Tag: top 25

Where Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium ranks on ESPN’s list of the top 25 college football stadiums

Is Camp Randall Stadium overrated, underrated, or properly rated?

Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium made ESPN’s recent list of the top 25 venues in college football.

The rankings come from a collection of thoughts and votes from 14 of ESPN’s most prominent college football writers. Each writer submitted their top 20 stadiums in order, with each venue getting 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 for second place, 18 for third place and so on.

Related: Full recap of power rankings for every Big Ten football position group entering 2024 season

Unsurprisingly, the list of the 25 top venues includes nine stadiums from the new Big Ten Conference. We’ve ranked the expanded conference’s 18 home venues, which becomes a tall task given the group’s high number of top-end stadiums.

Our ranking differs from ESPN’s, especially with the placement of Michigan Stadium. We have it down at No. 10 in the Big Ten, while ESPN has it up at No. 3 in the entire sport.

Either way, every ranking is high on Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium. Here is where the Badgers’ historic home venue ranks among the rest of the sport’s top stadiums:

Where Kentucky ranks in way-too-early ESPN college basketball Top 25

The Wildcats rank No. 23 in Jeff Borzello’s way-too-early Top 25 list.

ESPN released its updated way-too-early men’s college basketball Top 25 rankings this week with four months still remaining until Kentucky’s first scheduled game of the 2024-25 season.

Kansas topped the list at No. 1, hardly a surprise to anyone who follows college hoops.

As for Kentucky? Well, here’s something that once seemed practically unheard of: the Wildcats rank as only the ninth best SEC team on ESPN’s list, checking in at No. 23 overall in veteran college basketball analyst Jeff Borzello’s Top 25.

Of course, SEC basketball has changed a lot over the past 10 or even five years. The conference has shed its reputation as a “football-only” league with programs like Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina all reaching the Final Four since 2017.

Tennessee made a run to the Elite Eight last season, and Florida and Arkansas have also made deep NCAA Tournament runs since 2017. The Razorbacks — not that anyone has forgotten — are now led by former Kentucky coach John Calipari, who took a handful of former ‘Cats and Kentucky pledges with him to Fayetteville.

All but one of the aforementioned schools are ahead of Kentucky in Borzello’s rankings, with Alabama as the top-ranked SEC team at No. 2 nationally after the program’s first trip to the Final Four a season ago. Behind the Crimson Tide are Auburn (No. 11), Texas A&M (No. 12), Tennessee (No. 13), Arkansas (No. 14), Ole Miss (No. 20), Florida (No. 21) and SEC newcomer Texas (No. 22).

Regardless of those schools, the Wildcats will look a lot different when they take the floor for the first time this season. As Borzello explains:

“Mark Pope’s first roster in Lexington will look drastically different from most of his predecessor’s teams. Out are the five-star freshmen, in are a slew of prolific 3-point shooters to stretch defenses. Jaxson Robinson ultimately followed his former coach from BYU and he’s the best addition, playing himself onto NBA draft boards despite coming off the bench. Robinson is joined by Koby Brea (Dayton), Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), Kerr Kriisa (West Virginia) and Andrew Carr (Wake Forest) as high-level shooters, while Lamont Butler (San Diego State) and Amari Williams (Drexel) bring defensive prowess.”

Kentucky’s first scheduled game is its November 12 matchup against Duke in Atlanta. After that, the Wildcats’ next scheduled game is at Clemson in the annual ACC-SEC Challenge on December 3. The Tigers reached the Elite Eight last season for the first time since 1980.

Follow us @UKWildcatsWire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Kentucky Wildcats news, notes and commentary.  

CBS Sports puts Duke below UNC, nearly out of top 10 in preseason basketball rankings

Despite the top-ranked recruiting class and presumed No. 1 pick in the country headed to Durham, CBS Sports has more faith in…UNC?

CBS Sports released an updated ranking for the 2024-25 college basketball season on Monday, and the Blue Devils continue dropping farther from the top.

After opening the betting cycle as the favorite to win the 2025 national championship, CBS Sports writer Gary Parrish had Duke all the way down in ninth.

Despite welcoming Cooper Flagg, the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and five other top-40 freshmen, Parrish said he can’t get over how much production Duke lost this offseason.

To add insult to injury, Parrish had the North Carolina Tar Heels all the way up in fourth despite them losing Armando Bacot, Harrison Ingram, and Cormac Ryan to the NBA. All-American RJ Davis and promising young guard Elliot Cadeau both come back to campus, but the Tar Heels lost three of their top five scorers while Duke lost four of its top six.

The Kansas Jayhawks, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Houston Cougars took the top three spots in order.

Parrish even had the Tar Heels above two-time defending champion Connecticut, who slotted in fifth.

EA Sports College Football 25 unveils ranking of toughest places to play in college football

Where does Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium land on the list?

EA Sports is back in the headlines with the much-anticipated release of ‘College Football 25’ now only 24 days away.

Facts and game previews have been trickling out for the last few months as excitement grows for the game’s release. The news drops continued on Tuesday when the game released its ranking of the top 25 toughest places to play in college football.

Related: Big Ten Football Power Index Rankings for 2024: Which teams are underrated, overrated?

Believe it or not, fanbases across the sport have opinions on where their stadium should rank. Those views are being expressed, as Ross Dellenger’s post sharing the rankings reached more than 100,000 views in its first 25 minutes of existence.

Calling EA Sports’ marketing job a success would be an understatement. College football fans from across the country are predictably enthusiastic about getting to play the first college football video game in more than a decade. The EA Sports team has done an effective job of building up that excitement.

Before we finally reach the release date of July 19, let’s take a look the video game’s ranking of the toughest places to play in college football. The rankings, according to Dellenger, ‘factor in historical home win percentage, home attendance’ and more.

Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium made the list:

ESPN not confident in Wisconsin’s future through 2026 under Luke Fickell

What do you think about Wisconsin’s outlook over the next three years?

The Wisconsin Badgers were omitted from ESPN’s latest Future Power Rankings through the 2026 season.

The ranking takes into account each program’s current roster, incoming talent, recruiting success, transfer portal and coaching to compile a list of the programs that will have the most on-field success in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Wisconsin was not among those top 25 programs.

Related: Which Wisconsin Badgers will be selected in the 2025 NFL draft?

Notable programs listed ahead of the Badgers include Missouri at No. 20, Louisville at No. 21, SMU at No. 22, Oklahoma State at No. 23, Miami at No. 24 and Arizona at No. 25.

Of note, the Badgers enter 2024 after consecutive 7-6 seasons including one in 2023 in Luke Fickell’s first year as head coach. The program has tempered expectations entering 2024 due to one of the nation’s toughest schedules.

But Fickell has made significant strides since taking over the program at the end of the 2022 season. First, he finished the 2024 recruiting cycle with a top-25 class and with the program’s first-ever 50% blue-chip rate. Now, he has the Badgers’ class of 2025 ranked among the nation’s top 15. He has led the program to a clear improvement in recruiting in only his first two cycles, and has complemented that with several successful transfer portal classes.

Wisconsin’s current roster may not be among the best in the Big Ten or in the nation as Fickell and his staff continue their work on the recruiting trail. But 2025 and 2026 figure to be breakout years for the fast-rising head coach and should see the program return to its typical position within the nation’s top 20.

Wisconsin’s absence from the ranking isn’t entirely a surprise after consecutive 7-6 seasons. But continued recruiting success and clear on-field improvement should see it enter next year’s edition.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion.

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Kentucky basketball is ranked fifteenth in 247sports top 25

Kentucky basketball is ranked inside the top 15 by 247sports.

Preseason top 25 lists don’t really mean a lot in general, but being left out of the top 25 in a recent CBS ranking was disappointing for Kentucky basketball fans. A new ranking, however, from 247sports, has a much higher opinion of the Wildcats.

Kentucky comes in at number 15 in the rankings in this one. The higher ranking is credited to the team’s ability to shoot the ball and to defend. Mark Pope went after players who could do one of those, or both.

Related: Kentucky basketball 2024 roster tracker

The addition of Jaxson Robinson pushed the Wildcats up the list, and they noted that his knowledge of the offense makes him especially dangerous. He could be an elite scorer as a starter this year.

Kentucky’s offense should be diverse as well. They can shoot the three, but 247sports also points out that Otego Oweh is fantastic at getting to the rim as well.

Once the season starts, time will tell just how good the Kentucky team is. They’re experienced, and have talent, but it’s hard to rank them since every single player and coach is new. Once the games begin, they could quickly prove they’re a top ten team.

Kentucky basketball left out of top 25 in new CBS projection

Kentucky basketball was left out of the top 25 in CBS article by Gary Parrish.

Kentucky basketball will have a completely different look when the 2024-25 season begins. Coach Mark Pope had to rebuild the roster from scratch, and brought in numerous transfers to try and compete in his first season in Lexington. The new team is talented, but CBS doesn’t quite think they’re top 25 yet.

In a new article by analyst Gary Parrish, he lists his current top 25 teams, and the Wildcats aren’t on it. Seven other SEC teams are on the list, including the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Related: Kentucky basketball recruiting targets for 2025

The Alabama Crimson Tide top the list of SEC squads at number two overall. The Auburn Tigers come in at number 10, followed by Texas A&M at 11th. John Calipari’s new team is 13th, and the Tennessee Volunteers are one spot behind them. The Florida Gators and Texas Longhorns round out the SEC teams at 21 and 22.

Kentucky is an unknown quantity headed into the season. They have a lot of experience, and definitely have talent. However, it’s difficult to predict how things will all come together. Fans would love to see the Wildcats get more respect nationally, but they know, the rankings at the end of the season matter more than the ones now.

Clemson vs. Oregon Peach Bowl in way-too-early College Football Playoff bracket

What would a Clemson-Oregon matchup in the 2024 College Football Playoff look like?

Clemson and Oregon are two college football programs that have never met on the gridiron.

The Tigers’ unprecedented run of six straight appearances in the four-team College Football Playoff coincided with the Ducks’ decline after reaching the 2014 national championship game against Ohio State. That was the only year Oregon made the four-team postseason, although they previously reached the 2010 BCS Championship Game against Auburn.

Clemson went on to make the College Football Playoff from 2015-20 in the years following Oregon’s lone playoff appearance.

Could the Tigers and Ducks meet this year? Anything is possible with the 12-team College Football Playoff, and a new, way-too-early playoff projection from CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah pits the two teams against one another in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

That projection is based on Dennis Dodd’s recent post-spring Top 25 rankings, which has Clemson as the highest-ranked ACC team at No. 14. Oregon is ranked No. 3 behind No. 1 Georgia and the Ducks’ soon-to-be Big Ten counterpart Ohio State (No. 2 in Dodd’s rankings).

The 12-team model will grant automatic bids to Power Four conference champions, plus the top Group of Five champion. As the highest-ranked at-large team in Dodd’s rankings, Oregon would be a No. 5 seed and play host to No. 12 seed Boise State (the top Group of Five team in Jeyarajah’s projections) in an on-campus, first-round playoff game at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

Jeyarajah sees Oregon beating Boise State in the first round. So, if Dodd’s rankings were to hold and the 2024 season ended tomorrow, Clemson would face Oregon in the quarterfinals despite the Ducks being ranked 11 spots ahead of the Tigers.

Utah, the highest-ranked Big 12 team in Dodd’s rankings at No. 11, is the No. 3 seed and would face the winner of a No. 6 vs. No. 11 seed first-round playoff game (between Penn State and Texas in Austin) in the quarterfinal round at the Fiesta Bowl.

Unlike the four-team playoff model, there’s a big difference between ranking and seeding.

As Jeyarajah notes:

“(G)et these words into your head: ranking and seeding. The committee will release a final ranking, but seeding is the only thing that matters. In this bracket, the No. 3 team in the country [Oregon] will enter as the No. 5 seed. The No. 14 team [Clemson] jumps up to the No. 4 seed. That’s how the system works.”

In Dodd’s rankings, Clemson landed one spot below SEC newcomer Oklahoma and one spot ahead of Arizona, which joined the Big 12 after the collapse of the Pac-12 last summer. Similarly, Utah ranked one spot behind LSU.

The Sooners and LSU may rank higher than Clemson and Utah in the eyes of Top 25 pollsters, but Oklahoma’s spot at No. 13 currently falls behind six other SEC teams ranked ahead of them.

Adds Jeyarajah:

“The Fiesta and Peach Bowls will be a fascinating first test of the auto-bid setup as Clemson faces an opponent projected to finish nine full spots ahead (of the Tigers) in the final rankings.”

Clemson opens its season on August 31 in Atlanta against Georgia in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon EDT. The game will be televised nationally by ABC.

Alabama near the top in latest college football Top-25 rankings

No Saban? No problem. Alabama still ranks as one of the top teams in the nation, according to the latest college football Top-25 rankings.

The 2024 college football season is rapidly approaching, and fans are eager to watch their favorite teams take the field with a blank record, a clean slate, and a chance to make the College Football Playoffs and compete for a national championship. One team fans from across the country will have their eyes on is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The offseason started off rough for Crimson Tide fans, as legendary head coach Nick Saban announced his retirement and the program was sent into a frenzy as the search for a replacement for the greatest of all time commenced.

Though Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne made a strong hire in former Washington Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer, fans were concerned about his ability to fill the mighty shoes left behind by Saban and the numerous high-profile, key contributors from the Crimson Tide’s 2023 roster.

Initially losing players to the transfer portal Caleb Downs (to the Ohio State Buckeyes), Isaiah Bond (to the Texas Longhorns) and Kadyn Proctor (to the Iowa Hawkeyes… temporarily), there was fear that a mass exodus would follow.

Fortunately for DeBoer and Alabama fans, there wasn’t a steady flow of players exiting the program, and one of the three players mentioned above, Proctor, ended up transferring back to the Crimson Tide program in the spring transfer portal window.

The Tide coaching staff didn’t just suffer losses from the transfer portal, a handful of immediate starters for the program transferred in, as well as some young, talented players who could contribute in the next few seasons.

Andy Staples of On3 recently revealed his latest college football Top-25 rankings following the conclusion of the spring transfer portal. While there are a lot of drastic changes going on in Tuscaloosa, Staples isn’t convinced that it is going to lead to the program’s downfall. He has DeBoer and Alabama ranked No. 3, behind only No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 1 Ohio State.

“That first weekend felt a little touch and go, but since then Kalen DeBoer has done just about everything right as he tries to replace the greatest of all time. Nick Saban left DeBoer a pretty spectacular roster, and DeBoer added to it with some of his favorite former Washington players.

“Getting offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor back from Iowa was huge for Alabama, and while there’s no sugarcoating the loss of Downs, getting Keon Sabb from Michigan to play alongside veteran Malachi Moore should help Alabama’s secondary remain formidable.”

The 2024 regular season may prove to be challenging for DeBoer in his first season at the helm of the historic program, but iron sharpens iron, and it’s impossible to build an impressive resumé without obtaining some impressive wins.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football news and projections as the 2024 college football season approaches.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

Wisconsin Badgers ‘just missed’ ESPN’s post-spring top 25 ranking

Wisconsin Badgers in ‘just miss’ category of ESPN’s post-spring top 25 ranking

Wisconsin football was placed in the “just missed” category of ESPN’s college football post-spring top 25 ranking on Monday.

With fewer than 100 days until the 2024 season kicks off, ESPN Senior Writer Mark Schlabach placed the Badgers alongside West Virginia, Texas A&M, Louisville, Kentucky, Washington, Boise State, Air Force and Liberty barely on the outside of the top 25.

Georgia, Ohio State, Texas and Oregon all landed within the top four while 2023 national champion and Big Ten rival Michigan fell to No. 10. Wisconsin’s gridiron competition officially becomes much more difficult this fall with the additions of Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and the elimination of the East-West division model.

UW squares off with USC, Penn State, Oregon, Alabama and Iowa this fall. For reference, ESPN has the Ducks at No. 4, Crimson Tide at No. 7, Nittany Lions at No. 12, Hawkeyes at No. 23 and Trojans at No. 25.

Wisconsin enters this season with notable departures of starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai, running back Braelon Allen and offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini to the NFL. Its wide receiver room, however, is deep and versatile with Will Pauling, C.J. Williams and Bryson Green set to return and lead the room.

On the other side of the ball, Wisconsin’s defensive unit enters 2024 with a preseason SP+ Rating of 13.8, the seventh-highest in the nation.

UW has notably been in pursuit of depth and talent to bolster the defensive line. The Badgers have seen DL targets C.J. West commit to Indiana, Khurtiss Perry commit to Virginia Tech and Jay’Viar Suggs commit to LSU.

Wisconsin was also in pursuit of a playmaker on offense before landing former Boston College WR Joseph Griffin Jr., fulfilling its need for an experienced receiver.

The Badgers’ challenging schedule presents a golden opportunity for statement victories and a rise up the national rankings. That, or the gauntlet can cause the program’s third-straight down season.