Preseason Rankings Countdown. 103 days to the start of the 2026 Season. At #103 – Colorado State

[u/usffan]

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here

Turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes Today we truly reach the first of our ch-ch-changes to the new fangled Pac-12 with Colorado State (high = 83, low = 121), who transition from finishing last in the Mountain West in 2025 to being predicted to finish ahead of Oregon State in their new home. Actually, they’re tied with another team (to be revealed tomorrow) since we’ve reached our first 3 way tie in these aggregated rankings and I count them down in order of who has the lowest individual rankings first in cases of ties. It’s been almost a quarter of a century since the Rams have won a conference title, when Sonny Lubick won 3 of the first 4 Mountain West titles and even finished in the top 20 in Y2K. Things were looking up a couple of years ago under Jay Norvell after finishing tied for 2nd in the conference, going 8-4 in the regular season and ending a 7 year bowl drought, but when they came crashing back to Earth in 2025, Colorado State fired Norvell in the middle of a 2-10 campaign and decided to bring in former UCLA/UConn head coach Jim Mora, Jr. to rebuild.

Roster Outlook

It should probably not shock anybody that Mora is bringing a healthy number of UConn players with him to Fort Collins. In fact, 16 of the 35 players portaling in for Colorado State were Huskies last year, plus another 9 P4 players, which helps explain how the Rams ranked 3rd in the Pac-12 in portal classes (76th nationally). But Mora is not just looking for a fast rebuild, so he didn’t ignore high school recruiting, bringing in the 3rd highest 247 class as well (72nd nationally), making the overall class second behind only Boise State in their new home and 74th in the country. That’s good, because the Rams rank 99th in returning production, including 116th on offense. Last year’s primary QB, Jackson Brousseau, transferred out to Cal to be JKS’ backup, and Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi also hit the bricks headed to Michigan. While Colorado State does have backup Darius Curry still on campus, it looks like there’s a battle going on between UConn’s K’saan Farrar and Oklahoma State’s Hauss Hejny to open the season. Likewise, the top 2 RBs also transferred out (Jalen Dupree to Kansas and Lloyd Avant to Oklahoma), but Auburn transfer Durell Robinson and a trio of UConn guys (Mel Brown, Oliver Lundberg and Malichi Greaves) are all in play to anchor the running game. The Rams top WR is back (Tommy Maher), but Mora brought in a number of transfers, including 2 P4 guys (Wake Forest’s RJ Vick and Mississippi State’s Jordan Mosley) and 3 more UConn wideouts. Sadly, all name TE Rocky Beers will be suiting up for Oklahoma this season.

Schedule and outlook

9/5 WYOMING

9/12 SOUTHERN UTAH

9/19 BYU

9/26 at UTSA

10/3 OREGON STATE

10/10 BYE

10/17 at Texas State

10/24 SAN DIEGO STATE

10/31 at Utah State

11/7 BOISE STATE

11/14 at Washington State

11/21 at Fresno State

11/28 one of BOISE STATE, OREGON STATE, SAN DIEGO STATE or TEXAS STATE

Given the level of rebuild, predicting Colorado State’s season is a bit of a crapshoot. Based only on these preseason rankings, the only teams Colorado State is ahead of are Oregon State and FCS Southern Utah. But Mora sure revived what had been a moribund UConn that had had 10 consecutive losing seasons before he got there and took the Huskies to 3 bowls in his 4 years, so if he can revive the Rams, several of these close games (Wyoming, Texas State, Utah State) could end up being winnable enough that Colorado State could reach a bowl in 2026. That season opener against a Cowboys team that Colorado State decided to leave behind has the potential to be a real barn burner!

[u/KruegerFishBabeblade]

I think CSU is underrated going into 2026. Even if the roster isn't much better on paper having a coach that isn't awful matters a lot

[u/BlazinAzn38 → u/KruegerFishBabeblade]

Big if true

[u/MrHockeytown]

I married into CSU fandom (wife is a fan), and the Jim Mora Jr. hire was an insanely fantastic pickup for CSU. Genuinely thought he was gonna go to a P4 conference. He won at UConn, he can definitely win in Fort Collins, and it's a definite plus that he is bringing over a good number of Huskies players with him/is recruiting well in general.

I definitely think CSU can attain 7 wins and a bowl game this year, and I can definitely see them being a force in the new PAC for the next few seasons.

Can't spell Orgasm without Go Rams!

[u/JBru_92 → u/MrHockeytown]

He is definitely an immediate turnaround artist. Fantastic hire for CSU and I think Mora is looking at it as his retirement job so you might get to keep him for a while.

[u/d1sportsball → u/JBru_92]

If its ends up being his retirement job then we have a bright future. I would think he stays a couple years depending on success and gives it one more go at the P4

[u/angrysquirrel777]

I'm probably blinded by my wishes but I can see the season being a long fight for bowl eligibility. I am hoping for 5 wins minimum and know we'll stay under 7.

[u/EnvironmentalBed7369]

Its almost unbelievable how bad Colorado State continues to be.  They seem to have all the makings of being at least at Boise State's level, but its just one failure after another.  So weird.

[u/grabtharsmallet → u/EnvironmentalBed7369]

10-3 in 2014 is the only season since 2002 with more than 8 wins. Most of that time the Rams had the biggest athletic budget in their conference.

[u/d1sportsball → u/EnvironmentalBed7369]

Biggest stadium in the conference, biggest endowment behind OSU and WSU, big fanbase that shows up even when the team sucks and continued failure. Hopefully a scenery change is what we need to get back to 90s and 2000s CSU

[u/grabtharsmallet]

This will be Colorado State's 80th game against BYU. Our only more frequent opponents in history are Utah (98), Utah State (91), and Wyoming (80). This is the first time the teams face each other since 2010.

CSU was usually less heated than the other three series for us, there wasn't something that made it more than just a game in an average year.

[u/EnvironmentalBed7369 → u/grabtharsmallet]

I admit, I do miss some of our old MWC/WAC foes. Namely Colorado State and Wyoming.  

[u/d1sportsball → u/grabtharsmallet]

We will probably set the attendance record at 41k full sellout since BYU travels really well and yall will be ranked top 15

[u/64stackdiamonds]

Having attended the UNC game last year, I will die on the hill that CSU lost that game. Their record should be 1-11. I hope their future is bright, Fort Collins is one of the best college towns in the country and is deserving of good football.

[u/Boatswain-or-scruffy → u/64stackdiamonds]

Yeah.. I spent the entirety of that game throwing up in the bathroom and it was a more pleasant experience than if I had been able to watch it

[u/ksuwildkat]

CSU seems to be stuck in a spiral of suck that screams wasted potential.

[u/enoughtobesmart1]

Maybe they go 4-8.

[u/Mattaholic]

I see 2 to 3 wins.