"You don’t even know what the portal will look like" — Greg McElroy pumps breaks on early college football projections with a rational analysis

Greg McElroy has put the brakes on early college football projections. Die-hard college football fans can't resist dissecting the latest top 25 rankings, no matter the time of year. However, ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy has urged caution against taking these early lists too seriously.

McElroy mentioned that significant changes can occur on college football rosters before the season even starts. The American football commentator shared that there are still four more months to go, and deriving any conclusions now is too soon.

“We start to draw conclusions for these teams in May when we’re still four months away from kicking off the regular season,” McElroy said.

The former quarterback, Greg McElroy also added that even the roster is not confirmed. No one knows what it might look like. Teams could also lose their best players, and the results differ completely.

"You look at a way-too-early top 25 in February you don’t even know what the roster is going to be like. You don’t even know what the portal will look like. You could lose your very best player and then all of the sudden you team looks very very different.”

Preseason rankings are assembled even by McElroy’s podcast, he admits. But, he mentions that they don’t consider it the moment the season begins.

Greg McElroy picks Buckeyes-Ducks as potential college football showstopper

Greg McElroy said that a matchup between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks in the regular season might be the best game of the season. This will be the first-ever meeting between the teams as conference rivals, and it could be the most exciting game of the year, according to McElroy.

In the latest episode of his ‘Always College Football’ show, McElroy shared his thoughts on the game. McElroy ranked Ohio State and Oregon as the top two teams in the Big Ten, placing a probability (8 out of 10) on this game delivering an exceptional display of college football.

“Finally, in the Big Ten, Oregon versus Ohio State is the game of the year. The probability on this one might surprise you. I’m going to say it’s an eight (out of ten),” McElroy said.

“Now, it could be one of two times we see this matchup next year. Does that water it down potentially? Perhaps. But if I were to rank Big Ten teams top to bottom right now, I would say it’s Ohio State No. 1, Oregon No. 2.”

“No disrespect to what Michigan’s done, they’ve just had a lot of turnover. No disrespect to what Penn State is, they just haven’t quite been able to knock down the door, that is Michigan and Ohio State.”

McElroy acknowledged the presence of strong contenders in the SEC, but he believes the Buckeyes-Ducks clash has the potential to be the most captivating game of the season.