Welcome back to college football, and for the first time in a long time, the sport didn’t reshape itself in the offseason.
No major conference realignment. No major changes to the College Football Playoff (other than a seeding tweak). And although players are now getting paid directly by the schools, they were already being paid. The Football Bowl Subdivision has grown slightly once again, however, now up to 136. Welcome, Delaware and Missouri State.
I started these rankings in 2017, when I volunteered to handle it among our tiny new staff, because I was someone who would follow every team. (There were only a mere 130 teams back then.) I love an Alabama-Georgia game. I also love a mid-week MAC game. I enjoy all of college football. That means I take every spot in these rankings seriously, and I try to explain it as best I can. You probably don’t agree. I see it in the comments. That’s OK.
Some reminders: First, yes, this is a subjective exercise. I look at analytical rankings and take them into account, but what follows is just my opinion. As the season continues, I adjust based on whom teams have played and whom they’ve beaten. The preseason rankings are just an educated guess, and I don’t hold on to them. They’ll change, sometimes rapidly, as results come in, but it usually takes a few weeks for everyone to get enough data points to form strong conclusions.
