Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State all ranked in the top five of our final FBS-wide rankings for 2024-25
• 4 min read
The 2024 season reached it conclusion on Monday night with Ohio State’s win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship, wrapping up a year unlike any other in modern college football history. Not only did we have the first-ever 12-team playoff bracket, but the landscape as a whole entered into a new era with a new look for every power conference thanks to realignment and further impact from the changes related to roster construction.
The good teams didn’t always seems as dominant, and the “bad” teams seemed more likely than ever to pull off an upset, and that compression of the sport at the highest levels made the week-to-week changes in the rankings even more thrilling to track (for fans) and more difficult to figure out for those experts with ballots. Ranking every FBS team is a labor of love for those of us at CBS Sports and 247Sports who contribute to the CBS Sports 134, because we think a true picture of strength in college football needs a wider lens than just 25 teams. But when the difference between No. 15 and No. 50 is tighter than it’s arguably ever been, you are left with big swings and overreactions leading to a rankings set that is constantly changing.
But now it’s time to put the final stamp on 2024 with the postseason edition of the CBS Sports 134. It of course leads with Ohio State taking the No. 1 spot just ahead of Notre Dame at No. 2, but the rest of the top 10 shows a respect for the entire body of work rather than just a reaction to the playoff or bowl results. Oregon dropped just two spots to No. 3, and Georgia fell just four spots to No. 6. Teams like Indiana, Boise State and Tennessee all held on to their top-10 spots despite a one-and-done showing in the CFP.
That’s not to say the entire 134 is without some notable reactions to bowl results; those clashes from across conferences did provide some interesting data points when sorting out teams with similar résumés. We’ll discuss some of those changes in the Mover’s Report, located below the top 25 table.
College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top 25 below and 26-134 on our rankings page.
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | 14-2 | 6 |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 14-2 | 3 |
| 3 | Oregon | 13-1 | 1 |
| 4 | Texas | 13-3 | 4 |
| 5 | Penn State | 13-3 | 5 |
| 6 | Georgia | 11-3 | 2 |
| 7 | Arizona State | 11-3 | 11 |
| 8 | Indiana | 11-2 | 7 |
| 9 | Boise State | 12-2 | 9 |
| 10 | Tennessee | 10-3 | 8 |
| 11 | SMU | 11-3 | 10 |
| 12 | Ole Miss | 10-3 | 14 |
| 13 | BYU | 11-2 | 17 |
| 14 | Clemson | 10-4 | 16 |
| 15 | Illinois | 10-3 | 21 |
| 16 | Iowa State | 11-3 | 18 |
| 17 | Miami | 10-3 | 15 |
| 18 | South Carolina | 9-3 | 13 |
| 19 | Alabama | 9-4 | 12 |
| 20 | Army | 12-2 | 19 |
| 21 | Syracuse | 10-3 | 23 |
| 22 | UNLV | 11-3 | 22 |
| 23 | Memphis | 11-2 | 24 |
| 24 | Colorado | 9-4 | 20 |
| 25 | Missouri | 10-3 | 25 |
Biggest movers
- No. 32 Michigan (+8): What a thunderous conclusion to the season for Michigan, first downing Ohio State in the rivalry game and then taking out Alabama in the postseason for a second straight season. Combine that on-field success with the off-field wins of landing five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, and it’s easy to see why there’s buzz heading into 2025 despite an 8-5 campaign that fell short of preseason expectations.
- No. 15 Illinois (+6): The Fighting Illini logged a 10-win season, and two of the three losses came to the teams we have No. 3 and No. 5 in our final CBS Sports 134. Bret Bielema had a group that took care of business and stayed more consistent than most teams outside of that top tier in the Big Ten, so after a big win against South Carolina as an underdog in the bowl game, it’s clear why there was a push up for Illinois among those teams with three or fewer losses.
- No. 39 Navy (+6): Speaking of a strong finish to the season, Navy bounced back from consecutive losses to Notre Dame and Rice to finish with a couple statement wins that greatly changes how this season was viewed. Not only did the Midshipmen upset recently crowned AAC champion Army in the rivalry game, but they followed that up with an upset over Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl to finish 10-3 on the year.
- No. 18 South Carolina (-5): Naturally, our voters are going to have a strong reaction on the other side of the Cheez-It Bowl after Illinois’ win as well, since the Gamecocks were expected to win and fell short to finish the year at 9-4. It was still a remarkably strong season for Shane Beamer’s squad, but when splitting hairs between all the 10-3 and 9-4 teams from the best conferences, that last data point led to a slide just outside of the top 15.
- No. 38 Texas Tech (-6): This is an interesting adjustment here for the Red Raiders, who finished 8-5 after a Liberty Bowl loss to Arkansas. The game was projected to be close to a toss-up, but the Razorbacks won by 13, so maybe a slight knock for falling short of expectations? In terms of the season as a whole, this was a squad that beat both Big 12 champion Arizona State and Big 12 runner-up Iowa State in the regular season, but took one too many losses elsewhere to make it into the conference title game tiebreaker. Ultimately, there are a lot of good teams that finished in that 9-4 or 8-5 window of the rankings, so we’re projecting the bowl loss is to blame for this adjustment.
- No. 19 Alabama (-7): The Crimson Tide were heavily favored against Michigan, had less star players opting out and still could not get over on the Wolverines or be effective enough offensively to muster the 20 points needed to win. Alabama was the team that many argued over when it was left out of the College Football Playoff, but there was little about its bowl performance that looked playoff-caliber in the 19-13 defeat to fall to 9-4 on the year.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 134: Teams ranked 26-134
