Preseason CBS Sports 136, Gophers #38

[MisterGopher]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...-tops-ohio-state-in-preseason-cbs-sports-136/

Preseason college football rankings have always been a challenging exercise, but never has it been more of a guessing game than the modern era. Massive roster turnover through the transfer portal and the annual musical chairs at the quarterback position have brought uncertainty to some of the more traditional methods of ranking teams, forcing college football experts to dig deeper to formulate opinions on how these teams stack up against each other before the first kickoff of the season.

Luckily, our CBS Sports 136 voters are willing to do that work, ranking not only a top 25 -- like those other polls -- but stacking the entire FBS landscape against each other. As we cycle back for another season, we here at CBS Sports and 247Sports welcome Delaware and Missouri State to the list as our ballot grows from 134 teams to 136 teams.

College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top 25 below and 26-136 on our rankings page.

Rank	Team	2024 Record	2024 Final Ranking
1	Texas	13-3	4
2	Penn State	13-3	5
3	Ohio State	14-2	1
4	Clemson	10-4	14
5	Georgia	11-3	6
6	Notre Dame	14-2	2
7	Oregon	13-1	3
8	Alabama	9-4	19
9	LSU	9-4	28
10	Miami	10-3	17
11	Arizona State	11-3	7
12	Florida	8-5	35
13	Illinois	10-3	15
14	Kansas State	9-4	27
15	Michigan	8-5	32
16	South Carolina	9-4	18
17	SMU	11-3	11
18	Texas A&M	8-5	33
19	Iowa State	11-3	16
20	Tennessee	10-3	10
21	Texas Tech	8-5	44
22	Ole Miss	10-3	12
23	Indiana	11-2	8
24	Oklahoma	6-7	58
25	Utah	5-7	84

 

[GVLCGopherFan]

Wisconsin is ranked higher than Cincinnate.

 

[gophernut1]

Our schedule:

Buffalo = #97
Northwestern St = NR
California #72
BYE
Rutgers = #63
Ohio State = #3
Purdue = #92
Nebraska = #35
Iowa = #30
Michigan State = #62
BYE
Oregon = #7
Northwestern = #77
Wisconsin = #51

I really like the way our schedule is laid out. While we have a lot of reasons for doubts, we also all know that if the right pieces come together this could be a special year. Excited to see this schedule play out.

 

[mngg11]

Bad Drake - 6 wins
Competent Drake - 8 wins
Great Drake - 10 wins

 

[WAGopher]

Bad Drake - 6 wins
Competent Drake - 8 wins
Great Drake - 10 win

Heisman Drake - 12 wins

 

[Word]

Heisman Drake - 12 wins

Just 12? Or are you not including the playoffs and national championship?

 

[Some guy]

Bad Drake - 6 wins
Competent Drake - 8 wins
Great Drake - 10 wins

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

How could you not love the Drake!?

 

[WAGopher]

Just 12? Or are you not including the playoffs and national championship?

Just the 12 game regular season, which is what this thread, and typically the Heisman Trophy voting is based on.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

I think 38 is pretty fair all things considered.

 

[Some guy]

I think 38 is pretty fair all things considered.

Yeah.
I think anyone projecting between 6-9 wins of the 12 regular season games is a pretty fair take.
10 is probably overly optimistic (but that’s what the realistic ceiling and what we are going to do dang it)
5 is probably overly pessimistic


Anything between 20 and 70 is a non delusional take in my opinion.

I have them 10th at 10-2
And honestly the difference between 9-3 and 6-6 is going to be 5-10 plays.
The difference of being in the playoff hunt and being in the new coach hunt is less than 30 plays for most of power 5.