Posted by: Pete Roussel on August 18, 2012

Following Saturday's practice, Lane Kiffin reacted to the #1 ranking in the AP Poll.

Kiffin said, "It's doesn't mean a whole lot to us as far as this team.  It will always be about the way that we practice.  That won't help us win any games this year.  It is, though, I think it's great for our fans and our university after everything they've been through, everything that was taken away from them.  To have a statement made that this is where the media evaluates your football program, means a lot to them.  It's our job to go out and play really well."

"It's very positive when it comes to our fans, to our university, and to recruiting," said Kiffin.  "I think kids love to see that, whether you're talking about juniors that you're recruiting or whether they're really young.  We've talked about how powerful the run here was before; it's still paying off as these recruits were in third or fourth grade at the time when that started.  So I think it has a lot of positive to it, but again, it has nothing to do with our team run. It has nothing to do with our team run, nothing to do with whether they'll win a game or not."

The AP top 10 opened as follows: USC, Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, South Carolina, and Arkansas.

Earlier in the week, Kiffin mentioned that he's already talked to the team about previous teams that were ranked high in the pre-season.

He said, "We talked about where Oklahoma was preseason #1 last year and where they ended up.  We talked about the Philadelphia Eagles and the announcement of the 'Dream Team' in the off-season and what happened to them.  It's always about the preparation and they understand that."

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