Analyzing where Mel Tucker, rest of Big Ten land in CBS Sports’ coaches rankings

The annual tradition of ranking college football coaches has arrived

The annual tradition of ranking college football coaches has arrived.

CBS Sports has released their annual rankings for every power five head coach, and that included Michigan State’s Mel Tucker — who saw a notable drop from last year’s rankings. But how does Tucker compare to his peers in the Big Ten and is his fall justified?

I take a look at where every Big Ten coach landed in CBS Sports’ rankings and also offer my thoughts if the ranking is too high, low or just about right below:

Mel Tucker ranked No. 13 among Big Ten football coaches by CBS Sports

Tucker is ranked No. 55 among all Power Five football coaches.

CHIP ON THE SHOULDER BACK.

CBS Sports has ranked the Power Five (plus Notre Dame) football coaches from 1-65 and boy were they not kind to new Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker. (And really how could they be given he’s been a head coach for one year and went 5-7 BUT STILL! THE CHIP!) Tucker is ranked No. 13 among the 14 Big Ten coaches, which puts him at No. 55 nationally. That’s behind the likes of Lovie Smith and Kevin Sumlin among many others. At least he’s above Mike Locksley who already has a season at Maryland under his belt?

Of Tucker CBS writes:

“He climbed from No. 64 to No. 55 with the move to Michigan State. My theory is it has a lot more to do with all the new hires than our voters being overly impressed by his 5-7 season in Colorado. He steps into a difficult situation at Michigan State thanks in part to the timing of his hire and lack of spring practice.”

Tucker is up nine spots from last season when he ranked No. 64.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, James Franklin is the top-ranked coach at No. 9 in the country. Ryan Day is next at No. 10. Those two are followed by Jim Harbaugh (No.12), Kirk Ferentz (No. 14) and PJ Fleck (No. 15).

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