CBS Sports Released It's Early College Football Rankings, Let's Take A Look

I know going over football rankings in May is a complete and total exercise in futility, but football is football and the mere mention of the word “rankings” got me excited to post up in the West lot of Evanston at 7am and drink my face off for 12-14 hours straight.

Now we know two things with these rankings:

1. Bama and Clemson will undoubtedly be in the top 5 at the VERY WORST and
2. Half these teams will not be bowl eligible and another half of the top 25 will be teams that weren’t ranked in these “way too early” rankings to start the year.

Obviously, it’s a crap shoot.  And though I’m not an “expert” in any realm on the national college football landscape, I would say I know a decent amount to talk in at least some detail on where the Big Ten falls in these rankings.  So let’s take a look:

Ohio State ranked 6th:

Justin Fields in, Tate Martell, Dwayne Haskins and Urban Meyer out.  The Buckeyes are clearly head and shoulders more talented than the rest of the B1G, at least on paper, and could very well run the table in the east.  But who knows what they’re gonna get out of Ryan Day?  Pressure is always sky high when replacing a legend, and though he’s a complete and total scum bag, Urban Meyer objectively is one of the best football coaches on the planet at any level.   They could be a playoff team or go 9-3 but as of now I’m fine with them being ranked right about 6th.

Michigan ranked 9th:

Shea Patterson can sling it, but they do lose Rashan McGary, Chase Winovich, Aubrey Marshall and others on defense.  They recruit like crazy due in part to Harbaugh being a complete psychopath and should reload just fine but I do NOT think they’ll be a top 10 team when it’s all said and done.  Harbaugh shits the bed in big games, and especially against OSU.  Everybody knows that.  Wouldn’t be surprised to see the wheels fall off this year and Harbaugh take some NFL job or some shit.  They’ll have a really good defense, pretty decent offense and wind up ranked 15th or so at best to end the season.  There’s just nothing sexy about this team.

Wisconsin ranked 13th:

This is where the preseason rankings completely lose me.  Wisconsin is replacing Alex Hornibrook (grad transfer) who I thought completely sucked in his own right but Jack Coan is even worse.  Paul Chryst is known as a QB whisperer but Hornibrook just never really got better in his time at Wisco.  Yeah, they’re a ground and pound pro style offense and their QBs just need to be a little better than game managers to succeed, but I don’t think Coan is that guy.  He’s a pud.  They’ll compete for the West because they’ll obviously have a crazy fundamentally sound defense and good OL/run game but with how deep the West is (though it doesn’t have an OSU level team) I can see them losing as many as 3-4 games.  I’m guessing they’ll end up somewhere around 20-25th going into bowl season.

Nebraska ranked 17th:

Ol Todd from Breaking Bad looking head ass Scott Frost is the love charm of the national media, but for pretty decent reason.  They lost to Troy at home in non-conference but got progressively better each game last year.  They just didn’t have the depth or experience.  Now I fully expect them to be a bowl team this year and maybe even sneak into the top 25 at one point or another, but to go from 4-8 to a top 20 preseason ranking?  Fuck outta here.  Adrian Martinez looked really good at times last year but I still think they’re a year off from being the Nebraska of the Bo Pellini days.  And I say Bo Pellini days because they’re not the Nebraska of the 90s and never will be again.  They should consistently be a 9-10 win team once Frost gets all of his recruits underneath him, but they recruit Texas HARD but Texas players typically wanna stick in the SEC or B1G 12.

Penn State ranked 20th:

I fucking hate James Franklin.  I hate him as much as I hate any coach in CFB.  But the dude can recruit and he’s done a pretty damn good job at PSU so far.  They’ve recruited their dicks off since he took the helm and though they’re replacing Trace McSorley and Miles Sanders, I think 20th is fair for them.  They don’t know who their QB is going to be yet, but they’ll reload at RB and their defense will at the very least have athletes to keep them in most games.  That said I think they get their dicks stomped out by OSU and they have little to no shot to win the East.

Minnesota ranked 22nd:

PJ Fleck has mastered his personal branding, but he hasn’t mastered recruiting.  That, and they don’t really have a QB.  Tanner Morgan has only thrown 41 career passes.  I just really don’t see them being a top 25 team once the B1G season starts.  They won’t be able to move the ball like… at all.  Good defenses like Iowa, Wisco, and NU will shut them down.  They might be bowl eligible but it’ll be because they won a late season game against like Illinois or some other dumpster fire.

Northwestern ranked 23rd:

They are objectively better than Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska.  Defending B1G West Champs.  Great coach.  Loaded defense.  5 star QB Hunter Johnson taking over.  The West is deep as fuck and there aren’t any gimme games outside of Illinois, so NU could go 7-6 or run the West again.  Their defense will one again be a great unit lead by Joe Gaziano who is the current leader in sacks in the B1G and projected 1st round pick LB Paddy Fisher.  They lose a couple DBs, an LB and one DL but their offense should be an above average unit this year in spite of the loss of 5th round draft pick, Wheaton’s finest Clayton Thorson.  Gun to head, they win the west.  Their balance is fantastic.  I’d have them ranked way ahead of Minnesota and Nebraska at the very least, somewhere around 17.  Don’t be surprised if they’re playing in the Rose Bowl this year.

***Sneaky Team***

Iowa

I think Iowa could be really good this year.  QB Nate Stanley is a fucking stud with a gunslinger “fuck you” mentality that I love.  They are the model of consistency in college football and Iowa City is an awesome college town.  But that said, it can’t be easy to recruit studs to that school.  They’re never crazy high in recruiting rankings, but Kirk Ferentz gets the very best out of the talent he can draw to IC and every few years rattles off some 12 win season.  I wouldn’t be surprised if this is that year again, though again they could be a 7 win team due to the depth in the West.  There’s only one true shitbag team in the West, and that’s Illinois.  There are going to be a LOT of 1 score games in the West.  True B1G football at its finest.  The east has Maryland, Rutgers, and Indiana and is much more top heavy and will have a lot more blowouts.

I cannot fucking wait for football season.  Between how deep the B1G is and the Bears looking to be legitimate Super Bowl contenders, we’re in for an awesome fall in Chicago.