College Football Rankings

Preseason College Football Rankings are far more interesting than meaningful. Here are some of the early preseason rankings. The top looks familiar. It's the presence on two of these rankings of a little school that sits high above the Hudson that caught my eye.

ESPN
1.   Clemson
2.   Alabama
3.   Georgia
4.   Oklahoma
5.   Ohio State
6.   Notre Dame
7.   Michigan
8.   Florida
9.   LSU
10. Oregon
11. Texas
12. Texas A&M
13. Penn State
14. Central Florida
15. Washington
16. Utah
17. Stanford
18. Auburn
19. Washington State
20. Nebraska
21. Wisconsin
22. Syracuse
23. Iowa
24. Army
25. Mississippi State

Sports Illustrated
1.   Clemson
2.   Alabama
3.   Georgia
4.   Ohio State
5.   Notre Dame
6.   Oklahoma
7.   Michigan
8.   Florida
9.   Texas
10. Texas A&M
11. Oregon
12. Washington
13. LSU
14. Penn State
15. Central Florida
16. Utah
17. Wisconsin
18. Iowa
19. Auburn
20. Northwestern
21. Iowa State
22. Miami
23. Michigan State
24. Nebraska
25. Virginia Tech

USA Today
1.   Clemson
2.   Alabama
3.   Georgia
4.   Oklahoma
5.   Ohio State
6.   Michigan
7.   LSU
8.   Texas A&M
9.   Oregon
10. Texas
11. Notre Dame
12. Washington
13. Florida
14. Central Florida
15. Iowa State
16. Auburn
17. Northwestern
18. Stanford
19. Nebraska
20. Army
21. Penn State
22. Boise State
23. Syracuse
24. Baylor
25. Wisconsin

***

It's great to see Army among the powerhouses of college football. Most of the schools that annually reside on preseason rankings, in-season and postseason too, can attract ready-made NFL players with a wave of their hand. At West Point, the football team is filled with some of the only true student-athletes in FBS/Division I/whatever. For them, the NFL is very rarely a thought. Individually, none of the Army players would even be on the scout teams of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, etc. Collectively, they are ranked in the preseason Top 25 of ESPN and USA Today.

Nebraska's back? The voters apparently have faith in Scott Frost. The one thing that disappoints me about Nebraska's potential return to the top of the college football world is that they play in the Big-10(14). Those Nebraska-Oklahoma battles were a blast.

Where's Cal? I wouldn't expect the Golden Bears to get much preseason love. Their last football game was that offensive offensive performance against TCU in the Cheez-it Bowl. I really like the direction of the team under Justin Wilcox. The defense is top-notch. The offense can't do anything but improve. Cal just has to win more than the early season teaser games. They have to start winning more than they lose against the supposed "big boys" of the Pac-12. And they have to beat Stanford! Go Bears!