Posting maestro, NJ Duck, previously posted CBS Sports, Brandon Marcello's 2026 Top 25 post-Spring College Football (CFB) Poll Rankings.

Thank you, NJ.

I re-post the article to open things up for comment.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-rankings-2026-top-25-post-spring/

My comments on Marcello's ranking follow. More importantly, what are your thoughts on this ranking from a Big Ten broadcast partner site?

I'm using the Massey 2026 College Football Rankings as a comparison to Marcello's rankings and for a team's strength-of-schedule (SOS) ranking for all 138 FBS teams.

Massey's ratings are one of the more respected and detailed computer rankings available to the public, with none of the arguably biased rankings associated with broadcast entities' rankings, such as ESPN's FPI and SP +.

https://masseyratings.com/cf/fbs/ratings

Massey ranks Oregon No. 4, one spot below Marcello. Ohio State is No. 1 per Massey, Marcello's No. 1 Texas is ranked 9th by Massey.

Marcello ranks 10 SEC teams and eight Big Ten teams in his top 25. The comparison between Marcello's and Massey's rankings of nine SEC teams and eight Big Ten teams, with my comments, for what little they may be worth, includes the Massey SOS rankings:

CBS - No. 1 Texas/ 4 Georgia/ 8 Texas A&M/ 9 LSU/ 10 Oklahoma/ 13 Ole Miss/ 14 Alabama/ 16 Tennessee/ 20 Missouri/ 23 Florida

Massey - No. 5 Georgia - SOS 26/ 6 Ole Miss - 18/ 7 Alabama - 24/ 9

Texas - 1/ 17/, Oklahoma - 5/ 18, Texas A&M - 19/ No. 19 Tennessee - 23/ 21, Missouri - 20/ 23, LSU - 13/ 34 - Florida - 8

Both rankings are understandably bullish on the SEC. But Massey has Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Oklahoma, and Florida ranked significantly lower than CBS, with Ole Miss and Alabama ranked significantly higher.

CBS - Is this another No. 1 Texas rope-a-dope? Especially with the Longhorns having the most difficult schedule in 2026, per Massey.

I agree with Massey that No. 8 A&M, with 10 players drafted by the NFL, and with a more difficult conference schedule than last season, is overranked by CBS.

Both No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 9 LSU have more difficult schedules than last season. LSU QB Sam Leavitt and John Mateer were both injured last season. Will Leavitt be an improvement over QB Garrett Nussmeier?

Even when healthy, the Sooners' offense under Mateer was not that productive. And will Lane Kiffin be able to assemble the new parts into a greater whole?

Florida is ranked by Marcello at No. 23. With the No. 8 SOS and a new coach from the G6 replacing a coach who was hired from the G5?

Georgia Tech transfer QB, Aaron Philo, and a new OC, Buster Faulkner, who is also joining the Gators from Georgia Tech, are going to morph Florida into a top 25 team? Hmmmm.

I believe Massey's No. 22 Louisville with the 55th SOS should have been ranked by CBS.

Both Massey and Marcello have Texas Tech, post QB Sorsby's gaming issues, ranked 11th.

Even with questions at QB, with the nation's 69th SOS and a decided B12 roster advantage, I think Texas Tech will finish 11-1 at the worst and with a good chance of going 12-0.

Massey has Alabama, a team that could not run the ball last season, and is breaking in a new starting QB, ranked 7th. I think DeBoer's seven-year contract extension was premature.

Ole Miss is Massey No. 6.

Pete Golding led Ole Miss to a home win over G6 Tulane last season and defeated a Georgia team coming off a lengthy 1st round bye.

In the two years of a 12-team playoff, the eight teams coming off a 1st round bye are 1-7; the only win was authored by Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, on the way to a 16-0 season.

Superstar QB Trinidad Chambliss, courtesy of some judicial home cooking, is back, but does Golding have the chops to succeed in the SEC?

SEC sleeper? South Carolina. But USC(e), with an SOS ranked 17th, has a hard row to hoe.

Tomorrow, a look at the Big Ten rankings.

Let's Go B1G!

Using the same data I used to examine and compare CBS Sports Brandon Marcello's post-spring top 25 ranking of ten SEC teams (see above), let's look at his top-25 ranking of eight Big Ten teams.

No. 2 Ohio State/ No. 3 Oregon/ No. 6 Indiana/ No. 12 USC/

No. 15 Michigan/ No. 18 Iowa/ No. 19 Penn State/ No. 21 Washington

Like Marcello, Ken Massey's computer ratings also have eight B1G teams in the top 25. (The number after a team's ranking is the team's national, 1 through 138, strength-of-schedule (SOS) ranking.)

No. 1 Ohio State (11)/ No. 2 Indiana (30)/ No. 4 Oregon (25)/ No. 8 Penn State (59)/ No. 12 Michigan (3)/ No. 14 USC (6)/ No. 15 Washington (21)/ No. 16 Iowa (33)

Preseason SOS rankings are a product of a given source's preseason rankings. Massey's SOS rankings will change each week as games are played. Whether a game is played at home, at a neutral site, or on the road is factored into Massey's preseason SOS rankings.

Not factored in is Oregon being the only B1G team to play eight straight B1G games without a break, and in November, Oregon playing at No. 1 Ohio State, home vs. No. 12 Michigan, at Michigan State, and home vs. No. 15 Washington.

Oregon plays a November gauntlet; likely the most difficult in the nation (the Games You Remember are Played in November). Hawaii may travel farther in November than Oregon, but that's it. And Hawaii will not have to travel twice into Jack Frost country.

Massey ranks No. 2 Indiana, No. 8 Penn State, and No. 15 Washington significantly higher than the CBS Sports ranking; Massey's other B1G rankings are within range of Marcello's rankings.

24 Iowa State players, including QB Rocco Becht, followed new Penn State head coach Matt Campbell to Penn State. (OT - University Park, Pennsylvania, a/k/a Happy Valley, was recently named the best small college town by USA Today, taking the No. 1 spot away from Oxford, Mississippi.)

The Big Ten rolled out the welcome mat for Campbell. Penn State's SOS, No. 59, is the easiest in the conference.

Penn State misses Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon, and plays USC at home, possibly in a White Out. The Nittany Lions have three out-of-conference cupcakes to chomp down in Beaver Stadium. The two toughest games are at No. 12 Michigan and at No. 15 Washington.

Massey ranks Illinois, with the 42nd SOS, No. 30. I think Illinois has a better chance of finishing in the top 25 than does No. 16 Iowa. Both teams lost 2025 quality starting QBs. QBs who led Illinois to an upset of Tennessee in Nashville, and 4-loss Iowa to a victory in Orlando over a 10-2 Vanderbilt team led by Heisman runner-up, Diego Pavia.

Illinois brought East Carolina QB Katin Houser, who began his career at Michigan State, from the portal. Houser has 19 career starts and has thrown for over 3300 yards. Houser concluded a successful Junior season by leading the G5 American Conference Pirates to an upset bowl victory over the ACC's Pitt Panthers.

Iowa stood pat with its QB room. Whoever starts for the Hawkeyes in 2026 will have little to no experience playing B1G-time football.

Here's another scheduling quirk that is not factored into the Massey rankings: Illinois is idle the week before Oregon travels to Urbana-Champaign to take on the Illini in venerable Memorial Stadium.

The Massey rankings of Oregon's 2026 opponents: No. 54 Boise State (Massey's 2nd highest-ranked G6 team) / at No. 84 Oklahoma State (under-ranked IMO)/ NR Portland State/ at No. 14 USC/ No. 60 UCLA/ No. 39 Nebraska/ at No. 30 Illinois/ No. 51 Northwestern/ at No. 2 Ohio State/ No. 12 Michigan/ at No. 56 Michigan State/ No. 15 Washington.

The B1G and the SEC play thrice in 2026 - All games played in Week 2 - September 12th -

No. 1 Ohio State at No. 9 Texas (No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Ohio State per CBS Sports rankings) / No. 12 Michigan vs. No. 17 Oklahoma/

and No. 53 Mississippi State at No. 49 Minnesota.

As a proponent of a 24-team CFB Playoff, please allow me to sign off with what a Massey preseason-ranked field would be.

1. Ohio State vs. 17 Oklahoma at 16 Iowa

2. Indiana vs. 18 Texas A&M at 15 Washington

3. Notre Dame vs. 19 Tennessee at 14 USC

4. Oregon vs. 20 BYU at 12 Michigan

5. Georgia vs. 21 Missouri at 13 Utah

[12 Michigan and 13 Utah flip to avoid a not allowed 1st round BYU vs. Utah rematch.]

6. Ole Miss vs. 22 Louisville at 11 Texas Tech

7. Alabama vs. 23 LSU at 10 Miami

8. Penn State vs. 24 James Madison at 9 Texas (24 Iowa State G6 out.)

Would these games ruin the regular season? I don't think so. In addition to millions of more dollars for CFB, millions more fans would tune in to the regular season and postseason.

Beat Boise!