 ranking in the AP poll is the highest its been in any poll since being ranked No. 2 in the opening College Football Playoff rankings in 2015. Then ranked No. 4 Alabama defeated No. 2 LSU 30-16, and the Tigers began a three-game losing streak that almost cost former LSU coach Les Miles his job.
Miles was fired less than a year later, and Ed Orgeron was placed at the helm as interim coach before being named the full-time coach in November 2016.
In three seasons under Orgeron, LSU has spent 10 weeks ranked in the top five of the AP poll — each time has come since Sept. 23, 2018.
Although the AP poll is not college football’s official poll — which isn’t released until the College Football Playoff rankings drop at the end of October — it’s a tool to gauge the expectations for each team.
Expectations place LSU on a collision course with No. 1 Alabama, who play in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 9.
LSU plays Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC) and No. 11 Auburn (5-1, 2-1 SEC) over the next two weeks and then LSU has its final bye week of the season before Alabama, who also has a bye week before the nation’s two top teams play.
Alabama will play Tennessee (2-4, 1-2 SEC) and Arkansas (2-4, 0-3 SEC) in its next two games.
If LSU and Alabama’s current trajectories hold, it would be the fifth meeting between the two teams with both ranked in the top five this decade.
The Tigers’ last victory over Alabama came in 2011 in a No. 1 vs No. 2 game dubbed “The Game of the Century.” LSU won 9-6 in overtime but lost a rematch to Alabama in the 2011 National Championship Game, beginning an eight-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide.
In those eight losses, LSU has been shut out three times and outscored by a combined 193-73.
Since 2000, No. 1 and No. 2 have only played in the regular season three times — LSU and Alabama in 2011, and Ohio State did it twice in 2006. The Buckeyes defeated No. 2 Texas 24-7 in week two and No. 2 Michigan 42-39 in the regular season finale.