College Football Rankings Spring 2022: Top 100
100 Kent State Golden Flashes
Final Rankings: 2021: 90 2020: 89 2019: 66
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at Washington (Sept. 1)
Can the Golden Flashes keep the high-powered attack going without QB Dustin Crum? Yeah – the offensive front is in place – but the defense has to be a whole lot better to get back to the MAC Championship.
Kent State Schedule
99 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
Final Rankings: 2021: 102 2020: 74 2019: 32
Week 0: Vanderbilt
Week 1: WKU
New head coach Timmy Chang is all but starting over with a program that needed a shot in the arm. It’s going to be fun offensively – it’s a Timmy Chang-coached team – but the defense is a massive question mark.
Hawaii Schedule
98 UTSA Roadrunners
Final Rankings: 2021: 55 2020: 102 2019: 118
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Houston
Yeah, this is showing way too much disrespect to a program that came up with a fantastic 2021, but too many stars from the Conference USA champion version are gone.
UTSA Schedule
97 Central Michigan Chippewas
Final Rankings: 2021: 70 2020: 105 2019: 71
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at Oklahoma State (Sept. 1)
Jim McElwain’s team is just good enough to be in the MAC championship mix, but you don’t easily replace two NFL offensive linemen. Even so, there’s no reason the defense can’t make up for any concerns on the other side.
Central Michigan Schedule
96 Northern Illinois Huskies
Final Rankings: 2021: 69 2020: 122 2019: 92
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Eastern Illinois
The Huskies set the bar high with a MAC championship season – after going winless in 2020 – and enough parts are back to make it a title-or-bust campaign. The offense should be among the most physical in the MAC, and the young D will come into its own as the season goes on.
Northern Illinois Schedule
95 WKU Hilltoppers
Final Rankings: 2021: 67 2020: 115 2019: 40
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at Hawaii
The team isn’t going to fall off the map, but there are a whole lot of big changes with QB Bailey Zappe off to New England and offensive coordinator Zach Kittley doing his thing for Texas Tech. Former West Virginia QB Jarret Doege will bomb away.
WKU Schedule
94 Florida Atlantic Owls
Final Rankings: 2021: 111 2020: 7 2019: 20
Week 0: Charlotte
Week 1: at Ohio
Can the transfer portal get the Owls back to the level they were at in the Lane Kiffin days? There’s enough talent to get a winning season, but Willie Taggart needs the new guys to be great.
Florida Atlantic Schedule
93 San Jose State Spartans
Final Rankings: 2021: 87 2020: 47 2019: 95
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Portland State
The transfer portal is changing around the offense and the defense has the depth and experience on the front seven to be good right away. If Hawaii transfer QB Chevan Cordeiro is great, this ranking is WAY too low.
San Jose State Schedule
92 Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Final Rankings: 2021: 77 2020: 39 2019: 86
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at Wyoming
Always underestimate this program at your own risk. However, there are too many big losses from last year’s team to make a winning season a fight. Throw in a tough schedule, and this is going to be rough. But again, underestimate this program …
Tulsa Schedule
91 Navy Midshipmen
Final Rankings: 2021: 93 2020: 88 2019: 17
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Delaware
The team has to start playing better. The coaching is great, the system still works, and there’s even enough experience to hope for more consistency. Now it all has to start working again – the offense has to be a differentiating factor.
Navy Schedule
90 Miami University RedHawks
Final Rankings: 2021: 96 2020: 93 2019: 47
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at Kentucky
Let’s set the bar high – this should be the MAC’s best team. Okay, so the D might need a few weeks to get up to speed, but the offense should make up for it with a balanced attack that should be consistent.
Miami University Schedule
89 Tulane Green Wave
Final Rankings: 2021: 99 2020: 65 2019: 62
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: UMass
Let’s just call 2021 a blip. The coaching is too strong and the talent level has risen up too much thanks to the transfer portal to think the 2-10 run will carry over. It might take a bit, though for the defense to rise up.
Tulane Schedule
88 Wyoming Cowboys
Final Rankings: 2021: 105 2020: 85 2019: 48
Week 0: at Illinois
Week 1: Tulsa
The offensive star power is gone through the transfer portal, but that’s flowing the other way, too, with new Cowboys coming in. It’s going to take a little while to get going, but the defense should be decent right away.
Wyoming Schedule
87 UAB Blazers
Final Rankings: 2021: 33 2020: 62 2019: 58
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Alabama A&M
We’re at the point now when believing in UAB being able to reload and rock should be a given. Granted, this is way too low for the moment, but give it time. A good rotation has to be found on both lines, but the rest of the pieces are there.
UAB Schedule
86 Kansas Jayhawks
Final Rankings: 2021: 83 2020: 104 2019: 117
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Tennessee Tech (Sept. 2)
The Jayhawks aren’t going to compete for the Big 12 title or anything, but they’ll be even more competitive after showing great fight at times throughout last year. The talent level and experience are enough to come up with their best season in years.
Kansas Schedule
85 Vanderbilt Commodores
Final Rankings: 2021: 104 2020: 91 2019: 116
Week 0: at Hawaii
Week 1: Elon
It’s going to be a struggle again as the 14th best team in a loaded 14-team league, but there’s plenty of experience returning and more depth than normal. Now the team has to find a few top playmakers who can make a difference.
Vanderbilt Schedule
84 Liberty Flames
Final Rankings: 2021: 97 2020: 11 2019: 65
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at Southern Miss
There’s no more Malik Willis under center, but the Hugh Freeze offense gets transfer Charlie Brewer along with a slew of other good transfers to come up with a good year. Willis was special, though.
Liberty Schedule
83 Colorado State Rams
Final Rankings: 2021: 117 2020: 100 2019: 109
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at Michigan
Can new head coach Jay Norvell get it all going right away? Yeah, but the offense is starting over with a slew of transfers and the top stars on both sides of the ball have to be replaced.
Colorado State Schedule
82 Marshall Thundering Herd
Final Rankings: 2021: 89 2020: 67 2019: 35
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Norfolk State
Welcome to the new league, Marshall. The Herd should thunder over the Sun Belt with a dangerous offense led by transfer QB Henry Columbi. The defense that’s been great for years fills the gaps from the transfer portal.
Marshall Schedule
81 Nevada Wolf Pack
Final Rankings: 2021: 56 2020: 57 2019: 74
Week 0: at New Mexico State
Week 1: Texas State
Nevada isn’t exactly starting over, but the stars of last year’s passing game are gone along with head coach Jay Norvell. New head coach Ken Wilson brings in QB Shane Illingworth from Oklahoma State, but it’ll take a whole lot for the attack to be at the 2021 level.
Nevada Schedule
80 Utah State Aggies
Final Rankings: 2021: 24 2020: 27 2019: 18
Week 0: UConn
Week 1: at Alabama
Coming off a Mountain West championship season, there should be a step back unless the transfers can step in and be great right away on D. QB Logan Bonner will steady the offense.
Utah State Schedule
79 Colorado Buffaloes
Final Rankings: 2021: 76 2020: 30 2019: 81
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: TCU (Sept. 2)
Can the experience returning turn into production? With help from the transfer portal the offensive skill spots should be stronger in time, but it might be up to a solid recruiting class to push for a good season.
Colorado Schedule
78 Duke Blue Devils
Final Rankings: 2021: 107 2020: 92 2019: 88
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Temple (Sept. 2)
New head coach Mike Elko knows defense – he’s what the program needed. The David Cutcliffe offense was almost always interesting, but the defensive side has been – to be nice – lacking. It’s still going to take the rest of the offseason, though, to find the right parts for the O.
Duke Schedule
77 Arizona Wildcats
Final Rankings: 2021: 86 2020: 35 2019: 33
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: at San Diego State
There might be a hard ceiling on how high the team can go in Year Two under head coach Jedd Fisch, but the team should be much, MUCH better as the lines start to improve. A slew of newcomers will help, starting with Washington State QB Jayden de Laura and UTEP WR Jacob Cowing.
Arizona Schedule
76 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Final Rankings: 2021: 66 2020: 12 2019: 96
Week 0: OPEN DATE
Week 1: Army
It’s going to take a whole lot of benefits of a whole lot of doubts to assume Coastal Carolina will be just that good again for a third year in a row. QB Grayson McCall is back to run the fantastic offense, but the defense loses just about everyone.
Coastal Carolina Schedule
CFN 2022 Spring Rankings
101-130 | 76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10
Spring Rankings, Season Predictions By Conference
ACC | AAC | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | IND
MAC | M-West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt