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.

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

Arizona
9-3 · resume score 14.7 · schedule 2.2
Resume #31
CFP #11
Clemson
8-4 · resume score 14.2 · schedule 3.0
Resume #32
CFP #20
Oklahoma State
9-4 · resume score 21.1 · schedule 3.4
Resume #26
CFP #16

Resume says higher

Liberty
13-0 · resume score 87.4 · schedule 1.8
Resume #8
CFP #25
James Madison
11-1 · resume score 74.7 · schedule 2.4
Resume #10
CFP unranked
Troy
11-2 · resume score 52.3 · schedule 2.7
Resume #15
CFP unranked

Every FBS team, 2023

133

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	Washington	13-0	98.9	3.5	7	2	2
2	Michigan	13-0	98.1	3.1	1	1	1
3	Florida State	13-0	96.6	2.8	5	6	6
4	Alabama	12-1	94.0	3.7	3	5	5
5	Texas	12-1	93.9	3.7	4	3	3
6	Ohio State	11-1	90.7	3.2	6	10	10
7	Georgia	12-1	87.9	3.1	2	4	4
8	Liberty	13-0	87.4	1.8	13	25	25
9	Ole Miss	10-2	75.6	3.4	23	-	9
10	James Madison	11-1	74.7	2.4	11	-	-
11	Oregon	11-2	66.9	3.1	8	6	6
12	Oklahoma	10-2	66.8	3.2	15	15	15
13	Penn State	10-2	63.6	3.0	10	13	13
14	Missouri	10-2	63.0	3.0	16	8	8
15	Troy	11-2	52.3	2.7	9	-	-
16	SMU	11-2	49.5	2.5	12	22	22
17	LSU	9-3	49.1	3.5	14	12	12
18	Toledo	11-2	46.9	2.5	31	-	-
19	Tulane	11-2	43.4	2.4	25	-	-
20	Iowa	10-3	39.2	3.2	27	24	24
21	Miami (OH)	11-2	37.6	2.2	22	-	-
22	Louisville	10-3	34.2	3.0	34	19	19
23	Notre Dame	9-3	32.6	2.9	17	14	14
24	Kansas State	8-4	26.3	3.6	24	18	18
25	NC State	9-3	23.8	2.6	20	21	21
26	Oklahoma State	9-4	21.1	3.4	44	16	16
27	Tennessee	8-4	18.9	3.4	33	17	17
28	Memphis	9-3	18.6	2.4	37	-	-
29	Oregon State	8-4	17.9	3.3	26	-	-
30	Utah	8-4	15.3	3.2	40	-	-
31	Arizona	9-3	14.7	2.2	19	11	11
32	Clemson	8-4	14.2	3.0	18	20	20
33	Kansas	8-4	12.9	3.0	35	23	23
34	West Virginia	8-4	9.8	2.8	38	-	-
35	Ohio	9-3	8.6	1.8	41	-	-
36	North Carolina	8-4	7.4	2.6	52	-	-
37	Iowa State	7-5	7.0	3.3	28	-	-
38	New Mexico State	10-4	6.6	2.6	32	-	-
39	Wyoming	8-4	6.5	2.6	56	-	-
40	USC	7-5	6.2	3.3	67	-	-
41	UNLV	9-4	5.8	2.5	64	-	-
42	Air Force	8-4	4.8	2.3	65	-	-
43	Duke	7-5	4.5	3.1	49	-	-
44	Kentucky	7-5	4.0	3.2	39	-	-
45	Boise State	8-5	4.0	3.0	21	-	-
46	Miami	7-5	3.9	3.1	55	-	-
47	Fresno State	8-4	3.3	2.1	71	-	-
48	UTSA	8-4	3.3	2.1	29	-	-
49	Texas A&M	7-5	3.2	3.0	42	-	-
50	Jacksonville State	8-4	3.1	2.1	61	-	-
51	Bowling Green	7-5	3.0	3.1	46	-	-
52	App State	8-5	2.8	2.9	36	-	-
53	Maryland	7-5	2.0	2.9	48	-	-
54	Coastal Carolina	7-5	2.0	2.6	62	-	-
55	Texas Tech	6-6	1.6	3.4	43	-	-
56	Northwestern	7-5	1.6	2.5	60	-	-
57	Auburn	6-6	1.6	3.4	58	-	-
58	San José State	7-5	1.5	2.5	30	-	-
59	Rutgers	6-6	1.4	3.5	98	-	-
60	Western Kentucky	7-5	1.4	2.7	57	-	-
61	UCLA	7-5	1.3	2.5	66	-	-
62	Wisconsin	7-5	0.9	2.2	54	-	-
63	Georgia Tech	6-6	0.8	3.1	68	-	-
64	UCF	6-6	0.8	3.1	50	-	-
65	Texas State	7-5	0.8	2.2	72	-	-
66	Georgia State	6-6	0.7	2.9	90	-	-
67	California	6-6	0.6	3.0	47	-	-
68	Marshall	6-6	0.5	2.8	69	-	-
69	Old Dominion	6-6	0.4	2.8	79	-	-
70	Florida	5-7	0.4	3.8	73	-	-
71	South Alabama	6-6	0.4	2.9	59	-	-
72	Syracuse	6-6	0.3	2.7	78	-	-
73	Boston College	6-6	0.3	2.6	112	-	-
74	Utah State	6-6	0.3	2.6	81	-	-
75	Virginia Tech	6-6	0.3	2.6	45	-	-
76	BYU	5-7	0.2	3.4	92	-	-
77	Arkansas State	6-6	0.2	2.6	76	-	-
78	Minnesota	5-7	0.2	3.3	82	-	-
79	TCU	5-7	0.2	3.4	53	-	-
80	Georgia Southern	6-6	0.2	2.5	83	-	-
81	South Carolina	5-7	0.1	3.3	63	-	-
82	South Florida	6-6	0.1	2.5	100	-	-
83	Mississippi State	5-7	0.1	3.1	86	9	-
84	Rice	6-6	0.1	2.5	77	-	-
85	Illinois	5-7	0.1	2.9	85	-	-
86	Washington State	5-7	0.1	3.2	93	-	-
87	Army	6-6	0.1	2.4	51	-	-
88	Louisiana	6-6	<0.1	2.1	70	-	-
89	Nebraska	5-7	<0.1	2.5	84	-	-
90	Michigan State	4-8	<0.1	3.7	88	-	-
91	Wake Forest	4-8	<0.1	3.4	101	-	-
92	Houston	4-8	<0.1	3.1	106	-	-
93	Central Michigan	5-7	<0.1	2.4	111	-	-
94	Purdue	4-8	<0.1	3.3	75	-	-
95	Eastern Michigan	6-6	<0.1	1.7	80	-	-
96	Northern Illinois	6-6	<0.1	1.6	74	-	-
97	Colorado	4-8	<0.1	2.9	119	-	-
98	Western Michigan	4-8	<0.1	2.8	107	-	-
99	North Texas	5-7	<0.1	2.3	87	-	-
100	Navy	5-7	<0.1	2.3	96	-	-
101	Colorado State	5-7	<0.1	1.9	104	-	-
102	Ball State	4-8	<0.1	2.9	99	-	-
103	Arkansas	4-8	<0.1	3.1	91	-	-
104	Tulsa	4-8	<0.1	3.0	120	-	-
105	Virginia	3-9	<0.1	3.1	117	-	-
106	UAB	4-8	<0.1	2.8	102	-	-
107	Stanford	3-9	<0.1	3.2	122	-	-
108	Middle Tennessee	4-8	<0.1	3.1	97	-	-
109	San Diego State	4-8	<0.1	2.4	95	-	-
110	New Mexico	4-8	<0.1	2.4	121	-	-
111	Massachusetts	3-9	<0.1	3.3	125	-	-
112	Hawai'i	5-8	<0.1	2.3	108	-	-
113	Florida Atlantic	4-8	<0.1	2.2	113	-	-
114	Baylor	3-9	<0.1	2.9	110	-	-
115	Pittsburgh	3-9	<0.1	3.0	94	-	-
116	Indiana	3-9	<0.1	3.4	115	-	-
117	Southern Miss	3-9	<0.1	3.1	116	-	-
118	Cincinnati	3-9	<0.1	2.7	105	-	-
119	Arizona State	3-9	<0.1	3.1	103	-	-
120	Florida International	4-8	<0.1	2.0	131	-	-
121	Buffalo	3-9	<0.1	2.6	118	-	-
122	UTEP	3-9	<0.1	2.4	124	-	-
123	Vanderbilt	2-10	<0.1	3.3	123	-	-
124	UConn	3-9	<0.1	2.4	89	-	-
125	Louisiana Tech	3-9	<0.1	2.5	127	-	-
126	Charlotte	3-9	<0.1	2.2	128	-	-
127	UL Monroe	2-10	<0.1	2.8	129	-	-
128	Temple	3-9	<0.1	1.9	126	-	-
129	Sam Houston	3-9	<0.1	2.2	114	-	-
130	East Carolina	2-10	<0.1	3.1	109	-	-
131	Nevada	2-10	<0.1	1.9	133	-	-
132	Akron	2-10	<0.1	2.2	130	-	-
133	Kent State	1-11	<0.1	2.3	132	-	-

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.