Tigers No. 13 in preseason poll

Pads are popping on college campuses this week as teams get started with their preparations for the 2013 season.

In Baton Rouge, LSU will begin its quest for the national championship knowing that it’s squarely in the middle of the preseason’s Top 25 poll.

The USA Today Preseason Coaches’ Poll was released on Thursday.

In the annually anticipated poll, the Tigers were ranked as the No. 13 team in the nation.

The distinction marks the third straight time and the eighth time in nine seasons under Les Miles that LSU opens its season ranked in the national top 15.

The high ranking is the good news for LSU.

The bad news is that the rest of the SEC is loaded with squads who also hold spots in the 25-team poll.

The Tigers will play five teams in the Top 25 throughout the regular season.

They will also play three other teams who were in the “receiving votes” portion of the poll – a distinction given to teams who just missed the Top 25.

As might be expected in college football, the Top 10 is SEC dominant with five conference schools at the top.

Back-to-back BCS National Champion Alabama is No. 1 by an overwhelming margin – owning 58 of the 62 total first place votes.

Ohio State comes in at No. 2 with three first place votes. The lone undefeated team in 2012 college football, the Buckeyes were unranked throughout all of last season because of their NCAA postseason probation penalties.

Following the Buckeyes, PAC 12 favorites Oregon and Stanford line up at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.

But from there, the rest of the Top 10 is heavily SEC dominant with Georgia (No. 5), Texas A&M (No. 6), South Carolina (No. 7) and Florida (No. 10).

The Aggies own one first place vote in the poll.

At No. 13, the Tigers are the last SEC school to be represented in the poll.

Annual college football stalwarts like Texas (No. 15), Oklahoma (No. 16), Michigan (No. 17) and USC (No. 24) round out the poll.

LSU’s week one opponent, TCU, is No. 20 in the initial poll.

Les Miles