College Football Rankings 2017: Projected Top 25 after Week 1

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 02: Bo Scarbrough #9, head coach Nick Saban, and Jalen Hurts #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrate with the Chick-fil-A Kick-Off Game trophy after defeating the Florida State Seminoles 24-7 in their game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on September 2, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

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August 27th 2017, Allianz Stadium, Sydney, Australia; College Football Sydney Cup; Rice University v Stanford University; Standford Cardinals running back Cameron Scarlett celebrates with Standford Cardinals centre Brian Chaffin; (Photo by Nigel Owen/Action Plus via Getty Images) /

14. Stanford Cardinal

Ranking coming into Week 1: No. 14

It’s a new year of college football, but something still remains: the Stanford Cardinal are the rudest team in the sport.

Not only did the Cardinal show a beautiful sense of balance with 37 pass attempts and 36 rushing attempts, they beat up Rice on both sides of the ball and then hung 62 points on them in another freakin’ country.

The Cardinal, in the process of beating the Owls into next week, appeared to have found their successor to the throne in the backfield that was held by current Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey. Bryce Love rushed for 180 yards and a touchdown on just 13 carries. That’s a 13.8 yard-per-carry average for the math nerds. That’s also very good.

When USC has the talent that they currently possess, it’s hard to pick against them in the Pac-12, but if someone can knock them off the preseason mantle they were placed on, it’s Stanford. And, they’ll get their shot with a huge meeting against the Trojans in Week 2.

Stanford has had the number of USC since that colossal upset from the Cardinal in 2007. Since that game, the Cardinal have won eight of the last 10 meetings against the Trojans, including a 41-22 victory in the 2015 Pac-12 title game. You’ll want to keep your eye on that game next week.

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