FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is ranked eighth and nearly half of the Razorbacks’ scheduled opponents are ranked in the top 25 of the preseason USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll.
The Razorbacks are in the coaches' preseason top 10 for the fourth consecutive season and ranked in the 46th consecutive coaches poll.
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Arkansas was ranked fifth to open the 2020 season and was ranked 14th when last season was suspended four weeks after it began. The Razorbacks return 28 players from last season's team that was 11-5 at the time the season was called off.
Despite the No. 8 ranking, Arkansas only has the SEC's fifth-highest ranking. Led by top-ranked Florida, the league has nine ranked teams in the poll, including six teams in the top 10.
Other ranked SEC teams are: Vanderbilt (3), Ole Miss (5), Mississippi State (7), LSU (9), Tennessee (16), South Carolina (20) and Georgia (24). Arkansas is scheduled to play every ranked SEC team except Vanderbilt.
Arkansas’ 54-game schedule includes 10 opponents ranked in the preseason top 25. The Razorbacks are scheduled to play those teams a combined 24 times, beginning with three opening-weekend games at the College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas.
The Razorbacks’ season-opening opponent, Texas Tech, is ranked fourth. Arkansas is also scheduled to play No. 10 Texas and No. 11 TCU at the event inside Globe Life Field on Feb. 19-21.
Three of the Razorbacks’ other opponents — Auburn, Oklahoma and Alabama — were among the top-five vote getters that did not make the top 25 poll. Texas A&M also received votes.
The coaches poll is not updated until following the third weekend of the season, then updated on a weekly basis until the start of the NCAA postseason.
USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll, 2021 Preseason
Rank - Team (First-Place Votes)
1 - Florida (24)
2 - UCLA (2)
3 - Vanderbilt (4)
4 - Texas Tech
5 - Ole Miss
6 - Louisville (1)
7 - Mississippi State
8 - Arkansas
9 - LSU
10 - Texas
11 - TCU
12 - North Carolina State
13 - California-Santa Barbara
14 - Virginia
15 - Miami
16 - Tennessee
17 - Georgia Tech
18 - Oklahoma State
19 - Arizona
20 - South Carolina
21 - Florida State
22 - West Virginia
23 - East Carolina
24 - Georgia
25 - Wake Forest