LSU, Alabama, USC top preseason Coaches' Poll

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Despite its lopsided loss to Alabama in last January's BCS national title game, LSU will open the 2012 season ranked No. 1 in at least one poll.

LSU sits atop the USA Today Top 25 coaches poll released on Thursday, with Alabama second and Southern California third.

LSU received 18 first-place votes, slightly fewer that the 20 first-place votes for the Crimson Tide and 19 first-place votes for the Trojans. Still, the Tigers narrowly had the most overall points in the poll, which awards 25 points for a No. 1 vote down to one point for 25th.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/08/02/preseason-coaches-poll-lsu.ap/index.html#ixzz22QFg01uA