Cal Football: Will Bears Be Ranked in CBSSports.com Preseason Top-25?
Two Pac-12 schools are off the board as CBSSports.com provides its preseason top-25 college football rankings for 2020, and we are guessing that Cal might be ranked even higher than these two conference teams.
CBSSports.com is counting down its top-25, one team per day, and so far it has given us No. 20 through No. 25.
Washington is ranked No. 23 in the CBSSports rankings, ahead of No. 24 Boise State and No. 25 Central Florida and just behind No. 22 Memphis and No. 21 Cincinnati.
Coming it at No. 20 on Saturday is USC, which looks to rebound from an 8-5 season in 2019.
The CBSSports.com site is counting down to its No. 1 pick, and although logic suggests Cal will not be among the CBSSports.com’s preseason top-25, we have a feeling the Bears might be high on this list.
Why?
Because the CBSSports.com writer (David Cobb) who did the report on No. 23 Washington and No. 22 Memphis is the same sports writer who predicted Cal would finish 11-1 and win the Pac-12 North in 2020.
He also wrote the story regarding the odds of Pac-12 teams winning the conference title, and he noted Cal was the best value bet of the conference.
In his earlier predictions regarding the Pac-12, Cobb noted that one of Cal’s wins in 2020 would be against Washington, which visits Berkeley on October 31 (assuming the season is played as scheduled, which really should not be assumed).
He predicts Washington to finish 8-4 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-12, which is well behind Cal at 11-1 and 8-1.
So if the CBSSports.com writer who handled the Pac-12 projections had Cal on top in the Pac-12 North, wouldn't it follow that Cal would be the highest ranked Pac-12 team in the site's preseason national rankings?
Maybe.
Other writers and editors at CBSSports.com may pull the reins on Cobb’s enthusiasm for the Golden Bears and convince him that Cal does not deserve to be in the top 25 at all. USA TODAY is one of the few media outlets that put Cal in its preseason top-25 for 2020, and it has the Bears barely in at No. 23.
Furthermore, Cobb predicted Cal's lone loss would come on the road against USC, which he projected to win the Pac-12 South with a 10-2 overall mark, 8-1 in the conference. In its assessment of USC in Saturday's report, CBSSports.com cites three pivotal games for the Trojans--against Alabama, Oregon and Utah. You would think that if Cal is to be ranked in the top 25 that the Oct. 10 game against the Golden Bears would be considered one of USC's key games.
Oh, yeah, we have almost forgotten the fact that these projections don't mean a thing once the games are played.
Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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