This is a ranking of resumes, not team strength (the eyeball test). A higher ranking for team A doesn’t mean it would beat a lower-ranked team B. It just means their catalog of results is a bit more impressive. If you want a ranking of team strength, check out Football Outsiders’ F/+ or ESPN’s FPI, both of which are pretty good at that sort of thing.

Ok, let’s go. Here’s all 128 teams, plus James Madison (there’s one particularly vocal JMU fan that I find endearing) and the top FCS team.

*Note – these rankings are formulaic, based completely on the final scores of every Division 1 (FBS and FCS) football game of the 2016 season.

The Basement

#128 – Buffalo (2-9)

#127 – Fresno State (1-10)

#126 – UTEP (3-8)

#125 – Texas State (2-8)

#124 – Kansas (2-9)

#123 – Massachusetts (2-9)

#122 – Marshall (3-8)

#121 – Rice (3-8)

#120 – Arizona (2-9)

#119 – Florida Atlantic (3-8)

#118 – Connecticut (3-8)

#117 – East Carolina (3-8)

#116 – Rutgers (2-9)

#115 – Nevada (4-7)

#114 – Virginia (2-9)

#113 – Purdue (3-8)

#112 – Florida International (4-7)

#111 – San Jose State (3-8)

#110 – Cincinnati (4-7)

#109 – Bowling Green (3-8)

#108 – Tulane (3-8)

#107 – New Mexico State (3-7)

#106 – Georgia State (3-8)

#105 – UL-Monroe (4-7)

#104 – Hawaii (5-7)

#103 – Illinois (3-8)

#102 – Charlotte (4-7)

#101 – UNLV (4-7)

#100 – Iowa State (3-8)

#99 – Missouri (3-8)

#98 – Utah State (3-8)

#97 – Michigan State (3-8)

Below Average

#96 – Syracuse (4-7)

#95 – Kent State (3-8)

#94 – Duke (4-7)

#93 – Georgia Southern (4-7)

#92 – North Texas (5-6)

#91 – Ball State (4-7)

#90 – UL-Lafayette (4-6)

#89 – California (4-7)

#88 – Miami-OH (5-6)

#87 – Akron (5-6)

#86 – Oregon State (3-8)

#85 – Southern Miss (5-6)

#84 – Texas Tech (4-7)

#83 – UTSA (5-6)

#82 – SMU (5-6)

#81 – Arizona State (5-6)

#80 – Army (6-5)

#79 – Notre Dame (4-7)

#78 – Boston College (5-6)

#77 – Oregon (4-7)

#76 – Mississippi State (4-7)

#75 – Northern Illinois (4-7)

#74 – Maryland (5-6)

#73 – Eastern Michigan (6-5)

#72 – Central Michigan (6-5)

#71 – UCLA (4-7)

#70 – Middle Tennessee (7-4)

#69 – Vanderbilt (5-6)

#68 – South Alabama (5-5)

#67 – NC State (5-6)

#66 – New Mexico (7-4)

#65 – Wake Forest (6-5)

Better Than Average

#64 – Indiana (5-6)

#63 – South Carolina (6-5)

#62 – Texas (5-6)

#61 – Ole Miss (5-6)

#60 – Kentucky (6-5)

#59 – Idaho (6-4)

#58 – Arkansas State (6-4)

#57 – TCU (5-5)

#56 – Colorado State (6-5)

#55 – Ohio (7-4)

#54 – Central Florida (6-5)

#53 – Baylor (6-4)

#52 – Northwestern (5-6)

#51 – Old Dominion (8-3)

#50 – Georgia (7-4)

#49 – Memphis (7-4)

#48 – Arkansas (7-4)

#47 – Georgia Tech (7-4)

#46 – Air Force (8-3)

#45 – Kansas State (6-4)

#44 – Miami (7-4)

#43 – Virginia Tech (8-3)

#42 – BYU (7-4)

#41 – Wyoming (8-3)

#40 – Louisiana Tech (8-3)

#39 – North Carolina (8-3)

#38 – Utah (8-3)

#37 – Appalachian State (8-3)

#36 – Temple (8-3)

#35 – Tulsa (8-3)

#34 – Western Kentucky (8-3)

#33 – Iowa (7-4)

#32 – Stanford (8-3)

#31 – Minnesota (8-3)

#30 – Troy (8-2)

#29 – LSU (6-4)

#28 – Texas A&M (8-3)

#27 – San Diego State (9-2)

James Madison (10-1)

#26 – Pittsburgh (7-4)

The Top 25

#25 – South Florida (9-2) – Florida State and Temple aren’t bad teams, and USF has beaten everyone else. Willie Taggart’s a good coach, and it’s nice to see he’s turned things around in Tampa. No more hot seat talk. Just program-building.

#24 – Navy (8-2) – After they struggled against Connecticut and Tulane and then lost to Air Force, I assumed Navy would take a significant step back in 2016. After losing Keenan Reynolds to the NFL, it would’ve been understandable. Instead, Navy has been quite good. They lost to South Florida, which makes their placement here a bit unfortunate, but while the Bulls have good losses, the Midshipmen have good wins. Navy beat Houston, Tulsa, and Memphis.

#23 – Florida (8-2) – A potential 9-2 SEC East champ should be ranked higher, but the cloud of a 3 score loss to not-elite Arkansas is mighty dark. Florida also lacks a signature win. Georgia and LSU are 4-loss teams, and they’re the best teams Florida has beaten.

#22 – Toledo (9-2) – There’s not a ton to like about Toledo’s season, but the two losses are by a total of 7 points. That’s pretty much it. Don’t lose much and don’t lose by much, and you wind up with a top 25 season. They can make it a significantly better season with a win over Western Michigan in the season finale.

#21 – Florida State (8-3) – The win over South Florida is pretty good, and they’ve beaten Miami as well. It helps that one of the losses was to Clemson.

#20 – Auburn (8-3) – Auburn lacks any particularly interesting victories, but they’ve blown out several opponents, and like FSU, have Clemson, which makes it look less bad. An Iron Bowl win will make this a season to remember on the plains, not for what it means for Auburn as much as what it means for Alabama.

#19 – West Virginia (8-2) – Just when we were all starting to wonder about playoff scenarios involving 1-loss West Virginia, the Mountaineers lost to Oklahoma. Welp.

#18 – Washington State (8-3) – The fightin’ Leaches could move up significantly with a win over Washington in the Apple Cup this weekend. I don’t see them cracking the top 10, but either way, it’s been a very nice season.

#17 – Oklahoma State (9-2) – If the refs don’t screw OSU out of the Central Michigan victory, OSU would be 10th. I’m not sure a win over Oklahoma could bump them into the top 4 even if the committee treats them like a 1-loss team (which they really should). But a Big XII title would be a lovely consolation prize, especially if they take it away from the Sooners in the process.

#16 – Houston (9-2) – Navy’s good, and that game was close, but how the hell did the Cougars lose by 3 TD to SMU? It’s a resume-killer.

#15 – Tennessee (8-3) – They may only be top 20 in football, but they’re Champions of Life. Looking forward to the commemorative license plates.

#14 – Nebraska (9-2) – There’s still a chance for Nebraska to win the Big Ten, as they’re a Wisconsin loss and a victory over Iowa away from winning the B10 West. I’m not sure the trip to the title game would really be all that helpful for their resume, though. Nebraska hasn’t scored 30 points in a game since early October, and if it’s anyone other than Penn State waiting on the opposing sideline, I’m not optimistic. Maybe a 10-2 finish is for the best.

#13 – Oklahoma (9-2) – Oklahoma is a Bedlam win away from another Big XII championship. Some are penciling them in as playoff contenders, but a LOT needs to happen for that to be the case, in my opinion.

#12 – Louisville (9-2) – They had a nice year and will probably have the Heisman winner. It all worked out pretty nicely, as Lamar Jackson gets to finish a special season, and Bobby Petrino remains a non-champion. Go Falcons.

#11 – Colorado (9-2) – The feel-good story of the season still feels good. A win over Utah means Colorado will be in the Pac-12 Championship Game. That was a phenomenally surreal sentence to type.

#10 – Boise State (10-1) – Another excellent year, but it’ll be hollow without a Mountain West championship. They need a Wyoming loss for that to be a possibility.

Sam Houston State (11-0) *Top FCS Team

#9 – USC (8-3) – With a Utah victory over Colorado, USC will win the Pac-12 South. They have a decent shot to wind up as Pac-12 champion, at least a better chance than most 3-loss teams this time of year.

#8 – Penn State (9-2) – Penn State is dreaming of the Big Ten Championship, but don’t sleep on Michigan State. The Spartans are playing better over the last two weeks than they have all year long.

#7 – Wisconsin (9-2) – Neutral parties seem to be rooting for the Badgers in the B10, and it makes sense. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska – there are better reasons to hate these teams than Wisconsin. Wisconsin hasn’t clinched the West yet, but winning Paul Bunyan’s Axe on Saturday will do it.

#6 – Washington (10-1) – Why can’t Washington get any love from the committee or me? The schedule is terrible. Their 3rd best win is…. Idaho. That said, they have the chance for a good win against Washington State this week, and winning that game will give them a shot at another quality win over USC or Colorado in the Pac-12 Championship. They can still move up.

#5 – Western Michigan (11-0) – The Committee needs to take a public and clear stance on Group of Five teams. They routinely give them no respect in the rankings, but they continue to rank them anyway. It’s bizarre. If they want to just outright state that no Group of Five team is eligible for the playoffs, fine. At least they’re clear about it, and they don’t have to appear in the rankings. But stop ranking undefeated teams behind 3-loss Power-5 teams. It’s ridiculous and indicative of just how lost the committee’s process is.

The Four

#4 – Clemson (10-1) – I think Clemson might be the 2nd best team in the country, and they’re one that could be the best potential foil for Alabama in the playoffs. To get there, they need to take care of South Carolina this weekend and defeat Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship Game. Clemson does seem to have the easiest path to the playoffs at this point, but strange things could happen in the ACC title game. You never know what could happen with the voices of 18,000 murmuring fans ringing in your ears.

#3 – Michigan (10-1) – This very well could have been Michigan’s year, but the loss of QB Wilton Speight really, really hurts. They’re still really good, thanks to the defense, but games will be a grind.

#2 – Ohio State (10-1) – I think everyone knows Ohio State’s situation by this point. They can beat Michigan but still be left out of the Big Ten Championship Game. The question is, if that happens, does Ohio State still make the playoffs? My gut says yes, but it’ll be interesting to see play out. After 2 years of playoffs, the Committee hasn’t yet included a non-champion.

#1 – Alabama (11-0) – Such an easy choice at this point.