{"id":783474,"date":"2026-05-09T04:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783474\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T04:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T04:22:13","slug":"cbs-sports-experts-release-post-spring-top-10-college-football-power-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783474\/","title":{"rendered":"CBS Sports experts release post-Spring Top 10 college football power rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid all the controversy surrounding a potential 24-team College Football Playoff<\/strong>, which effectively turns the CFP\u2019s final Top 25 standings into a five-round bracket, media pundits continue to weigh in on the positives and negatives of the Big Ten-backed proposal. Of course, any decision on future Playoff expansion is still likely months away at the earliest.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, college football\u2019s offseason is officially upon us following the conclusion of Spring practice last month. With that in mind, CBS Sports experts Danny Kanell<\/strong>, Tom Fornelli, <\/strong>and Chip Patterson<\/strong> took the opportunity to unveil their updated Top 10 post-Spring power rankings during Friday\u2019s Cover 3 Podcast<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And while there was obvious overlap between the three CBS Sports pundits, the slight differences in their rankings provide interesting insight into how many of college football\u2019s 2026 contenders are being perceived coming out of Spring practice. So, without further ado, let\u2019s check out how the CBS Sports experts think college football\u2019s Top 10 should look entering Summer break:<\/p>\n

Danny Kanell\u2019s Post-Spring Top 10 Power Rankings<\/p>\n

1. Texas Longhorns<\/a><\/strong>
2. Oregon Ducks<\/a><\/strong>
3. Ohio State Buckeyes<\/a><\/strong>
4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish<\/a><\/strong>
5. Miami Hurricanes<\/a><\/strong>
6. Indiana Hoosiers<\/a><\/strong>
7. Georgia Bulldogs<\/a><\/strong>
8. Texas A&M Aggies<\/a><\/strong>
9. LSU Tigers<\/a><\/strong>
10. Ole Miss Rebels<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kanell keeps Texas and Oregon atop his personal Top 10 given the wealth of talent both have returning in 2026. The Longhorns and Ducks are once again led by superstar QBs Arch Manning<\/a><\/strong> and Dante Moore<\/a><\/strong>, respectively, who should both improve in Year 2 as the starter, and added elite talent out of the transfer portal, including new Texas WR Cam Coleman<\/a><\/strong>. Kanell cited Ohio State\u2019s defensive losses to the NFL as the reason the Buckeyes slot in at No. 3, while a motivated Notre Dame and Miami round out his Top 5 ahead of the defending national champion Hoosiers and a quartet of SEC contenders.<\/p>\n

Tom Fornelli\u2019s Post-Spring Top 10 Power Rankings<\/p>\n

1. Ohio State Buckeyes<\/strong>
2. Georgia Bulldogs<\/strong>
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish<\/strong>
4. Oregon Ducks<\/strong>
5. Texas Longhorns<\/strong>
6. Indiana Hoosiers<\/strong>
7. Miami Hurricanes<\/strong>
8. LSU Tigers<\/strong>
9. Texas A&M Aggies<\/strong>
10. Texas Tech Red Raiders<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fornelli is much more confident in Ohio State at No. 1, citing the Buckeyes\u2019 consistency with 22 regular-season wins over the past two seasons. In a bit of a surprise, Fornelli has two-time defending SEC champion Georgia at No. 2 due to its 14 returning starters, including QB Gunner Stockton<\/a><\/strong>. He also likes Notre Dame, Oregon and Texas in the Top 5 given their returning QB1s, ahead of last season\u2019s national finalists Indiana and Miami at 6 and 7, respectively, after both reloaded through the transfer portal this offseason. Fornelli rounded out his Top 10 with Texas Tech despite its uncertainty at QB.<\/p>\n

Chip Patterson\u2019s Post-Spring Top 10 Power Rankings<\/p>\n

1. Ohio State Buckeyes<\/strong>
2. Texas Longhorns<\/strong>
3. Oregon Ducks<\/strong>
4. Indiana Hoosiers<\/strong>
5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish<\/strong>
6. Georgia Bulldogs<\/strong>
7. Miami Hurricanes<\/strong>
8. Alabama Crimson Tide<\/a><\/strong>
9. Texas A&M Aggies<\/strong>
10. Texas Tech Red Raiders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last but not least, Patterson believes there are 13 teams that could be in the Top 10 mix, but joined Fornelli with the Buckeyes at No. 1. They\u2019re followed closely by the \u2018Horns, Ducks, and the defending champion Hoosiers in the Top 4 due to Curt Cignetti<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s history of success landing elite talent in the portal. Patterson also included Notre Dame, Georgia, and Miami among his \u201ctop tier.\u201d Surprisingly, he included Alabama and Texas A&M atop his next tier of teams that doesn\u2019t include a rebuilt LSU in its first season under Lane Kiffin<\/a><\/strong>, with the Red Raiders in a holding pattern at No. 10 given the Brendan Sorsby<\/a><\/strong> situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid all the controversy surrounding a potential 24-team College Football Playoff, which effectively turns the CFP\u2019s final Top…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":783475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-783474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116542711192056492","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}