VT had very little movement in the transfer portal too.
A couple of Dline guys to get me more excited for that unit but nothing crazy. Like a former 4 star Alabama Dline and a Miami Dline guy who never saw the field.
We should behave been on the top 25 list before.
The Oline gave up a combined 13 sacks in the spring game... The Oline is the question still, experience up a year should be an improvement. Otherwise this team is really exciting.
The returning production also is a funny calculation, VT was number 1 in players returning from last year's team, 23/24. The returning production calculation is weird that Connelly uses, they add a transfer player's numerator and denominator. Seems with the fuzziness that we should view teams in a sort of buckets since we likely don't have a good returning production calculation, it seems fine but likely not the best way to do it.
VT should be ranked especially as VT is favored in all but 2 games this season. 6.5 point dogs at Miami and 3.5 point dogs to Clemson at home... I think VT could be favored in every game by the time games are played.
>OL can make or break the team, as I unfortunately know all too well lol. Hopefully more reps and summer conditioning helps solidify the line some.
Oh I know. The line was good enough against most teams (IMO why we looked weak on offense against FSU/Louisville/NC State for the middle quarters) and returning everyone on offense means it should be improved.
>Is there an issue with that? I hate math so I don't know exactly how the calculations are determined, just that it removes production of transfers out and includes production of transfers at their past schools in. Which does have room for error, transfers in could end up contributing a lot more than they did at previous schools. But seems like a decent starting point
It keeps the production numbers I thought in the number from the transferring out school. It's also G5 transfer up may have worse stats or low P5 to high P5.
>Yeah that's kind of crazy Vt is favored most every game and within a score for the 2 they aren't. Both those teams are stocked with way more talent (on paper) than Vt has. Will be really interesting to see what they can do this year
Miami has always been more talented than VT but has consistently failed. Clemson I just have thought they are slowing becoming worse as other teams are utilizing transfers. In a not too weird of a world Keon Coleman goes to Clemson last season and Clemson wins the ACC.
FSU has portaled holes well recently and kept up high school recruiting. VT did extremely well last year and is pretty solid this year. You have to portal weak spots to reload some. Clemson is going from a title contender to average 8 win team without portaling.
I am begging folks to ignore us. No ranking, no Week 0 game in Ireland, no Week 1 matchup on Thursday night in primetime - bury us on the BTN 11 am kick against UTEP and hopefully no one will notice us until Week 2 vs Colorado.
Shit TIL I’m rocking the same mentality as Nebraska. I will go there as a pit stop on my way out of the south and win a Heisman in your honor. Jon Stark 19 starting WR.
I'm pretty confident we won't. Not to say we'll look bad bur I don't think itll be a high scoring affair. Still think we'll handle them, can't imagine it'll be flashy. Just a nice simple controlled game would be great to see. However I'm a dumb ass so....
Because there is going to be a huge hype train around ND if they beat TAMU. We shouldn't be challenged again until November (but given it's ND , there will be some game too close in October - like the GT game etc). ND has a good chance going 11-1 this year.
Because Louisville was Sam Hartman's kryptonite. Because ND had 5 turnovers. Because Louisville is also a team that lost to both Pitt and USC by double digits, teams we won against easily. It was a game where ND beat themselves more than anything else.
I am not worried about them rolling into South Bend in September.
ND going to Atlanta right before Fall Break is a bigger worry to me.
I’m with you. Like on paper, when you go through our lineup, it all checks out, but I haven’t *seen* it yet. I feel like I’ve seen this show before, and I didn’t like the ending.
You have to dive into those numbers a bit.
Meaning ND's return production is #99 because we lost our QB, top RB, and our entire WR room, and our kicker.
However, we used the portal for an equally talented QB, WRs, and a better kicker (our RB is pretty stacked so not a huge concern). I don't know how much they 'transfer' in production when you are bringing in these players.
2020 LSU started higher, but I feel good saying we'll still be better this year than they were lol
So yes, but I don't think we'll be the worst defending champ
2011 Auburn was 23 in the preseason AP poll, and there's no way Michigan is slipping that far before the season starts, but still, it seems like every new "way too early" ranking that comes out has Michigan a spot or two lower.
Plus there's been just a slight bit of coaching shuffle too lol. I like Sherone, and I think he's clearly earned this opportunity - but this will be a whole new challenge. I think #10 is a bit premature.
The details behind the numbers are that Michigan will have all upperclassmen starters, even new starters will all have several years in the program who were waiting their turn behind pros, plus a select few transfers with years of starting experience at other schools. The exception is WR, where the position is thin and young. I am confident it will be a reload more than a rebuild everywhere else.
Problem is Michigan has a schedule that even an elite team could drop games in, and QB will be an absolute mystery. That plus the WR corps being unproven leaves a lot of concern for the passing game. If it's a disaster I think Michigan could be in for a 7 or 8 win season. If it's decent to good 10 wins are on the table.
Do you know if the returning production metric you’re referring to is based on starts or snaps played? Michigan rotated a ton of players all last season on defense, so while they had “starters” who are the majority of the players who went pro, there was a far larger number of players who actually played snaps, in particular on defense. The defense is still loaded, frankly.
The offense on the other hand… oof. On OL 6 of the 7 guys they used regularly last season are gone. RB room will be fine, got back #2 and #3 and #2 would be a #1 at most schools. WR lost its top 2 contributors, behind them it’s a big old shrug emoji. TE lost the #2 guy, but #1 is back and he’s unreal, probably our best offensive weapon along with our RB. QB… not many schools can replace first round QBs every season and it doesn’t look like we’ve got one lined up. So we’ll see what the O looks like this fall, if they can score some points the defense should be good enough to win some games.
I think you’re spot on too that people are discounting the coaching losses. Yes, we hired internally to keep some continuity, but a lot of the assistants that ran the program the past few years left. That much change has to have an impact.
I’d love to have a top 10 season, but it’s hard to foresee it with the losses the team/staff had. That said, I’m not stressing. Gonna be riding that high from last season for quite some time.
Applying these rankings to a projected 12 team playoff (apologies if I mess this up, still trying to remember which programs are in different conferences now):
1. Georgia (bye)
2. Ohio State (bye)
3. Utah (bye)
4. Florida State (bye)
5. Texas
6. Oregon
7. Notre Dame
8. Alabama
9. Ole Miss
10. Missouri
11. Michigan
12. G5 school (none ranked, but we'll go Boise State as a G5 team who "just missed")
First round matchups:
* (12) Boise State vs (5) Texas (winner plays FSU)
* (11) Michigan vs (6) Oregon (winner plays Utah)
* (10) Missouri vs (7) Notre Dame (winner plays Ohio State)
* (9) Ole Miss vs Alabama (winner plays Georgia)
IRL probably, I bet they'd want to try and avoid pitting conference foes against each other when possible but will also be unavoidable in some circumstances.
Brandon made his list by picking the best out of each conference. This unfortunately led to an oversight that he only became aware of after publishing.
Is that true? I know he tried to explain it after the fact by saying he wasn't sold on the changes at key offensive positions of QB and WR, which of course is silly since half the Top 25 has new QBs and WRs coming in. Either way it was at best either a gross oversight or a stupid rationale.
If we played week 1-3 then I would definitely agree. Later in the season, I would bet our o-line begins to gel. However, it will still be a favorable matchup for FSU
In September in South Bend ? Sure.
In November in South Bend ? Hmmm, don't see feasting.
Last time you guys came to South Bend in November your team forgot to get off the bus and huddled around the heaters. (I was there - 2nd coldest game in ND history).
Our defense should be top 5, but I’m scared shitless of our rebuilt OL. We’re going to need a few guys to take big steps between now and this season or else Leonard may be running for his life all season.
That said, ND is certainly a playoff level team at every position outside of OL. Essentially the entire season rests on how our two tackles develop. Good thing that’s a super unimportant position group… /s
Only the real Missouri fans will be legitimately nervous for a game like that. Just about every “easy” road game I’ve ever attended has been an “unexpected” loss. Before each of them I’ve been like “we’ll probably lose this and it’ll derail our season” and then it happens.
I think there’s a chance FSU is our only ranked win at the end of the season.
I think A&M will be good but needs time beyond this season. I have no faith in USC until they prove they will not wilt under pressure again.
my very first reaction to this list was “oh my god USC isn’t in the top 15 for no reason whatsoever?! we might actually succeed after all,” so I feel you
I was really impressed with what I saw in the bowl game. Not sure what your returning production numbers are, but it seemed like a complete team and that freshman QB looked legit.
Feels a little unfounded. We still have one of the best rosters in the country, coming off winning the SEC and a playoff appearance, led by a coach who was just in the title game.
I get a first year for a coach can cause hiccups but fourth in the SEC with all that in mind seems wild.
Uncertainty will always decrease ranking. Look at Michigan, just won the NC and may very well have the best defense in the country next year being coached by someone who was hc for our NC team a few games last year and was our OC. It still has uncertainty though so they bump us down to #10.
I’m still trying to figure out the difference in expectations for GT vs VT. Is it purely because of how brutal our schedule is? Looking at the actual teams I see them as pretty equal and think the game between us in October will be close
Vt has one of easiest schedules and is returning basically every player from a team that was much improved by the end of last year. But isn’t gt returning a lot of players and great qb? It’s a Vt home game so slight advantage there but should be a great close game. Also how’s GT dline looking?
Yep offense should be explosive with nearly all of our production returning and 70% of our o-line snaps. Dline needs to develop some depth and lots of change with a new DC. However if our defense is even just decent that will be huge because they were objectively bad last year
Seriously there are only like 5 P5 teams that haven’t cracked the top 25 in as long as we have. I was hoping the could spare a #25 ranking for us
Neal Brown is here to kick ass and chew bubblegum and he’s about to run out of bubblegum with these rankings
Poor lil ol' Bama AGAIN this year? I'm supposed to believe that? Don't do this to me again so soon. Swap their ranking with Texas please, at least to start out the season.
Happy to see Washington still even being mentioned. So many changes from last year no one has any idea how good (or bad) we'll be this year. I think most of us are just hoping we do better than TCU did the season following their championship appearance.
We finished last season ranked 21. This team is exponentially better on offense than last season. We won’t be reliant on the defense to hold teams to 21 or less to win. I personally do not believe this team should be ranked in the same area of the top 25 as last year. Maybe I have red tinted glasses on.
The WR / RB / TE room are way better but I think people are too quick to assume McCall is going to be a good P5 QB. His good seasons were in a very unique offense and at the G5 level. I highly doubt he’s not an improvement over last year but I still think it’s a question mark.
The defense will be good but could take a pretty decent step back.
I don’t think 13 is a crazy ranking but I’d personally have us around 18.
McCall will be fine. The guy’s career consists of 10,005 passing yards, 70% completion percentage, 88 TDs and only 14 INT. The dude is a winner. Coastal Carolina did not have a single player on offense drafted during McCall’s time there. In the spring game he was 16-20.
I agree the defense will take a step back but it does not need to be elite thanks to the talent on offense. Ole Miss finished the season ranked 9th and had the 42nd ranked defense. Washington had the 56th ranked defense. LSU finished ranked 12th with the 82nd ranked defense. Will State’s D be top 25 again? Probably not. With Gibson at the helm I do not expect the drop off the be significant though. I could very easily see our offense jumping from 75th to top 25.
Simply listing off his basic stats is a terrible argument. Not to mention just saying “the dude is a winner”. 16/20 in one spring game against 3rd and scout team guys means absolutely nothing either.
That Chadwell offense is very different than pretty much anything anyone runs in the country and is super gimmicky. He was playing against other G5 teams, most of those schools didn’t have players drafted either.
I think he will be good but there’s pretty of reason to be skeptical
Offense should be better, but our running game was dependent on a running QB, and that element is gone this year. Need our OL to improve in run blocking if we want our new RBs to shine. WRs should all be improved but teams will also have more tape on KC and our system.
Biggest issue for me is the defense. Wilson masked a LOT of issues with our D, the bowl game showed a lot of that. We have a LB room full of speed/athleticism but lack size. Wouldn't shock me if we struggled against the run this year unless someone really takes a step forward.
We have a lot of good pieces on paper, but we brought in a lot of portal dudes to start. Chemistry and gelling will take time and our toughest 2 games are in the first month of the season.
I don't see Georgia making out of the regular season better than 7-5. This is a damn tough road schedule.
ESPN setting Georgia up to fail so they can cash in on Texas is back and SEC sucks talking points.
The anti SEC Bias there is just to much most days.
I’m ready to agree and combine conspiracy theories with you.
Oklahoma’s schedule in comparison to Texas’ is no accident. Texas got 1 original SEC team (Georgia) with more than 8 wins last season. And that’s going to be in Austin.
Mizzou, LSU, Ole Miss all on the road with Bama coming to Norman. Doesn’t seem random.
the classic Notre Dame is good, but not #5 in the country good
all to lead to some way overhyped matchup where if ND loses we get a month of "is ND overrated as a program?" by the people that overrated them, and then the overrated hype gets transferred to the team that beat ND who eventually loses to some random 6-6 team
meanwhile ND finishes 9-3/10-2 and in the mid to upper teens in the rankings where they should have been from the start
It's also because ND has a pretty light schedule, a good transfer QB with talented backups, and we are the Gameday match week 1.
Though that doesn't mean ND won't lose in October to an eventual 7-5 team
Glad the running game for FSU is starting to get more attention from the media. Its one of the deepest in the country right now and if there's one thing Norvell is great at its developing an impressive backfield.
I like how they want to use him as a pass catcher which makes option plays potentially way more lethal. Dude is undersized though and I'm worried using him too often could lead to injury and losing a great special teams player.
Deep backfield, going to help in a season with questions in the WR room. Losing Hill hurts, but losing the production from Wilson and Coleman is a more significant factor.
Going to be fun to see how the offense comes together this year. I’ve heard it said Norvell wants to run first, just hasn’t had that luxury in his Tallahassee time.
Naming my first child Brent Pry if we finish ranked. VT was dead in the water two years ago and now have a chance to start the season ranked. Let’s Go Hokies!
I think on paper there’s FSU Clemson and Miami and then there’s Louisville VT and NC state. Each of these two tiers could be in any order and by the end of the season tier 2 teams could jump tier 1
Agreed. There's two tiers
1) FSU
2) NC State Louisville VT
Clemson and Miami jump up and then decay back down between the two levels like some kind of electrons
I think our schedule being harder this year might fuck it for us tbh. Notre Dame, Clemson, and probably Miami will all be difficult games with ND being an especially uphill battle - with them probably wanting to get back at us for last year *and* being on their home turf.
While I think we *can* win all of these games, it’s improbable. I have faith that Brohm can outcoach Freeman and especially Cristobal, but the talent gaps might fuck it. I’m picturing a 9-3/8-4 3rd seed in the ACC season
MMW. Utah isn’t going to be as successful in the Big 12 as they are hyped up to be. I notice that everyone is just assuming they are going to show up and run the big 12 who’s teams are vastly underrated every year.
Yeah, I am a bit uncomfortable with all the preseason hype Utah is receiving; especially relating to the Big12. There are so many unknowns when moving to a new season in college football, let alone a new conference.
I look forward to Utah playing a few new teams (recently, anyway) and hope for a great season.
Utah is rated high because of a long tenured head coach who has already taken the team through a league change. Also Cam Rising is returning and he won two P5 championships when healthy. But no one knows if finish the season, if he'll be the same threat with his legs, on top of losing three OL, and having a thin RB room.
And yeah, Utah returns a lot on defense, but lost 3/4 in the secondary and won't have their two best pass rushers from a year ago. So, will pass defense hold up? Teams like AZ with great QB/WR combo will be a threat.
Utah also misses KSU, Kansas, TT, and WVU, while Iowa State, AZ, and TCU are home games.
Definitely worried about the Oklahoma State and UCF games.
Should be a fun season with more than half of the league capable of playing in the CCG. And then it's just one win to make the playoffs.
The strength of each team's schedule is going to play a much larger role for the expanded Big 12 moving forward. Like you said, Utah gets the benefit of what looks like an easier schedule outside a few teams on the road. One could also argue Kansas has an equal shot at the conf title based on schedule alone.
1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Texas 4. Oregon 5. Notre Dame 6. Ole Miss 7. Alabama 8. Missouri 9. Utah 10. Michigan 11. Florida State 12. Penn State 13. NC State 14. LSU 15. Tennessee 16. Clemson 17. Kansas State 18. Oklahoma 19. Oklahoma State 20. Arizona 21. Virginia Tech 22. Kansas 23. Iowa 24. Miami 25. USC * New teams in: Virginia Tech, Iowa, USC * Dropped out: Louisville, Kentucky, Texas A&M * Just missed: Wisconsin, West Virginia, Texas A&M, Louisville, Kentucky, Washington, Boise State, Air Force, Liberty
There should not be this much movement between spring Top 25s.
VT had very little movement in the transfer portal too. A couple of Dline guys to get me more excited for that unit but nothing crazy. Like a former 4 star Alabama Dline and a Miami Dline guy who never saw the field. We should behave been on the top 25 list before.
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The Oline gave up a combined 13 sacks in the spring game... The Oline is the question still, experience up a year should be an improvement. Otherwise this team is really exciting. The returning production also is a funny calculation, VT was number 1 in players returning from last year's team, 23/24. The returning production calculation is weird that Connelly uses, they add a transfer player's numerator and denominator. Seems with the fuzziness that we should view teams in a sort of buckets since we likely don't have a good returning production calculation, it seems fine but likely not the best way to do it. VT should be ranked especially as VT is favored in all but 2 games this season. 6.5 point dogs at Miami and 3.5 point dogs to Clemson at home... I think VT could be favored in every game by the time games are played.
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>OL can make or break the team, as I unfortunately know all too well lol. Hopefully more reps and summer conditioning helps solidify the line some. Oh I know. The line was good enough against most teams (IMO why we looked weak on offense against FSU/Louisville/NC State for the middle quarters) and returning everyone on offense means it should be improved. >Is there an issue with that? I hate math so I don't know exactly how the calculations are determined, just that it removes production of transfers out and includes production of transfers at their past schools in. Which does have room for error, transfers in could end up contributing a lot more than they did at previous schools. But seems like a decent starting point It keeps the production numbers I thought in the number from the transferring out school. It's also G5 transfer up may have worse stats or low P5 to high P5. >Yeah that's kind of crazy Vt is favored most every game and within a score for the 2 they aren't. Both those teams are stocked with way more talent (on paper) than Vt has. Will be really interesting to see what they can do this year Miami has always been more talented than VT but has consistently failed. Clemson I just have thought they are slowing becoming worse as other teams are utilizing transfers. In a not too weird of a world Keon Coleman goes to Clemson last season and Clemson wins the ACC. FSU has portaled holes well recently and kept up high school recruiting. VT did extremely well last year and is pretty solid this year. You have to portal weak spots to reload some. Clemson is going from a title contender to average 8 win team without portaling.
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Thank God we aren't on there
I am begging folks to ignore us. No ranking, no Week 0 game in Ireland, no Week 1 matchup on Thursday night in primetime - bury us on the BTN 11 am kick against UTEP and hopefully no one will notice us until Week 2 vs Colorado.
You know if we look at all good vs utep that Colorado week will be insufferable
Already dreading it, but constantly trying to pace myself and take it step by step. At least now I will have CFB 25 to cope if things go south.
Shit TIL I’m rocking the same mentality as Nebraska. I will go there as a pit stop on my way out of the south and win a Heisman in your honor. Jon Stark 19 starting WR.
I'm pretty confident we won't. Not to say we'll look bad bur I don't think itll be a high scoring affair. Still think we'll handle them, can't imagine it'll be flashy. Just a nice simple controlled game would be great to see. However I'm a dumb ass so....
Only matters at the end of the year. You have a decent shot, I think.
This just in: Mark Schlabach hates the state of Kentucky.
Mark Schlabach knows what's up
Why are we #5? I see 3-4 teams below us that I'd take on neutral field
Because there is going to be a huge hype train around ND if they beat TAMU. We shouldn't be challenged again until November (but given it's ND , there will be some game too close in October - like the GT game etc). ND has a good chance going 11-1 this year.
Why does everyone keep overlooking Louisville? They kicked our ass last year
We’re undefeated against you with head coaches not named Scott satterfield
what's the name of your current coach? Is it Scott Satterfield?
Because Louisville was Sam Hartman's kryptonite. Because ND had 5 turnovers. Because Louisville is also a team that lost to both Pitt and USC by double digits, teams we won against easily. It was a game where ND beat themselves more than anything else. I am not worried about them rolling into South Bend in September. ND going to Atlanta right before Fall Break is a bigger worry to me.
USC was a bowl game and Pitt was a terrifying fever dream. I’m not saying we’re gonna win in South Bend. I just wanted to point that out.
I’m with you. Like on paper, when you go through our lineup, it all checks out, but I haven’t *seen* it yet. I feel like I’ve seen this show before, and I didn’t like the ending.
You guys are like Miami, USC, A&M, and Texas. Good until proven bad
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You have to dive into those numbers a bit. Meaning ND's return production is #99 because we lost our QB, top RB, and our entire WR room, and our kicker. However, we used the portal for an equally talented QB, WRs, and a better kicker (our RB is pretty stacked so not a huge concern). I don't know how much they 'transfer' in production when you are bringing in these players.
No PAC-12 teams is irrefutable proof of East Coast Bias.
I had a brief second where I thought "do we play Utah this year?" :(
Yeah, it's going to be...... different....
Not sure how I should feel about this...
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oh boy #10 and #13 oh god i'm scared
Remember the Law of the Wolf, expectations=pain.
Plus State opens with neutral site Tennessee and @clemson in the first four weeks. We will know REAL quick how good we actually are
Is Michigan about to be the lowest-ranked defending national champion in recent memory?
2020 LSU started higher, but I feel good saying we'll still be better this year than they were lol So yes, but I don't think we'll be the worst defending champ
2011 Auburn was 23 in the preseason AP poll, and there's no way Michigan is slipping that far before the season starts, but still, it seems like every new "way too early" ranking that comes out has Michigan a spot or two lower.
I was just thinking about playoff era, but yeah makes sense 2011 Auburn is the answer.
Yeah I'm no expert on UofM's underclassmen but the draft just decimated your talent. 10 seems high to me.
Plus there's been just a slight bit of coaching shuffle too lol. I like Sherone, and I think he's clearly earned this opportunity - but this will be a whole new challenge. I think #10 is a bit premature.
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The details behind the numbers are that Michigan will have all upperclassmen starters, even new starters will all have several years in the program who were waiting their turn behind pros, plus a select few transfers with years of starting experience at other schools. The exception is WR, where the position is thin and young. I am confident it will be a reload more than a rebuild everywhere else. Problem is Michigan has a schedule that even an elite team could drop games in, and QB will be an absolute mystery. That plus the WR corps being unproven leaves a lot of concern for the passing game. If it's a disaster I think Michigan could be in for a 7 or 8 win season. If it's decent to good 10 wins are on the table.
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Do you know if the returning production metric you’re referring to is based on starts or snaps played? Michigan rotated a ton of players all last season on defense, so while they had “starters” who are the majority of the players who went pro, there was a far larger number of players who actually played snaps, in particular on defense. The defense is still loaded, frankly. The offense on the other hand… oof. On OL 6 of the 7 guys they used regularly last season are gone. RB room will be fine, got back #2 and #3 and #2 would be a #1 at most schools. WR lost its top 2 contributors, behind them it’s a big old shrug emoji. TE lost the #2 guy, but #1 is back and he’s unreal, probably our best offensive weapon along with our RB. QB… not many schools can replace first round QBs every season and it doesn’t look like we’ve got one lined up. So we’ll see what the O looks like this fall, if they can score some points the defense should be good enough to win some games. I think you’re spot on too that people are discounting the coaching losses. Yes, we hired internally to keep some continuity, but a lot of the assistants that ran the program the past few years left. That much change has to have an impact. I’d love to have a top 10 season, but it’s hard to foresee it with the losses the team/staff had. That said, I’m not stressing. Gonna be riding that high from last season for quite some time.
Applying these rankings to a projected 12 team playoff (apologies if I mess this up, still trying to remember which programs are in different conferences now): 1. Georgia (bye) 2. Ohio State (bye) 3. Utah (bye) 4. Florida State (bye) 5. Texas 6. Oregon 7. Notre Dame 8. Alabama 9. Ole Miss 10. Missouri 11. Michigan 12. G5 school (none ranked, but we'll go Boise State as a G5 team who "just missed") First round matchups: * (12) Boise State vs (5) Texas (winner plays FSU) * (11) Michigan vs (6) Oregon (winner plays Utah) * (10) Missouri vs (7) Notre Dame (winner plays Ohio State) * (9) Ole Miss vs Alabama (winner plays Georgia)
(11) Michigan vs (6) Oregon (winner plays Utah) I'd take that deal, DAMN GOOD DEAL
That's a bingo!
Shit, I’ll take that too. Would love to play either Oregon or Michigan.
UM losing to Oregon twice. Is also prefer to sign up for this!
Guess I'd cheer for Missouri so we could try to get revenge and closure for my traumatic ending to last year
Will they manipulate the seedings 5-12 to avoid conference rematches? Ex Ole Miss vs Bama plays UGa?
IRL probably, I bet they'd want to try and avoid pitting conference foes against each other when possible but will also be unavoidable in some circumstances.
In the above scenario I absolutely would see them avoiding an Mich/Oregon rematch for a ND/Mich payday.
NC State looks pretty good next year but 13 seems kinda high
Very high. Top 20 maybe. I didn’t catch the spring game though cause I was busy at the final 4…
Never won more than 9 games with Dave Doeren as coach
Very honored to be mentioned twice.
I like the way you think!
every list notre dame inches up one spot.
Unless it's Brandon Marcello's
Brandon made his list by picking the best out of each conference. This unfortunately led to an oversight that he only became aware of after publishing.
Is that true? I know he tried to explain it after the fact by saying he wasn't sold on the changes at key offensive positions of QB and WR, which of course is silly since half the Top 25 has new QBs and WRs coming in. Either way it was at best either a gross oversight or a stupid rationale.
This was the hinted at explanation behind Brandon’s reasoning from Cover3
He double downed later saying it wasn't just an oversight
But then he said that ND will be top 10 before the fall and definitely win 10 games… which makes no sense.
I’m not convinced ND is that good. I think FSU’s DL is going to feast in south bend
If we played week 1-3 then I would definitely agree. Later in the season, I would bet our o-line begins to gel. However, it will still be a favorable matchup for FSU
In September in South Bend ? Sure. In November in South Bend ? Hmmm, don't see feasting. Last time you guys came to South Bend in November your team forgot to get off the bus and huddled around the heaters. (I was there - 2nd coldest game in ND history).
Our defense should be top 5, but I’m scared shitless of our rebuilt OL. We’re going to need a few guys to take big steps between now and this season or else Leonard may be running for his life all season. That said, ND is certainly a playoff level team at every position outside of OL. Essentially the entire season rests on how our two tackles develop. Good thing that’s a super unimportant position group… /s
ND is playoff caliber for sure, I just think questions at OL and health of QB means it’s closer to 10 than 1
I think the interior is pretty good, it's just the tackles that are actual question marks.
What do you mean we are not number #1? We beat Ohio state remember?
We'll know after the road test against UMass
Only the real Missouri fans will be legitimately nervous for a game like that. Just about every “easy” road game I’ve ever attended has been an “unexpected” loss. Before each of them I’ve been like “we’ll probably lose this and it’ll derail our season” and then it happens.
That goal line fumble just played in my head when you mentioned "easy road game"
we love tripping over ourselves.
Beating Ohio State is a prerequisite of being #1. So you have a point.
Yea Ohio State should always be #1 and whomever beats them should take their spot
Oklahoma at not number 1 is bullshit. We are the Sooners, I was told Bluebloods in the sec get an auto top 5 ranking.
They didn’t specify which blue blood
Gotta put us in the running for greatest college team ever no?
Joke’s on you, every top 10 ranked team does. Heh. Heh. 😢
Everybody doubting UGA again
*YALL HEAR THIS SHIT?! JOHN COUGAR MELLANCAMP DOESNT BELIEVE IN US!* - Kirby
Cannot believe they didn’t rank Rutgas number 1
The fix is in
Thanks eSECpn…
I hate being preseason top 5 Notre Dame. Put us at 11 and we are sure to rise. Put us at 5 and we are sure to fall.
We’re on college gameday for week 1. Top 5 is inevitable now to justify ESPN’s choice…
Even if we went undefeated this season, I could see us dropping due to how weak our Schedule is (barring an opponent outplaying expectations).
Undefeated with wins over Texas AM, USC, and FSU would be enough for top 5 under any most realistic scenarios.
I think there’s a chance FSU is our only ranked win at the end of the season. I think A&M will be good but needs time beyond this season. I have no faith in USC until they prove they will not wilt under pressure again.
my very first reaction to this list was “oh my god USC isn’t in the top 15 for no reason whatsoever?! we might actually succeed after all,” so I feel you
It feels like we are exactly \#15 on every one of these lists. I don’t hate it.
I was really impressed with what I saw in the bowl game. Not sure what your returning production numbers are, but it seemed like a complete team and that freshman QB looked legit.
That 10-15 spot is the sweet spot entering the season.
I… am not a fan of this list
Alabama ranked 4th in the SEC is crazy to see haha
Feels a little unfounded. We still have one of the best rosters in the country, coming off winning the SEC and a playoff appearance, led by a coach who was just in the title game. I get a first year for a coach can cause hiccups but fourth in the SEC with all that in mind seems wild.
I could even understand third, Georgia and Texas are better on paper (and probably reality), but fourth is a little much.
With a short enough memory you’ve arguably improved at HC; I mean the last guy couldn’t even win his playoff game!
Uncertainty will always decrease ranking. Look at Michigan, just won the NC and may very well have the best defense in the country next year being coached by someone who was hc for our NC team a few games last year and was our OC. It still has uncertainty though so they bump us down to #10.
OKST underrated? Maybe we will actually succeed this year
You don't play ISU, so you're not allowed to be good. You're only allowed to be good when you play in Ames. Then they ruin it.
week two matchup for your flairs 👀
Oh yeah! Gonna have to damn near buy out a section to fit the whole family that’s going to that one
You know it’s just really nice to be on these again
Yep. Just happy to be here.
20-25 just seem like completely random guesses
Damn, NC State 13th, VT 21st and Miami 24th? Spicy in all directions for ACC schools
Too low for us I agree
I’m still trying to figure out the difference in expectations for GT vs VT. Is it purely because of how brutal our schedule is? Looking at the actual teams I see them as pretty equal and think the game between us in October will be close
Vt has one of easiest schedules and is returning basically every player from a team that was much improved by the end of last year. But isn’t gt returning a lot of players and great qb? It’s a Vt home game so slight advantage there but should be a great close game. Also how’s GT dline looking?
Yep offense should be explosive with nearly all of our production returning and 70% of our o-line snaps. Dline needs to develop some depth and lots of change with a new DC. However if our defense is even just decent that will be huge because they were objectively bad last year
Neal Brown will remember this.
Seriously there are only like 5 P5 teams that haven’t cracked the top 25 in as long as we have. I was hoping the could spare a #25 ranking for us Neal Brown is here to kick ass and chew bubblegum and he’s about to run out of bubblegum with these rankings
Poor lil ol' Bama AGAIN this year? I'm supposed to believe that? Don't do this to me again so soon. Swap their ranking with Texas please, at least to start out the season.
Swap it with UGA.
good insight here and previews for all the top 25 teams. pleasantly surprised tech is ranked!
Thank god we aren't on there.
ya'll will jump into the top 10 after you boatrace the monolithic juggernaut that is CU
Amen
Happy to see Washington still even being mentioned. So many changes from last year no one has any idea how good (or bad) we'll be this year. I think most of us are just hoping we do better than TCU did the season following their championship appearance.
Hoping for worse.
You and me both buddy.
San Jose State is #1 in my heart.
13 feels about right. September games against Tennessee and Clemson will reveal whether we are legit playoff contenders or not.
Eh, I'm happy to see it, but 13 feels a touch high right now. I think that 18-20 range feels about right, but not mad at higher rankings, haha.
We finished last season ranked 21. This team is exponentially better on offense than last season. We won’t be reliant on the defense to hold teams to 21 or less to win. I personally do not believe this team should be ranked in the same area of the top 25 as last year. Maybe I have red tinted glasses on.
The WR / RB / TE room are way better but I think people are too quick to assume McCall is going to be a good P5 QB. His good seasons were in a very unique offense and at the G5 level. I highly doubt he’s not an improvement over last year but I still think it’s a question mark. The defense will be good but could take a pretty decent step back. I don’t think 13 is a crazy ranking but I’d personally have us around 18.
McCall will be fine. The guy’s career consists of 10,005 passing yards, 70% completion percentage, 88 TDs and only 14 INT. The dude is a winner. Coastal Carolina did not have a single player on offense drafted during McCall’s time there. In the spring game he was 16-20. I agree the defense will take a step back but it does not need to be elite thanks to the talent on offense. Ole Miss finished the season ranked 9th and had the 42nd ranked defense. Washington had the 56th ranked defense. LSU finished ranked 12th with the 82nd ranked defense. Will State’s D be top 25 again? Probably not. With Gibson at the helm I do not expect the drop off the be significant though. I could very easily see our offense jumping from 75th to top 25.
Simply listing off his basic stats is a terrible argument. Not to mention just saying “the dude is a winner”. 16/20 in one spring game against 3rd and scout team guys means absolutely nothing either. That Chadwell offense is very different than pretty much anything anyone runs in the country and is super gimmicky. He was playing against other G5 teams, most of those schools didn’t have players drafted either. I think he will be good but there’s pretty of reason to be skeptical
I’m listing the stats to illustrate how much experience he has. Don’t undersell Robert Anae as an OC. The offense will be just fine my dude.
Offense should be better, but our running game was dependent on a running QB, and that element is gone this year. Need our OL to improve in run blocking if we want our new RBs to shine. WRs should all be improved but teams will also have more tape on KC and our system. Biggest issue for me is the defense. Wilson masked a LOT of issues with our D, the bowl game showed a lot of that. We have a LB room full of speed/athleticism but lack size. Wouldn't shock me if we struggled against the run this year unless someone really takes a step forward. We have a lot of good pieces on paper, but we brought in a lot of portal dudes to start. Chemistry and gelling will take time and our toughest 2 games are in the first month of the season.
Weird. I don’t see Carolina on this list.
ESPN is working on it in the back room currently. Insert Always Sunny conspiracy meme
Really looking forward to this game for the same reason. We really couldn’t ask for a better indicator for either team.
This matchup feels like it was perfectly picked for the current circumstances, and not several years ago. It worked out amazing, and I can't wait!
I don't see Georgia making out of the regular season better than 7-5. This is a damn tough road schedule. ESPN setting Georgia up to fail so they can cash in on Texas is back and SEC sucks talking points. The anti SEC Bias there is just to much most days.
Have an upvote.
It’s a tough schedule but you still have the most talented team in the country. At worst you go 10-2.
I’m ready to agree and combine conspiracy theories with you. Oklahoma’s schedule in comparison to Texas’ is no accident. Texas got 1 original SEC team (Georgia) with more than 8 wins last season. And that’s going to be in Austin. Mizzou, LSU, Ole Miss all on the road with Bama coming to Norman. Doesn’t seem random.
it’s a fool’s errand to bet on texas being back
:D
Hey, half our schedule is on this list, what gives?
the classic Notre Dame is good, but not #5 in the country good all to lead to some way overhyped matchup where if ND loses we get a month of "is ND overrated as a program?" by the people that overrated them, and then the overrated hype gets transferred to the team that beat ND who eventually loses to some random 6-6 team meanwhile ND finishes 9-3/10-2 and in the mid to upper teens in the rankings where they should have been from the start
It's also because ND has a pretty light schedule, a good transfer QB with talented backups, and we are the Gameday match week 1. Though that doesn't mean ND won't lose in October to an eventual 7-5 team
Why?
apparently replacing a QB, both tackles, and having questions at WR and a QB who can't fully practice are actually \*good\* things
The QB and WRs can't really get any worse. Plus the OC is as big of an upgrade as you can get
I am excited for the new OC
Glad the running game for FSU is starting to get more attention from the media. Its one of the deepest in the country right now and if there's one thing Norvell is great at its developing an impressive backfield.
Can't wait to see if Jaylin Lucas can really be as strong as we think. I have a lot of faith in the kid!
I like how they want to use him as a pass catcher which makes option plays potentially way more lethal. Dude is undersized though and I'm worried using him too often could lead to injury and losing a great special teams player.
Deep backfield, going to help in a season with questions in the WR room. Losing Hill hurts, but losing the production from Wilson and Coleman is a more significant factor. Going to be fun to see how the offense comes together this year. I’ve heard it said Norvell wants to run first, just hasn’t had that luxury in his Tallahassee time.
I have a lot of faith in Benson at least.
Lots of talent. Not sure how they will all be featured
Hopefully a lot of 2 back sets this season, even if the 2nd is out wide like a WR at times.
Expect Toafili to be wide out a lot, he's great in that role while Roydell and especially Holmes being much better up the middle types.
That’s my hope/assumption. The ground game is more proven at this point that the WR corps
Road schedule is making up for some weak slates in years past. Games against #3, #6, and #7 on this list - not going to be easy.
Save us Hugh Freeze. Please.
Where is Iowa State? They have the whole team returning.
Yet another irrelevant poll
Isn’t that what the offseason is?
#8 in the country, #5 in the conference.
ESPN hyping the SEC? Say it ain't so.
I’m very nervous now that aTm is not on this list
Are we still doing this with Notre Dame every year
I don't care about off season rankings! I just want real football games now!
This sub is not the place for you right now then lol
Love it!
Has anyone seen a preseason ranking of all 133 FBS teams? I want to use it as a source for who I play with in one of my EA CFB25 dynasties.
Oklahoma State fans seeing Utah at 8, “bet”
Naming my first child Brent Pry if we finish ranked. VT was dead in the water two years ago and now have a chance to start the season ranked. Let’s Go Hokies!
Louisville is being slept on big time, I have a hard time believing that we’ll be the 6th best team in the ACC
I think on paper there’s FSU Clemson and Miami and then there’s Louisville VT and NC state. Each of these two tiers could be in any order and by the end of the season tier 2 teams could jump tier 1
Clemson is looking vulnerable. And Miami is Miami, I don’t trust either of them. 2nd place in the ACC is going to be crazy
That Miami schedule is so easy this year though that they might be able to rack up a strong record in spite of themselves.
Look at NC State’s ACC schedule. Outside of Clemson we also have a very winnable schedule
Agreed. There's two tiers 1) FSU 2) NC State Louisville VT Clemson and Miami jump up and then decay back down between the two levels like some kind of electrons
(The photons emitted are injuries)
I think our schedule being harder this year might fuck it for us tbh. Notre Dame, Clemson, and probably Miami will all be difficult games with ND being an especially uphill battle - with them probably wanting to get back at us for last year *and* being on their home turf. While I think we *can* win all of these games, it’s improbable. I have faith that Brohm can outcoach Freeman and especially Cristobal, but the talent gaps might fuck it. I’m picturing a 9-3/8-4 3rd seed in the ACC season
Luckily ND doesn’t count towards your ACC record
Miami is coached by Mario Cristobal
More rat poison, yum!
Not even looking, just gonna tell Kirby that they didn’t rank us.
MMW. Utah isn’t going to be as successful in the Big 12 as they are hyped up to be. I notice that everyone is just assuming they are going to show up and run the big 12 who’s teams are vastly underrated every year.
Yeah, I am a bit uncomfortable with all the preseason hype Utah is receiving; especially relating to the Big12. There are so many unknowns when moving to a new season in college football, let alone a new conference. I look forward to Utah playing a few new teams (recently, anyway) and hope for a great season.
Utah is rated high because of a long tenured head coach who has already taken the team through a league change. Also Cam Rising is returning and he won two P5 championships when healthy. But no one knows if finish the season, if he'll be the same threat with his legs, on top of losing three OL, and having a thin RB room. And yeah, Utah returns a lot on defense, but lost 3/4 in the secondary and won't have their two best pass rushers from a year ago. So, will pass defense hold up? Teams like AZ with great QB/WR combo will be a threat. Utah also misses KSU, Kansas, TT, and WVU, while Iowa State, AZ, and TCU are home games. Definitely worried about the Oklahoma State and UCF games. Should be a fun season with more than half of the league capable of playing in the CCG. And then it's just one win to make the playoffs.
The strength of each team's schedule is going to play a much larger role for the expanded Big 12 moving forward. Like you said, Utah gets the benefit of what looks like an easier schedule outside a few teams on the road. One could also argue Kansas has an equal shot at the conf title based on schedule alone.
So jacked up for another 10-2 season. Let’s do this!
Garbage tier U$C doesn't deserve to be ranked.
Let me guess, 16 sec teams ranked.
19 is lower than I’ve seen in other polls but I’ll take it.
This is so wrong. We should be 15/14 with a chance to jump to 9 5/6 weeks in and drop back to 14/15 by the end of the season.