CFN Preview 2019 College Football Rankings, Previews: No. 1 to 130

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The CFN Preview 2019 college football rankings, with the summer look at all 130 teams. 

How good are all the teams going into the 2019 college football season?

Schedules, injuries, position battles, and a whole slew of other things will obviously be a part of the mix before the season gets underway. During the year, the rankings will be based on what’s happening and not on expectations.

For now, the rankings aren’t about where the teams will end up – those are coming later. They’re about how strong they all look at the moment – at least before fall camp.

Also added is each team’s 2018 Final Season Ranking. Those are based on what each team actually did based on big wins, performance, etc. and not on opinion or talent.

So with all of that, here we go with the 2019 CFN Preview Rankings …

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2019 Schedules 
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC
AAC | C-USA | Ind | MAC | MW | Sun Belt

2019 CFN Preview Rankings 
76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10

130. UTEP Miners

Relative Strengths: Running Back, Secondary
Relative Concerns: Wide Receiver, Linebacker
Here’s The Deal: The Miners need the offensive backfield to stay in one piece, and the lines have to be a whole lot stronger. There’s still a major talent deficiency without enough big-time playmakers. Just a little bit of positive momentum, though, would do wonders.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 124
– UTEP 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction, Prediction

129. New Mexico State Aggies

Relative Strengths: Running Back, Coaching
Relative Concerns: Offensive Line, Defensive Line
Here’s The Deal: The Aggies are still missing the lines. The overall talent and experience are better than last season, but the firepower isn’t there like it was in 2017. There’s too much missing to overcome the weaknesses.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 98
– New Mexico State 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction, Prediction

128. UMass Minutemen

Relative Strengths: Special Teams, Linebacker
Relative Concerns: Running Back, Defensive Line
Here’s The Deal: It’s do-over time for new head coach Walt Bell. The Minutemen lose all the key pieces from the explosive offense, and the defense that didn’t stop anyone still has a whole lot of work to do.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 104
– UMass 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

127. Coastal Carolina

Relative Strengths: Running Back, Offensive Line
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Secondary
Here’s The Deal: New head coach Jamey Chadwell has a good base to work with, but the missing pieces are glaring. The ground game should be good, but the defense is going to be an early concern. There’s experience, but there has to be a whole lot more production.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 98
– Coastal Carolina 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

126. UConn Huskies

Relative Strengths: Running Back, New Coordinators
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Defensive Backs
Here’s The Deal: The coaching staff has undergone some changes, and there’s enough experience to be better, but the offensive playmakers are missing. The defense that was historically miserable has to go way, way too far to be merely mediocre.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 129
– UConn 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

125. Akron Zips

Relative Strengths: Secondary, Wide Receiver
Relative Concerns: Running Back, Defensive Line
Here’s The Deal: It’s going to be a rough early run under new head man Tom Arth. The starting 22 isn’t all that bad, but the depth isn’t there and there’s not going to be much of a running game to count on. The defensive front seven isn’t gong to be anything to get fired up about.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 102
– Akron 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

124. Bowling Green Falcons

Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Receiver
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Linebackers
Here’s The Deal: The passing game should be a whole lot of fun, and there’s hope for a nice season overall offensively behind a veteran line. The biggest key will be a defense that has to go from awful to merely mediocre.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 118
– Bowling Green 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

123. Kent State Golden Flashes

Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Secondary
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Offensive Line
Here’s The Deal: The FlashFast offense in Year Two under Sean Lewis should be stronger with the experience returning, but the line has to be a whole lot better for it all to work. The attack might put up more points, but the defense will give them up just as quickly.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 114
– Kent State 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

122. Rice Owls

Relative Strengths: Wide Receiver, Coaching
Relative Concerns: Running Back, Defensive Line
Here’s The Deal: This is going to be rough. The Owls weren’t exactly loaded with depth and talent, and losing a slew of transfers is a big problem. However, the receiving corps will be fantastic if someone can serve up the ball. The lines are going to be the issue – forget it if injuries strike early on.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 127
– Rice 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

121. Central Michigan Chippewas

Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Coaching
Relative Concerns: Offensive Line, Linebacker
Here’s The Deal: New head coach Jim McElwain should be able to turn around the 1-11 team in a hurry … offensively. The quarterback situation was strengthened by transfer Quinten Dormady, but the defense loses almost all of the top players. Give McElwain a year.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 128
– Central Michigan 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

120. Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Relative Strengths: Running Back, Special Teams
Relative Concerns: Offensive Line, Secondary
Here’s The Deal: Can all of the experience on the defensive side start to turn this thing around? There’s no depth, but the starters on both sides of the ball are good enough to win with. The schedule, though, will keep the Golden Hurricane from doing anything special.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 115
– Tulsa 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

119. Texas State Bobcats

Relative Strengths: Linebacker, Wide Receiver
Relative Concerns: Running Back, Defensive Line
Here’s The Deal: Don’t snicker, but the former regime did a halfway decent job of coming up with enough Sun Belt talent to finally be more competitive. Now it’s up to new head coach Jake Spavital to crank up the offense for a team loaded with experience.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 123
– Texas State 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

118. Georgia State Panthers

Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Special Teams
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Secondary
Here’s The Deal: It’s all up to a defense that has to be a whole lot stronger and more consistent. The Panthers should once again be able to keep games close, but the veteran offense has to be explosive enough to start overcoming the defensive issues.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 122
– Georgia State 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

117. San Jose State Spartans

Relative Strengths: Linebacker, Defensive Back
Relative Concerns: Offensive Line, Defensive Line
Here’s The Deal: At some point, San Jose State has to be able to run the ball again. The lines continue to be the problem, but at least the offensive front has enough experience to be more cohesive. This might just be the best Spartan D in a while if a pass rush can finally emerge.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 126
– San Jose State 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

116. Liberty Flames

Relative Strengths: Running Back, Wide Receiver
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Linebacker
Here’s The Deal: The final record should be better than the team really is. Hugh Freeze takes over a team loaded with veterans, but the depth isn’t there and the defense will take a while to come together. If nothing else, the team is going to be a whole lot of fun.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 95
– Liberty 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

115. Old Dominion Monarchs

Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Linebacker
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Running Back
Here’s The Deal: Can the defense finally come up with a meaningful stop? The linebacking corps is a plus in the new 4-2-5 alignment, but the other nine pieces of the puzzle might be a bit of an issue. Losing a ton of offensive talent is a problem, but there’s a good stable of quarterbacks to work around.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 105
– Old Dominion 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

114. East Carolina Pirates

Relative Strengths: Special Teams, Quarterback
Relative Concerns: Defensive Line, Secondary
Here’s The Deal: New head coach Mike Houston has just enough talent coming in to hope for a decent uptick, but that only happens if the defense shows up. The offensive backfield should be good enough to start winning a few more shootouts.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 117
– East Carolina 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

113. UTSA Roadrunners

Relative Strengths: Defensive Line, Secondary
Relative Concerns: Linebacker, Receiver
Here’s The Deal: Experience isn’t an issue from the offense, but scoring points will still be like pulling teeth. The youth movement has to yield results right away, and the linebackers have to emerge, or it’s going to be another long, disappointing season.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 112
– UTSA 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

112. South Alabama Jaguars

Relative Strengths: Offensive Line, Defensive Line
Relative Concerns: Running Back, Wide Receiver
Here’s The Deal: Start with the expected improvements on the lines under second-year head coach Steve Campbell, and work from there. Overall the team needs to do some major tightening up after making way too many mistakes. There’s a shot the team will be a whole lot better than this if the offense is more efficient.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 109
– South Alabama 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

111. ULM Warhawks

Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Offensive Line
Relative Concerns: Secondary, Wide Receiver
Here’s The Deal: Can the offense put up enough points to overcome the problems on the other side of the ball? The offensive line gets everyone back, but the skill talent has to emerge around QB Caleb Evans to overcome a mediocre secondary.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 89
– ULM 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction

110. Eastern Michigan Eagles

Relative Strengths: Quarterback, Secondary
Relative Concerns: Running Back, Offensive Line
Here’s The Deal: It’s time to start giving Eastern Michigan the benefit of the doubt more than this, but the defensive line loses most of the key stars and the running game has to be stronger. There are just enough missing pieces to make this a reloading season, but the program has been able to surprise and succeed with less than this.
2018 Final Season Ranking: 71
– Eastern Michigan 2019 Team Preview, Season Prediction