Colorado’s Division I college football teams aren’t getting much love on the national level so far. Sports Illustrated released its ranking of all 120 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs yesterday, and the state’s first notch on the list is at No. 55, where the University of Colorado is ranked just below UNLV and just above Kentucky. That puts CU behind Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Missouri, and Nebraska in the Big 12.

The other big Colorado programs—the Air Force Academy and Colorado State University–make the list at numbers 68 and 77, respectively, above Wyoming, San Diego State, and New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference.

As far as CU’s spot in the Big 12, the homer in me wants to say they’re the best, but a pesky thing called reality gets in the way. After all, seven of the nation’s 37 top projected wide receivers are in the Big 12, the most of any conference in the country (via ESPN). Problem is, none of those players are Buffaloes, who are relying on a group of young receivers, most of whom have never caught a pass at the college level, to get it done this fall (via The Denver Post).

By way of stats, consider this: The Buffs averaged 5.76 yards per passing attempt last season, compared to the 10.9 yards the 1989, 11-win team averaged and the 9.4 the 1990 national championship team averaged. Clearly the receivers have got to get better.