Power ranking New York state’s top college football programs

As part of its season preview materials, CBS Sports picked the best college football team in each of the 48 states with an FBS or FCS program. One of those states is obviously New York, where the Syracuse Orange reside (duh).

Thankfully, SU earned the title for New York, keeping the “New York’s College Team” belt for the time being. Here’s what CBS had to say about it:

“Army was in the mix, but coach Dino Babers and the Syracuse Orange take the top spot in New York. No, the 4-8 record last year wasn't great, but Babers' high-octane offense should help the program take a step forward in 2017 and the promise of some success in the ACC gives the Orange the edge.”

That’s fairly optimistic, all things considered. Given the difficulty of SU’s schedule, and the Black Knights’ manageable slate, it would seem the latter is the one more likely to go bowling. But Babers has inspired some faith that Syracuse will improve, which is nice to see played out -- even in short exercises like this one.

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

If we’re power ranking programs in New York, the list probably looks something like this, based on a combination of last year’s results and this year’s potential:

1. Syracuse Orange
2. Army Black Knights
3. Buffalo Bulls
4. Fordham Rams
5. Albany Great Danes
6. Stony Brook Seawolves
7. Colgate Raiders
8. Cornell Big Red
9. Marist Red Foxes
10. Columbia Lions
11. Wagner Seahawks

Click through the CBS list if you dare — it’s a slideshow. Otherwise, let’s argue nonsensically about FCS programs’ strengths relative to one another in the comments below.