Welcome to the 2025 college football preseason!

Offseason hibernation is over. The days are getting longer, but time is getting shorter until Ireland gets introduced to Farmaggedon. Now is the time to start learning about teams for 2025, whether it’s the new QB for the reigning National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes or who has the best chance to win Conference-USA. This series will cover my top 100 preseason teams for 2025 as we count down 100 days until Week 0. We will dive into a new team each day as we draw closer to the college football season.

Countdown to Kickoff: Day 98

Coming in at No. 98 in our 2025 preseason rankings: Colorado State Rams.

Florida International is coached by Jay Norvell, who is in his 4th year with the program. Colorado State finished the 2024 season with a record of 8-5 and 2nd in the Mountain West.

Colorado State returns 48% from the 2024 team: 60% on the Offense and 36% on the Defense. According to 247Sports, the Rams finished the 2025 cycle, landing 14 recruits and ending the recruiting cycle with the 85th overall ranked class, good for 8th in the Mountain West. Along with their high school recruiting, CSU has brought in 22 players through the transfer portal and has a portal ranking of 78. 37% of the 2025 roster will be made up of new additions.

Offensive Coordinator Matt Mumme, heading into his third year with the program, is looking to boost an offense that put up 23.3 points per game last season. The Rams finished 2024 with 66.6 plays per game (87th nationally) and a pace of 28.1 seconds per play (110th). The offense averaged 35.3 runs (77th) for 163.5 per game (58th), along with 30.3 pass attempts (67th) for 220.9 yards per game (69th) for an offense that leaned on the run for a 55%-45% run-pass play call split. The overall offensive success rate was 42%.

Up front, Colorado State brings back 54% of its offensive line production from last year, including three clear-cut starters for 2025. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi returns from last year and looks to grow in his 4th year. In 2024, Fowler-Nicolosi finished as the 58th-ranked QB with 18.6 fantasy points per game. In 75% of games, Jenkins passed for at least 142 yards and 1 touchdown to score at least 10.2 fantasy points, with a season high of 48.1 and a low of -0.05. The Rams used the spring window to focus on improving last season’s average 41% passing success rate.

Fowler-Nicolosi will rely on pass catcher Armani Winfield and transfer Petey Tucker to step up this year with the departure of his top 3 receivers from 2024. Winfield totaled 341 yards and 2 touchdowns and led the team with 38 receptions last year. He was the 253rd-ranked fantasy wide receiver in 2024 with 6.2 fantasy points per game. His best game was against San Jose State, where he caught 6 passes for 108 yards and 1 touchdown.

Tight End Peter Montini will look to solidify himself as an offensive weapon. In 2024, Vince Brown II caught 24 passes for 256 yards before transferring to Missouri. Finishing as TE 57, Brown averaged 5.1 fantasy points and scored 2 fantasy points in 75% of games.

With the departure of Avery Morrow, the Rams’ backfield returns 48% of rushing production from last year. Morrow’s skillset, mixed with the game script, led him to 184 carries, 1006 yards, and 9 touchdowns. Morrow finished as the 42nd-ranked RB with 13.2 fantasy points per game. Morrow surpassed 8 fantasy points in 75% of his games, totaling 67 rushing yards in those starts. Look for Justin Marshall to fill the hole of the 45% of carries vacated and improve on the team’s poor success running the ball in 2024 at 43%

After finishing 2024 with a record of 8-5, Colorado State enters 2025 with the 99th-ranked strength of schedule. The Rams will play in front of the home crowd 7 times, with a 3-game home stretch from Week 2 to 5 and back-to-back home games in Week 7 and 8.

Our model predicts a 6-6 record for CSU. Our model gives the team a 75+% win expectancy in 2 games, a 50-75% win expectancy in 5 games, a 25-50% win expectancy in 3 games, and a <25% win expectancy in 1 game.

The Rams are predicted to finish 5th in the Mountain West, according to their conference championship odds of +1300.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to return tomorrow as we continue the countdown with team 97.

For more Blitz Sports Media and college football content, follow @BlitzSM_ and @CFBHeadgear on X.

Returning Production for all teams can be found at Punt and Rally

Stats for all players can be found at College Football Team Stats | TeamRankings.com