Where Stanford Ranks Among Every College Football Team

Dylan Grausz | Aug 22, 2024

Nov 12, 2022; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; The Stanford Cardinal defense huddles prior to a game against the Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

With the Stanford Cardinal now in the final stretch of training camp ahead of the start of the regular season, it is now time for the football program to start testing themselves against real opponents, where each team will look to prove themselves in a very stacked college football landscape. In a year in which conference realignment will be a major storyline, almost every school will face new challenges and tests as this new era begins. Only a week away from the start of the season, team rankings are being revealed, and the Stanford Cardinal program has been ranked No. 87 according to a recent poll in The Athletic.

The poll, which was done by Chris Vannini and only includes FBS teams, ranks Stanford as the No. 87 best program in the nation out of 134, the worst in the ACC, and are also one of the lowest ranked Power Four schools.

Only Purdue (No. 88), Arizona State (No. 89), Cincinnati (No. 94) and Vanderbilt (No. 95) have been slotted below the Cardinal. In terms of ACC rankings, teams such as Wake Forest (No. 80), Pittsburgh (No. 83) and Virginia (No. 84) were put higher, while four teams have been ranked in the AP college football rankings. Those include Florida State (No. 10), Clemson (No. 14), Miami (No. 19), and NC State (No. 24).

With the Cardinal entering a new conference coming off of a 3-9 season, the team will come in eager to defy expectations and prove people wrong. The question for them heading into the season will be what kinds of strides they've made in year two under head coach Troy Taylor.

The list is headlined by Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Texas and Alabama as the top five with reigning national champion Michigan being ranked as the No. 8 team. With Stanford at 87, other teams ranked ahead of them include Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, Houston and Colorado State.