Resume rankings

Not who's best, but who's done the most: every FBS team ranked by how hard its record would be for a playoff-calibre team to match on the same schedule. The committee says it weighs resumes; here is one, ranked beside its own list. It's the record so far, not a forecast: each team's chance of making the playoff, which also weighs how good it is and what's left on its schedule, is on the playoff odds page, which uses this ranking to pick the field.

2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

Full regular season. AP poll: final. Committee ranking: final, before the bowls.

Biggest disagreements with the committee

Teams either list has in its top 25 whose CFP rank is furthest from their resume rank.

Ranked above their resume

Baylor
9-3 · resume score 28.4 · schedule 2.8
Resume #27
CFP #17
Tennessee
8-4 · resume score 22.9 · schedule 3.5
Resume #33
CFP #23
USC
8-5 · resume score 22.4 · schedule 4.3
Resume #35
CFP #25

Resume says higher

Houston
12-1 · resume score 69.8 · schedule 2.2
Resume #9
CFP #18
Toledo
9-2 · resume score 52.2 · schedule 2.6
Resume #17
CFP unranked
Navy
10-2 · resume score 58.8 · schedule 2.8
Resume #13
CFP #21

Every FBS team, 2015

128

Resume is how often a top-12 team, playing the same schedule, would fall short of the record, out of 100: higher is harder to match. Schedule is how many of these games a top-12 team would expect to lose. The rule under row 12 marks the size of the playoff field.

#	Team	Record	Resume	Schedule	Elo	AP	CFP
1	Clemson	13-0	98.7	3.4	3	2	1
2	Michigan State	12-1	95.7	3.9	5	6	3
3	Alabama	12-1	94.9	4.0	1	1	2
4	Oklahoma	11-1	88.4	3.2	4	5	4
5	Iowa	12-1	86.8	3.0	16	9	5
6	Ohio State	11-1	84.2	2.9	2	4	7
7	Notre Dame	10-2	77.6	3.6	14	11	8
8	Stanford	11-2	73.2	3.5	6	3	6
9	Houston	12-1	69.8	2.2	10	8	18
10	Oklahoma State	10-2	62.9	3.0	36	20	16
11	Northwestern	10-2	62.8	3.0	31	23	13
12	TCU	10-2	60.1	2.9	9	7	11
13	Navy	10-2	58.8	2.8	18	18	21
14	North Carolina	11-2	57.8	2.8	13	15	10
15	Florida State	10-2	56.0	2.8	7	14	9
16	Florida	10-3	53.0	3.7	33	25	19
17	Toledo	9-2	52.2	2.6	23	-	-
18	Western Kentucky	11-2	49.5	2.6	8	24	-
19	LSU	8-3	48.2	3.5	41	16	20
20	Oregon	9-3	46.8	3.4	11	19	15
21	Ole Miss	9-3	45.8	3.4	12	10	12
22	Memphis	9-3	44.9	3.4	43	-	-
23	Michigan	9-3	43.3	3.3	28	12	14
24	App State	10-2	41.4	2.3	26	-	-
25	Utah	9-3	36.6	3.1	35	17	22
26	Temple	10-3	31.4	2.9	39	-	24
27	Baylor	9-3	28.4	2.8	30	13	17
28	Bowling Green	10-3	27.6	2.7	17	-	-
29	Georgia	9-3	26.8	2.7	20	-	-
30	Mississippi State	8-4	26.7	3.6	37	-	-
31	Miami	8-4	25.8	3.6	45	-	-
32	BYU	9-3	25.4	2.7	24	-	-
33	Tennessee	8-4	22.9	3.5	22	22	23
34	Wisconsin	9-3	22.9	2.6	25	21	-
35	USC	8-5	22.4	4.3	32	-	25
36	Pittsburgh	8-4	20.4	3.3	49	-	-
37	Texas A&M	8-4	17.1	3.2	56	-	-
38	Arkansas State	9-3	16.1	2.3	19	-	-
39	UCLA	8-4	15.5	3.1	40	-	-
40	Washington State	8-4	14.8	3.1	59	-	-
41	California	7-5	14.7	4.0	70	-	-
42	Marshall	9-3	13.7	2.2	29	-	-
43	San Diego State	10-3	12.6	2.1	15	-	-
44	Arkansas	7-5	10.2	3.7	21	-	-
45	Western Michigan	7-5	8.5	3.6	44	-	-
46	Southern Miss	9-4	8.2	2.7	27	-	-
47	South Florida	8-4	8.2	2.7	34	-	-
48	Penn State	7-5	8.0	3.6	66	-	-
49	Ohio	8-4	6.5	2.5	63	-	-
50	Air Force	8-5	6.2	3.4	50	-	-
51	Louisiana Tech	8-4	6.1	2.5	47	-	-
52	Texas Tech	7-5	6.1	3.4	67	-	-
53	Boise State	8-4	5.8	2.4	38	-	-
54	Georgia Southern	8-4	5.7	2.5	64	-	-
55	Louisville	7-5	4.4	3.1	42	-	-
56	Cincinnati	7-5	4.3	3.1	61	-	-
57	Northern Illinois	8-5	3.9	3.1	53	-	-
58	NC State	7-5	3.5	3.0	60	-	-
59	West Virginia	7-5	3.5	3.1	48	-	-
60	Auburn	6-6	2.3	3.6	68	-	-
61	Central Michigan	7-5	2.0	2.7	54	-	-
62	Middle Tennessee	7-5	1.6	2.8	52	-	-
63	Washington	6-6	1.6	3.3	46	-	-
64	Duke	7-5	1.4	2.5	76	-	-
65	Utah State	6-6	1.3	3.2	69	-	-
66	Arizona State	6-6	1.2	3.1	57	-	-
67	Indiana	6-6	1.0	3.3	75	-	-
68	Arizona	6-6	0.9	3.1	71	-	-
69	Akron	7-5	0.9	2.4	65	-	-
70	Kansas State	6-6	0.8	3.0	74	-	-
71	Virginia Tech	6-6	0.7	2.9	51	-	-
72	Colorado State	7-5	0.6	2.1	55	-	-
73	Minnesota	5-7	0.6	3.8	77	-	-
74	New Mexico	7-5	0.6	2.1	73	-	-
75	UConn	6-6	0.6	2.9	80	-	-
76	Tulsa	6-6	0.5	2.9	84	-	-
77	Texas	5-7	0.4	3.7	72	-	-
78	Nebraska	5-7	0.3	3.3	62	-	-
79	Illinois	5-7	0.3	3.6	87	-	-
80	Missouri	5-7	0.3	3.4	79	-	-
81	Vanderbilt	4-8	0.1	4.0	91	-	-
82	Georgia State	6-6	0.1	2.4	58	-	-
83	East Carolina	5-7	0.1	3.0	83	-	-
84	South Alabama	5-7	0.1	2.9	98	-	-
85	Nevada	6-6	0.1	2.1	78	-	-
86	Virginia	4-8	<0.1	3.4	82	-	-
87	Syracuse	4-8	<0.1	3.5	103	-	-
88	Kentucky	5-7	<0.1	2.6	90	-	-
89	Buffalo	5-7	<0.1	2.3	92	-	-
90	Maryland	3-9	<0.1	4.3	100	-	-
91	San José State	5-7	<0.1	2.4	88	-	-
92	Florida International	5-7	<0.1	2.5	93	-	-
93	Rutgers	4-8	<0.1	3.3	89	-	-
94	Rice	5-7	<0.1	2.3	95	-	-
95	Old Dominion	5-7	<0.1	2.4	96	-	-
96	UTEP	5-7	<0.1	2.3	94	-	-
97	Georgia Tech	3-9	<0.1	3.9	81	-	-
98	Iowa State	3-9	<0.1	4.0	97	-	-
99	Colorado	4-9	<0.1	3.4	102	-	-
100	Troy	4-8	<0.1	2.8	85	-	-
101	Idaho	4-8	<0.1	2.5	112	-	-
102	South Carolina	3-9	<0.1	3.6	86	-	-
103	Wake Forest	3-9	<0.1	3.5	109	-	-
104	Ball State	3-9	<0.1	3.2	110	-	-
105	Louisiana	4-8	<0.1	2.5	105	-	-
106	Fresno State	3-9	<0.1	3.2	104	-	-
107	Boston College	3-9	<0.1	3.2	99	-	-
108	Kent State	3-9	<0.1	2.7	114	-	-
109	New Mexico State	3-9	<0.1	2.7	117	-	-
110	Purdue	2-10	<0.1	3.9	119	-	-
111	Florida Atlantic	3-9	<0.1	2.7	101	-	-
112	UNLV	3-9	<0.1	2.7	111	-	-
113	Oregon State	2-10	<0.1	3.6	122	-	-
114	UTSA	3-9	<0.1	2.5	106	-	-
115	Texas State	3-9	<0.1	3.0	115	-	-
116	Miami (OH)	3-9	<0.1	2.8	108	-	-
117	Tulane	3-9	<0.1	2.6	120	-	-
118	Massachusetts	3-9	<0.1	2.5	107	-	-
119	Hawai'i	3-10	<0.1	3.2	125	-	-
120	SMU	2-10	<0.1	3.5	116	-	-
121	Wyoming	2-10	<0.1	3.1	118	-	-
122	Charlotte	2-10	<0.1	2.4	126	-	-
123	North Texas	1-11	<0.1	3.6	123	-	-
124	UL Monroe	2-11	<0.1	3.0	121	-	-
125	Army	2-10	<0.1	1.9	113	-	-
126	Eastern Michigan	1-11	<0.1	2.6	128	-	-
127	UCF	0-12	<0.1	3.0	124	-	-
128	Kansas	0-12	<0.1	3.3	127	-	-

How it works

Each team's record is held up against a benchmark: the season's 12th-best FBS team, about the last at-large team into a 12-team playoff, playing the same opponents at the same sites. The resume score is how often that benchmark would fall short of the record, out of 100. An unbeaten season through a hard schedule can score above 99; a three-loss season usually scores under 50. Only wins and losses count, not margins: this is what a team has done, not how good it is.

Team strength comes from YardLine's margin-of-victory Elo rating, the same one behind each team's stock chart, built from every game since 2014. Opponents are rated as they stand now, not on the day of the game, so beating a team that turned out to be good counts for more as the season goes on. The Elo column is that rating's rank: how good, beside the resume's how accomplished.

Elo's raw win chances are adjusted to match a decade of results: rating gaps count 15% more than plain Elo says, and teams below FBS are rated 310 points lower than their Elo, because the archive only sees them against FBS teams, which leaves their ratings too high. Both are fitted on every game since 2015, so a predicted 80% is won about 80% of the time.

Regular-season games only, conference championship games included: the committee ranks before the bowls and the playoff. Games update every Tuesday morning; the AP poll from its Sunday release, and the committee's ranking the morning after its Tuesday-night release.