2020 ranking from The Athletic (Gophers #16)

[pk2]

Stewart Mandel from theathletic.com puts out his way-too-early 2020 rankings.

1. Clemson
2. OSU
3. Alabama
4. Georgia
5. LSU
6. Penn State
7. Florida
8. Oregon
9. Oklahoma
10. Notre Dame
11. Skunks
12. Auburn
13. Iowa
14. USC
15. Oklahoma State
16. Gophers

P.J. Fleck made an interesting OC hire in much-traveled Mike Sanford Jr., who spent last season at Utah State. He inherits a lot of key pieces in QB Tanner Morgan, electric WR Rashod Bateman, breakout RB Mohamed Ibrahim and the whole O-line. Minnesota will be more challenged on defense to replace eight starters, most notably DB Antoine Winfield Jr. DE Esezi Otomewo and others will have to step up.

17. Texas
18. Cincinnati
19. Tennessee
20. Michigan
21. Memphis
22. Texas A&M
23. North Carolina
24. Arizona State
25. California

”Just missed”: Boise State, Iowa State, Washington, Baylor, UCF

This is a pay site, so it won’t be readable for those who aren’t subscribers, but for those who are:

Stewart Mandel’s early Top 25 for the 2020 college football season

Clemson may have lost the 2019 national title game, but in the first crack at rankings for 2020, the Tigers are back on top.

theathletic.com

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Not happy with it but I'm also ... not upset.

Schedule, defensive losses, I really can't blame anyone for thinking we take a step back.

 

[Deckergopher]

What’s the Athletic??

 

[pk2]

What’s the Athletic??

It’s a pay site ($60 per year, I think, though they often offer promotional discounts) dedicated to sports of all kinds. It’s well worth the money, in my opinion.

They have excellent writers in all areas, including many who spent time working as writers for Sports Illustrated and other national publications.

Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples, and Nicole Auerbach are three of the primary college football correspondents.

Ken Rosenthal, Jayson Stark, Peter Gammons, and Joe Posnanski are some of the main MLB writers.

The Wikipedia page is here, for more info:

The Athletic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The main site for The Athletic is theathletic.com

 

[BTChamp]

Not terrible. Some questions to be answered (how will the new OC work, how to replace defensive players, can we throw to a tight end, who's standing in the crowd, etc.), but go out and answer them and all will be fine in Gopherland.