CBS came out with its rankings that have been discussed quite a bit today.
In case you missed it, here they are: CBS rankings
UNT checks in at No. 81.
Here is the rest of the Sun Belt:
34. Louisiana-Lafayette
38. Florida International
51. Arkansas State
75. Louisiana-Monroe
81. North Texas
83. Western Kentucky
98. Troy
105. Middle Tennessee
113. South Alabama
117. Florida Atlantic
There are a couple of surprises in there, and it’s worth discussing.
I’m not at all surprised that ULL, FIU and ASU are the top three Sun Belt teams. ULM over UNT is a little surprising, but the Warhawks have everyone back.
I’m a little surprised that Western Kentucky fell behind UNT. WKU has a lot of talent. Yeah, WKU doesn’t have Bobby Rainey any more, but UNT doesn’t have Lance Dunbar either.
Seeing SMU ranked behind UNT is a little bit of an eye-opener, too. SMU has been a consistent bowl team and has Garrett Gilbert behind center now. He wasn’t great at Texas, but the drop in the level of competition could help him.
If it plays out like the rankings suggest, UNT would end up at 6-6, which is what I have the Mean Green pegged to go this year.
That would essentially have UNT winning every winnable game (that never happens) and losing every game it is an underdog in (also rarely happens).
I don’t put a lot of stock in the computer rankings. Give me coaches and media members who know the league any day over the computer polls.