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

Texas
9-4 · resume score 24.5 · schedule 3.5
Resume #29
CFP #15
Northwestern
8-5 · resume score 13.5 · schedule 3.9
Resume #36
CFP #22
Mississippi State
8-4 · resume score 24.0 · schedule 3.6
Resume #30
CFP #18

Resume says higher

Cincinnati
10-2 · resume score 56.0 · schedule 2.8
Resume #11
CFP unranked
Fresno State
11-2 · resume score 60.2 · schedule 2.9
Resume #9
CFP #21
App State
10-2 · resume score 47.6 · schedule 2.5
Resume #14
CFP unranked

Every FBS team, 2018

130

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	98.8	3.5	1	2	1
2	Clemson	13-0	98.7	3.5	2	1	2
3	Notre Dame	12-0	98.2	3.3	3	5	3
4	UCF	12-0	92.9	2.3	6	11	8
5	Oklahoma	12-1	91.7	3.5	4	4	4
6	Ohio State	12-1	89.5	3.3	5	3	6
7	Georgia	11-2	88.1	4.2	7	7	5
8	Michigan	10-2	79.1	3.6	9	14	7
9	Fresno State	11-2	60.2	2.9	11	18	21
10	LSU	9-3	57.0	3.8	17	6	11
11	Cincinnati	10-2	56.0	2.8	40	24	-
12	Washington State	10-2	52.8	2.7	19	10	13
13	Syracuse	9-3	48.4	3.5	21	15	20
14	App State	10-2	47.6	2.5	12	-	-
15	Kentucky	9-3	46.2	3.4	38	12	14
16	Washington	10-3	45.5	3.4	8	13	9
17	Army	10-2	45.5	2.4	15	19	-
18	Boise State	10-3	43.3	3.3	13	23	25
19	Florida	9-3	41.8	3.3	25	7	10
20	Utah State	10-2	40.8	2.3	28	22	-
21	Penn State	9-3	39.9	3.2	10	17	12
22	Texas A&M	8-4	36.3	4.0	29	16	19
23	Utah	9-4	30.3	3.8	26	-	17
24	West Virginia	8-3	29.8	2.8	39	20	16
25	Missouri	8-4	29.7	3.8	14	-	23
26	NC State	9-3	25.7	2.7	22	-	-
27	Stanford	8-4	25.7	3.6	27	-	-
28	Buffalo	10-3	24.5	2.6	43	-	-
29	Texas	9-4	24.5	3.5	18	9	15
30	Mississippi State	8-4	24.0	3.6	16	-	18
31	Troy	9-3	21.3	2.5	30	-	-
32	Georgia Southern	9-3	20.2	2.5	50	-	-
33	UAB	10-3	17.8	2.3	54	-	-
34	Iowa State	8-4	15.5	3.1	23	-	24
35	Pittsburgh	7-6	14.4	4.9	41	-	-
36	Northwestern	8-5	13.5	3.9	33	21	22
37	Duke	7-5	13.1	3.9	80	-	-
38	Auburn	7-5	11.9	3.9	34	-	-
39	Iowa	8-4	10.4	2.8	24	25	-
40	Oregon	8-4	10.0	2.8	48	-	-
41	South Carolina	7-5	9.2	3.7	42	-	-
42	Boston College	7-5	8.7	3.5	55	-	-
43	Michigan State	7-5	8.0	3.4	44	-	-
44	Temple	8-4	6.8	2.6	20	-	-
45	Marshall	8-4	6.0	2.4	63	-	-
46	Northern Illinois	8-5	5.7	3.1	71	-	-
47	North Texas	9-3	5.4	1.6	47	-	-
48	Arkansas State	8-4	5.3	2.5	37	-	-
49	Georgia Tech	7-5	5.0	3.2	36	-	-
50	Wisconsin	7-5	4.9	3.3	59	-	-
51	Arizona State	7-5	4.8	3.1	45	-	-
52	Miami	7-5	4.4	3.0	31	-	-
53	Middle Tennessee	8-5	4.0	3.0	51	-	-
54	Ohio	8-4	3.4	2.1	32	-	-
55	Houston	8-4	3.2	2.0	56	-	-
56	Memphis	8-5	3.0	3.0	35	-	-
57	Virginia	7-5	2.8	2.8	61	-	-
58	Louisiana	7-6	2.5	3.9	75	-	-
59	Hawai'i	8-5	2.5	2.8	98	-	-
60	California	7-5	2.3	2.7	86	-	-
61	Vanderbilt	6-6	2.1	3.7	60	-	-
62	Purdue	6-6	2.1	3.3	52	-	-
63	TCU	6-6	2.0	3.5	49	-	-
64	San Diego State	7-5	2.0	2.8	67	-	-
65	Wake Forest	6-6	1.8	3.5	46	-	-
66	South Florida	7-5	1.8	2.7	85	-	-
67	Florida International	8-4	1.6	1.8	68	-	-
68	Louisiana Tech	7-5	1.6	2.7	88	-	-
69	Western Michigan	7-5	1.2	2.4	89	-	-
70	Nevada	7-5	1.2	2.4	77	-	-
71	Oklahoma State	6-6	1.2	3.2	66	-	-
72	Minnesota	6-6	1.1	3.2	64	-	-
73	BYU	6-6	1.0	3.2	69	-	-
74	Eastern Michigan	7-5	0.9	2.3	70	-	-
75	Florida State	5-7	0.9	4.1	81	-	-
76	Baylor	6-6	0.8	3.2	83	-	-
77	Virginia Tech	6-6	0.8	2.9	73	-	-
78	Toledo	7-5	0.8	2.3	53	-	-
79	Tennessee	5-7	0.7	4.0	92	-	-
80	Tulane	6-6	0.6	3.0	74	-	-
81	Maryland	5-7	0.6	3.8	93	-	-
82	Wyoming	6-6	0.4	2.9	57	-	-
83	Miami (OH)	6-6	0.4	2.7	58	-	-
84	Indiana	5-7	0.3	3.5	95	-	-
85	USC	5-7	0.3	3.5	72	-	-
86	Southern Miss	6-5	0.2	1.9	78	-	-
87	Texas Tech	5-7	0.2	3.2	91	-	-
88	Ole Miss	5-7	0.2	3.4	96	-	-
89	UL Monroe	6-6	0.2	2.4	84	-	-
90	Kansas State	5-7	0.2	3.4	62	-	-
91	SMU	5-7	0.1	3.2	90	-	-
92	Florida Atlantic	5-7	0.1	3.4	65	-	-
93	Liberty	6-6	0.1	2.3	87	-	-
94	Coastal Carolina	5-7	0.1	2.7	109	-	-
95	Air Force	5-7	0.1	2.9	79	-	-
96	Colorado	5-7	0.1	2.8	101	-	-
97	Charlotte	5-7	<0.1	2.6	102	-	-
98	Nebraska	4-8	<0.1	3.7	82	-	-
99	Arizona	5-7	<0.1	2.6	76	-	-
100	UCLA	3-9	<0.1	3.9	94	-	-
101	Akron	4-8	<0.1	3.1	119	-	-
102	Illinois	4-8	<0.1	2.6	107	-	-
103	Massachusetts	4-8	<0.1	2.8	105	-	-
104	Navy	3-10	<0.1	4.1	99	-	-
105	Ball State	4-8	<0.1	2.8	121	-	-
106	UNLV	4-8	<0.1	2.6	103	-	-
107	Old Dominion	4-8	<0.1	2.0	104	-	-
108	South Alabama	3-9	<0.1	3.1	111	-	-
109	Kansas	3-9	<0.1	3.1	112	-	-
110	East Carolina	3-9	<0.1	3.2	110	-	-
111	Louisville	2-10	<0.1	4.1	117	-	-
112	New Mexico	3-9	<0.1	2.7	114	-	-
113	North Carolina	2-9	<0.1	2.9	100	-	-
114	Tulsa	3-9	<0.1	2.8	106	-	-
115	Oregon State	2-10	<0.1	3.7	123	-	-
116	UTSA	3-9	<0.1	2.5	120	-	-
117	Arkansas	2-10	<0.1	3.7	108	-	-
118	New Mexico State	3-9	<0.1	2.4	118	-	-
119	Colorado State	3-9	<0.1	2.5	115	-	-
120	Bowling Green	3-9	<0.1	2.5	113	-	-
121	Georgia State	2-10	<0.1	3.4	122	-	-
122	Texas State	3-9	<0.1	2.2	116	-	-
123	Western Kentucky	3-9	<0.1	2.0	97	-	-
124	Kent State	2-10	<0.1	2.6	124	-	-
125	Rutgers	1-11	<0.1	3.3	126	-	-
126	Rice	2-11	<0.1	2.9	125	-	-
127	San José State	1-11	<0.1	3.5	127	-	-
128	UConn	1-11	<0.1	3.3	129	-	-
129	Central Michigan	1-11	<0.1	2.4	128	-	-
130	UTEP	1-11	<0.1	1.7	130	-	-

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.