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

Utah
8-4 · resume score 13.3 · schedule 3.0
Resume #40
CFP #19
Navy
9-4 · resume score 16.4 · schedule 3.1
Resume #36
CFP #25
LSU
7-4 · resume score 18.1 · schedule 3.3
Resume #30
CFP #20

Resume says higher

Boise State
10-2 · resume score 53.0 · schedule 2.7
Resume #13
CFP unranked
Western Michigan
13-0 · resume score 89.7 · schedule 2.0
Resume #4
CFP #15
South Florida
10-2 · resume score 46.4 · schedule 2.5
Resume #15
CFP unranked

Every FBS team, 2016

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	Alabama	13-0	99.4	3.9	1	2	1
2	Ohio State	11-1	95.2	3.7	2	6	3
3	Clemson	12-1	90.7	3.4	4	1	2
4	Western Michigan	13-0	89.7	2.0	6	15	15
5	Washington	12-1	87.4	3.1	3	4	4
6	Penn State	11-2	78.0	3.6	8	7	5
7	Oklahoma	10-2	68.4	3.2	5	5	7
8	Michigan	10-2	66.6	3.1	11	10	6
9	Colorado	10-3	62.5	4.0	30	17	10
10	Wisconsin	10-3	61.7	4.0	12	9	8
11	West Virginia	10-2	58.5	2.8	29	18	16
12	USC	9-3	55.1	3.7	7	3	9
13	Boise State	10-2	53.0	2.7	25	-	-
14	Florida State	9-3	47.4	3.5	9	8	11
15	South Florida	10-2	46.4	2.5	17	19	-
16	Stanford	9-3	44.0	3.3	15	12	18
17	Nebraska	9-3	38.2	3.2	43	-	-
18	Florida	8-4	33.8	3.9	41	14	17
19	Louisville	9-3	30.7	2.9	26	21	13
20	Western Kentucky	10-3	27.9	2.8	10	-	-
21	Oklahoma State	9-3	27.7	2.8	16	11	12
22	Auburn	8-4	27.7	3.7	21	24	14
23	Tulsa	9-3	25.5	2.7	27	-	-
24	Toledo	9-3	23.9	2.7	23	-	-
25	Houston	9-3	23.5	2.6	20	-	-
26	Temple	10-3	23.4	2.6	14	-	24
27	Tennessee	8-4	22.1	3.4	34	22	21
28	Pittsburgh	8-4	21.8	3.5	42	-	23
29	Virginia Tech	9-4	18.3	3.2	36	16	22
30	LSU	7-4	18.1	3.3	13	13	20
31	Texas A&M	8-4	17.8	3.3	47	-	-
32	Troy	9-3	17.5	2.4	61	-	-
33	Miami	8-4	16.9	3.2	22	20	-
34	App State	9-3	16.5	2.3	19	-	-
35	Georgia Tech	8-4	16.4	3.1	45	-	-
36	Navy	9-4	16.4	3.1	48	-	25
37	Kansas State	8-4	15.3	3.2	24	-	-
38	Old Dominion	9-3	14.3	2.3	49	-	-
39	Washington State	8-4	13.3	3.0	38	-	-
40	Utah	8-4	13.3	3.0	33	23	19
41	Air Force	9-3	13.1	2.1	32	-	-
42	San Diego State	10-3	12.2	2.0	39	25	-
43	Minnesota	8-4	11.1	2.9	46	-	-
44	Iowa	8-4	10.7	2.8	28	-	-
45	North Carolina	8-4	10.2	2.8	37	-	-
46	Memphis	8-4	8.1	2.6	40	-	-
47	Arkansas	7-5	7.5	3.4	51	-	-
48	BYU	8-4	6.6	2.5	18	-	-
49	Idaho	8-4	6.0	2.6	62	-	-
50	Kentucky	7-5	5.1	3.3	59	-	-
51	Wyoming	8-5	4.4	2.9	71	-	-
52	Middle Tennessee	8-4	3.3	2.0	65	-	-
53	Georgia	7-5	3.2	2.7	35	-	-
54	Colorado State	7-5	2.6	2.8	31	-	-
55	Louisiana Tech	8-5	2.6	2.8	53	-	-
56	New Mexico	8-4	2.3	1.9	55	-	-
57	Vanderbilt	6-6	1.7	3.4	57	-	-
58	Eastern Michigan	7-5	1.5	2.5	90	-	-
59	Ohio	8-5	1.4	2.6	58	-	-
60	Northwestern	6-6	1.2	3.4	52	-	-
61	Ole Miss	5-7	1.1	4.0	73	-	-
62	NC State	6-6	1.1	3.2	56	-	-
63	Maryland	6-6	0.8	3.2	85	-	-
64	South Carolina	6-6	0.8	3.1	74	-	-
65	TCU	6-6	0.5	2.7	54	-	-
66	Army	7-5	0.5	2.1	69	-	-
67	Baylor	6-6	0.4	2.9	87	-	-
68	Boston College	6-6	0.4	2.9	70	-	-
69	Arkansas State	7-5	0.4	2.0	44	-	-
70	Indiana	6-6	0.4	3.0	72	-	-
71	Wake Forest	6-6	0.4	2.9	93	-	-
72	Central Michigan	6-6	0.3	2.8	81	-	-
73	UCF	6-6	0.3	2.9	75	-	-
74	California	5-7	0.3	3.4	67	-	-
75	Mississippi State	5-7	0.3	3.6	50	-	-
76	Arizona State	5-7	0.2	3.4	100	-	-
77	Texas	5-7	0.1	3.2	82	-	-
78	UTSA	6-6	0.1	2.4	68	-	-
79	Southern Miss	6-6	0.1	2.4	76	-	-
80	SMU	5-7	0.1	3.0	91	-	-
81	Louisiana	6-6	0.1	2.1	66	-	-
82	Texas Tech	5-7	0.1	3.0	78	-	-
83	Miami (OH)	6-6	0.1	2.1	63	-	-
84	South Alabama	6-6	0.1	2.1	89	-	-
85	Oregon	4-8	0.1	3.7	77	-	-
86	Georgia Southern	5-7	0.1	2.8	86	-	-
87	Akron	5-7	0.1	2.8	102	-	-
88	UCLA	4-8	0.1	3.6	83	-	-
89	Hawai'i	6-7	<0.1	2.7	94	-	-
90	Northern Illinois	5-7	<0.1	2.8	64	-	-
91	Syracuse	4-8	<0.1	3.4	97	-	-
92	Oregon State	4-8	<0.1	3.5	92	-	-
93	Duke	4-8	<0.1	3.3	96	-	-
94	Missouri	4-8	<0.1	3.2	84	-	-
95	North Texas	5-7	<0.1	2.4	107	-	-
96	Notre Dame	4-8	<0.1	3.0	60	-	-
97	UL Monroe	4-8	<0.1	3.3	114	-	-
98	Cincinnati	4-8	<0.1	2.9	108	-	-
99	Bowling Green	4-8	<0.1	3.0	79	-	-
100	San José State	4-8	<0.1	2.7	101	-	-
101	Tulane	4-8	<0.1	2.6	103	-	-
102	Arizona	3-9	<0.1	3.5	99	-	-
103	Utah State	3-9	<0.1	3.6	98	-	-
104	Michigan State	3-9	<0.1	3.5	80	-	-
105	Nevada	5-7	<0.1	1.7	88	-	-
106	Illinois	3-9	<0.1	3.5	106	-	-
107	UNLV	4-8	<0.1	2.3	119	-	-
108	Ball State	4-8	<0.1	2.4	112	-	-
109	Charlotte	4-8	<0.1	2.4	115	-	-
110	New Mexico State	3-9	<0.1	2.8	121	-	-
111	Iowa State	3-9	<0.1	3.1	95	-	-
112	Florida International	4-8	<0.1	2.1	109	-	-
113	Purdue	3-9	<0.1	2.8	120	-	-
114	East Carolina	3-9	<0.1	3.0	118	-	-
115	Kent State	3-9	<0.1	3.2	116	-	-
116	Rutgers	2-10	<0.1	3.8	125	-	-
117	UTEP	4-8	<0.1	1.7	104	-	-
118	Georgia State	3-9	<0.1	2.8	110	-	-
119	Kansas	2-10	<0.1	3.5	124	-	-
120	Florida Atlantic	3-9	<0.1	2.5	117	-	-
121	Rice	3-9	<0.1	2.6	111	-	-
122	UConn	3-9	<0.1	2.6	127	-	-
123	Marshall	3-9	<0.1	2.3	105	-	-
124	Virginia	2-10	<0.1	2.7	113	-	-
125	Texas State	2-10	<0.1	2.6	128	-	-
126	Massachusetts	2-10	<0.1	2.7	123	-	-
127	Buffalo	2-10	<0.1	2.5	122	-	-
128	Fresno State	1-11	<0.1	2.8	126	-	-

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.