Known FSU hater does unthinkable and ranks FSU much higher than expected

I don't care about preseason rankings. I think they are a waste of time and full of bias involving media members with agendas. Some media allow their conference allegiance to cloud their judgment even when things are obvious during the season.

However, one preseason ranking caught my eye. It caught my eye, not because it was good or bad, but because of who it was.

Normally, anytime I see anything with RJ Young's name on it, I know it's worthless and lacks credibility. The guy is a known FSU hater and didn't hide that fact during the 2023 season. He would find every reason possible to avoid giving credit to FSU for destroying LSU in the season opener and running through the regular season undefeated.

He loves himself some Deion Sanders, and that checks with Colorado at the No. 25 spot in his preseason rankings. However, what shocked me was where he had FSU in his rankings of all 136 FBS teams. RJ Young had FSU at No. 34 after going 2-10 in 2024.

I'm not going to lie. If I had to guess where he would have put FSU, it would have been at least at No. 50 or higher.

I must note Young works for FOX, who has an allegiance to the B1G. He has six B1G teams in his top 20 and Notre Dame. He is lower on Miami than most, which I agree with, but there's a lot I can disagree with as well.

However, his rankings are extremely similar to the SP+ advanced metric ranking that came out recently.

I wrote how the offense could be a different animal if they stay healthy compared to last year. The success of the team ultimately depends on how well the offense plays, just as I said in 2022 and 2023. FSU would have made a bowl last year if the offense had a heartbeat.

I know most FSU fans are in wait and see mode. However, if RJ Young thinks the Noles will be better than expected, maybe it's time to jump onboard the hype train.