Auburn ranked No. 6 in preseason AP poll

AUBURN -- The Auburn Tigers will open the 2014 season ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll, which was released Sunday afternoon.

The defending SEC Champions come in behind top-ranked Florida State, Alabama, Oklahoma, Oregon and Ohio State. Florida State, which defeated Auburn 34-31 in the BCS National Championship, received 57 of 60 First Place votes, with Alabama, Oregon and Oklahoma each receiving one.

Auburn received 1,198 total points, narrowly trailing Ohio State (1,207). The Tigers are narrowly ahead of the Buckeyes, coming in at No. 5 in the Amway Coaches poll.

It is the highest ranking for Auburn to open the season in the AP poll since 2006 (No. 4).

Eight SEC teams are ranked in the poll, with No, 9 South Carolina joining Alabama and Auburn in the top 10. Georgia (No. 12), LSU (No. 13), Ole Miss (No. 18), Texas A&M (No. 21) and Missouri (No. 24) round out the SEC's representatives.

Gus Malzahn's Tigers will play seven teams (Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Kansas State and Texas A&M) ranked in the preseason top 25 - the most of any ranked team - including four road games.

Auburn plays at No. 20 Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 in its first meeting with a ranked opponent this season.

Auburn hosts Arkansas at 3 p.m. Aug. 30 and will do so with returning starting quarterback Nick Marshall, cornerback Jonathon Mincy and possibly "star" safety Robenson Therezie all on the sideline.

Marshall and Mincy are serving indefinite punishments in the wake of their respective marijuana-related run-ins with law enforcement this summer, and Therezie is dealing with what coach Gus Malzahn characterized as "eligibility issues."