RJ Young, FOX Sports college football analyst, tells McElroy & Cubelic the rankings of all 134 FBS teams & how wide the gap is between (the) Ohio State and the Big Ten
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McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. Welcome back. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, 935 a.m. Here's Jacques94.5. I have RJ Young joining us here in just a moment. Before we get to him, I'll tell you about my friends at Bromberg's. You walk in, you feel like you're family, man. You walk in, you're going to be helped by their amazing sales staff. I have had such a great experience shopping with Bromberg's for years. I mean, years and years. I don't remember the last gift I bought for my wife.

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Welcome in. He's RJ Young. Does an amazing job for Fox Sports. You can follow him at RJ underscore Young. You can also check out the quote number one college football show on YouTube. He does a great job for Fox. RJ, you had the unenviable task of having to rank teams one through 134. What the heck were you thinking, buddy? This is that is a big ask for you to be able to go on that type of undertaking.

Well first I appreciate the time guys and I appreciate the thought about that task. Look, I love what I do and this is fun and it started as a thought exercise for myself because if you're going to claim to be a National College Football Analyst anywhere, I think you owe at least a good effort to know every one of these teams that plays at the top of college football. Now

When you get past 50, you really got to start to work at it, especially in this day and age of roster change and whatnot. But it was really just that. And then I told my boss that I was doing this, and he said, I'd like to see us do that too. And that's how this list became the 134, and we did all these other really cool things. We were separated by conference, separated by some players, separated by some categories. And what we came out with I thought was pretty good and inspired some really cool debate.

Well, I would imagine so. And I know that a lot of the debate will be had with the G5 or with the P5. But I'm looking here at 134, and that's Louisiana Monroe. I'm looking at 127, Ball State. I'm looking at 106, Southern Miss. Did you notice some pushback from programs that maybe you didn't expect to hear from when you went through this list? Believe it or not, number 83, Washington.

That's the one. That's the button. I get, believe it or not, and some other folks are really unhappy about Alabama at number nine, and I'm going, all right, come on now. But to that point, I think Washington fans got a point that I needed to walk out for them. And it's simply put,

I started this by going, who has the best opportunity to win the national championship before we start winning football games based on what we know? And then I worked down, right? So you'll see teams like, I'm going to pick on a...

I'm going to pick up on my buddy G.J. Kinney, who played quarterback when I was at University of Tulsa. He's at Texas State. They're in the high 60s, or high 50s, excuse me. And I'm going to look at UTSA, right? I think I have them 49. And I'm going to look at Memphis, who I think I got at 37, or Jacksonville State, who I think I got 67.

got 67 ahead of number 83 Washington. And the point there is they have an easier path to get to the playoff than Washington because this is an unintended consequence of a 12-team playoff the way that we look at it. If Jacksonville State

wins 11 games and their conference championship, they're probably going to be the highest ranked G5 program as a champ, and there's your gateway entry to the playoffs. For Washington to do the same, they gotta win at least 10 games. We think that's gotta be against four ranked opponents, and I think they got five on the schedule.

And then we've got to think that they're one of the three best teams in the Big Ten against perhaps what I think is going to be the three best teams in the SEC. So when you match those things up and the things that have to go right for Washington are very, very important, whereas things that have to go right for the G5 programs is did we beat everybody and did we get the double-digit win? Visiting with R.J. Young does a great job on Fox Sports covering –

The entire college football world. And when I say the entire college football world, I'm not quite literally mean the entire college football world. You go check them out right now. His ultimate rankings from one through 134. Your highest G5 team is James Madison.

I don't think anyone's going to have a huge problem with that. I know they had quite a few disappearances off last year's team, like Kurt Cignetti. Their starting quarterback has transferred out. But there's quite a bit to also like about what James Madison brought in with their new head coach and Bob Chesney. So how would you assess kind of the G5 right now? And how many teams do you really think are in the running for that New Year's Six bowl game that used to go to a New Year's Six? Now they go to the playoff.

I think that when we're talking about Bob's team in particular, we're also talking about some things that I took into account, like schedule. We're talking about changing head coach, changing philosophy. We talked about the changing personnel, and we talked about the league you play in, right? Number one, I believe the Sun Belt

is the toughest G5 league in the entire world, and we got lots of data to point that out, right? So I kind of start with, okay, which league are they playing in? And I think the phrase they have adopted is the little SEC. And they damn near ran no table last year with Kurt, and I think that that culture...

has influenced the athletic department as much as it influenced the team. Also in there, I think I got, I'm trying to think, I want to say Memphis is at 37 ahead of James Madison here. Yeah, so I got Memphis at 37 and Madison at 39. But the point is, I think those two teams, along Appalachian State also, I think those are the three that I was really circling around. And I really like the guys that he had brought over from Holy Cross,

I mean, I didn't even know Dylan Morris was still playing football until I started to do this sort of homework, right? It's one of those things. And that dude actually might be pretty damn good, right? I just, I also liked what Memphis had done in the offseason. And that was why I moved into 37. They got the Florida State game, which can really help them. And as far as the resume goes, they play in a tough league.

We all like what Ryan Silverfield has done with that program. And then you get the $25 million in name, image, and likeness infused from FedEx going, we want to win football games. And I'm going, okay, here's another G5 program that knows what it wants to be. It wants to play big-time college football. It doesn't care much about –

who thinks they're a G5 or not. That's sort of a mentality I really like. Those are the kinds of things I was thinking about as I put these lists together. Really good. As we visit with RJ Young, I apologize. You're right, Memphis at 37. I don't know how I somehow passed them by. Maybe because I think they should be in the Big 12. Maybe that has something to do with it. I have no idea. They do. They think that too. Yeah, well, it's hard to push back. When you look at the teams that have gotten introduced into the

P5 last couple of years, Memphis has been to the new year six. They've done a lot of great things. There's no reason why they shouldn't be at least under some consideration. You look at the sec versus the big 10. I think the sec is stronger and deeper.

But I also am kind of fascinated by the contrast of styles that you're going to get in the Big Ten. The SEC with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, they kind of already play SEC style football. It's not that different. When I look at the additions of Washington, Oregon, SC and UCLA, it's very different from that of what we've seen in the Big Ten West for a number of years. So as you kind of compare the two leagues and which league might ultimately be more dramatic this year, which way do you lean?

Well, I lean on that ranking, right? The fifth best team in the SEC is the ninth best team in college football as I see it. And if you need any other definition for depth, I don't know what it is, man, because I was looking at this and

Again, I want to lean on Alabama here just for a little bit because I think they're a very interesting test case for what this playoff is going to be. At nine, I think they've got some room to grow, and I think they just need to show me a little bit more than they've got to show some other folks because I think at number five with the roster that Kaitlin DeBoer has versus the roster that Coach Saban had last year,

I'm going to give Coach Saban the benefit of the doubt that I'm not going to give to Kalen DeBoer. That's just it, right? I understand that man has won 104 games and lost 12, but he ain't done that in the SEC, okay? So we're going to wait. We're going to see. And they got time here. I also think that we're going to see three teams from one of those two leagues make the playoff.

we might see three things for both of those leagues make the playoffs. And then it's about, okay, who do I think is going to beat someone? And then I lean on past results and I lean on what these coaches know about each other. So another great example is Ole Miss versus Penn State could be one of those at-large

we're having. Well, we know how that looks because we watched what Ole Miss did to Penn State, right? We're going to keep going down the line going, okay, do I think Michigan is a better football team than Alabama? Right now, to start, but that could change come October. And I'm telling you, if Kalen DeBoer beats Wisconsin, they go to bye week, they come out of the bye week, they beat Georgia, we're all going to be talking about them as winning a national championship. So I left some room for error there, but I really do believe what you believe.

The SEC's got the better league, even though the Big Ten champion is the national champion from last year. But depth is something that I'm still trying to figure out because I think we all believe that Georgia, Texas, those two games are going to be good. And then we're going to see who the third team really is. And I think in the Big Ten, it's Oregon and Ohio State, and then we'll see. So I'm kind of waffling on this because I'm not quite sure yet, but I think we're going to know something by October.

Finally, we'll get you out of here with this, RJ. He does a great job. You can check him out at FoxSports.com. You can also check him out on his podcast, Number One College Football Show on YouTube. We'll get you out of here with this. As you assess Ohio State and you look at the rest of the Big Ten, you have Ohio State at one, you have Oregon at three, not that dissimilar to what most people have. How wide is that gap between Ohio State and Oregon right now? It's a good question.

it's not very wide at all. I would even say today it's a pick-em, because that game is in Eugene when they play.

I really love Dan Lanning, but who doesn't really love Dan Lanning? I'm very familiar with Dylan Gabriel, and other folks are getting very familiar with Dylan Gabriel. I think we're talking about a game that's going to be a one-score game at the end, and whomever wins it is going to flip, but they're hopefully going to get to play each other twice. I hope. I hope. So I'm going to say I got him at four for Oregon because – or what did I say? Four or three. Let me check my own damn ranking right quick.

because it's not that much. I can't waffle on this, man. And it's hard because they look similar. I mean, they got great tailbacks. They got great wideouts. They're figuring it out on the offensive line for Ohio State. But the defensive line for Ohio State, I give the edge against Oregon. Yeah,

Yeah, I got him at four. So it's not very large at all, right? I would just say, come back to me after they play that game in Eugene, and I'll have a more definitive answer for you. But before we get to playing football, this is what I got. This is what I'm working with.

Well, awesome stuff, buddy. Great work. I know that was a monumental task to put that list together. So, you know, commend you for doing it and appreciate all that you do for college football and covering not just the P5, but also the G5 as well. Awesome stuff.

I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. Thank you for considering it. And I appreciate anybody that wants to tell me what they think because this conversation I'm going to keep having, and I really enjoy it. Oh, it's certainly, I would imagine it won't end. This will be something that will be revisited by many fan bases. I would imagine throughout the season when proven right and or wrong RJ, great stuff, buddy. Look forward to seeing you again soon.

All right. All right, RJ Young joining us here. You can check him out on foxsports.com. You can also follow him at RJ underscore Young on Twitter or X. All right, when we come back, do the TD's Fine Furniture Super Sofa Game of the Day.

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TD's five furniture super sofa games of the weekend. Next, on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning on Jock Sunday 4-5. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's time for Bob's Dare to Compare. You get style. You get features. You get style.

You get quality in thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare. In store at MyBobs.com. Are you tired of losing your fantasy football league year after year? Lindsay Rhodes, Emmy-winning sportscaster and football analyst, is your new secret weapon on the Believe Fantasy Football Show. Watch the quarterbacks and his ADP. I think he has massive high-end upside.

Get expert analysis on player rankings. Wide receiver 22 in fantasy Cecil Shorts. That kid can run, so I'm thinking he can have a breakout season this year. And you can too by searching the Believe Fantasy Football Show. That's B-L-E-A-V wherever you listen. We're all juggling life, a career, and trying to build a little bit of wealth.

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