No. 7 in the AP poll, eighth ranked in the BCS poll, even catch-22 – there is no significance to any of the numbers as far as the LSU players are concerned.
“That’s a little nice booster for the team, but we don’t look at the polls or ranking,” said junior receiver Dwayne Bowe. “We just got to go out at practice and play like we’re playing for a national championship.”
A national championship may be further from reach than expected. The Tigers were No. 6 in the BCS polls last week. The newest revision to the polls on Monday placed LSU two places back at No. 8.
Southeastern Conference foe Alabama and UCLA gained more votes this week to put them ahead of the Tigers.
Despite the drop in the ranking, coach Les Miles said he still feels the team has the capability of having success this season.
“I think our football team is accomplished,” Miles said. “If we continue to do the right things and get better, everything we want to do in the season will be right in front of us.”
Saturday’s game against North Texas will be the Tigers first non-conference game in five weeks. The North Texas game is followed by another home non-conference game against Appalachian State.
The only opponent ranked ahead of LSU in the BCS left on the Tigers’ regular season schedule is the undefeated Crimson Tide.
Other teams ranked ahead of the Tigers in the BCS still have major games remaining on their schedules.
No. 2 USC will finish up its season against the undefeated No. 6 UCLA Bruins at home on Dec. 3. No. 3 Virginia Tech also has to play No. 7 Miami later on Nov. 5.
In any predicted scenario, senior offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth said, LSU’s only concern is keeping a mentality that focuses on one game and one goal at a time.
“We just look at being a successful team and winning our division,” Whitworth said. “That’s what we want to do and everything else will fall into place. College ball is about having fun and that’s what we need to do.”
As far as an SEC Western Division title is concerned, the Tigers will have to prepare for Ole Miss and Arkansas, in addition to Alabama on Nov. 12.
“We understand that Alabama is going to be a top-ranked team when we get there, and we know that’s going to be the highlight of our season even beyond the games we played already,” said wide receiver Buster Davis. “We are not overlooking North Texas or Appalachian State. We’re just taking it one game at a time.”
Before the team can begin to consider the positive aspects of being a Top 10 team, safety Jesse Daniels said it needs to play like the No. 7 team in the country.
“We’re getting better as a team,” Daniels said. “If we look at [the polls], it could make us too confident and go into the game and have a lot of mental mistakes. The polls don’t mean anything to us right now. We just have to get better.”
Contact Tabby Soignier at [email protected]