Ranking 134 college football teams after 2024 season: Ohio State No. 1, Arizona State’s big rise

The 2024 college football season is over. With Ohio State’s 34-23 win against Notre Dame, the longest season in history is in the books, from pre-Labor Day weekend to MLK Day.

I’ve done this exercise since 2017, and last year was the toughest final ranking I faced because of bowl opt-outs. Well, the 12-team CFP makes it even more difficult. Some teams have played four games since the pre-bowl edition of these rankings. Others have played none. Many others are in between.

Bowl games count, though opt-outs are generally factored in. CFP runs matter, but they aren’t the only factor in changes. The rankings are meant to represent a resume from the entire season.

For the third year in a row, I’ve included the preseason rankings to see how teams performed relative to my expectations. The biggest overachievers were Arizona State, Indiana, Illinois and Navy. The biggest underachievers were Florida State, Appalachian State, Utah and Liberty. I got one team exactly right — Ohio State — but many quite close to the original. For the record, I only put the preseason ranking in the table after the final ranking. Outside of the obvious surprises, I thought I did pretty well here.

This will be the last-ever Athletic 134, just as last year was the final 133 and 2022 was the final 131. Delaware and Missouri State join the Football Bowl Subdivision next season, growing these rankings to 136 teams.

Here is the final Athletic 134 for the 2024-25 season.

1-10

Immediately, I realized how difficult this exercise would be when I concluded Oregon should be No. 2. I had Notre Dame here initially, as the final AP Top 25 did. But as I went back through, the Oregon case was fairly simple on paper. Oregon has a win over Ohio State, unlike Notre Dame. It has four top-15 wins in total and has the fewest losses, none of which came against Northern Illinois. The 41-21 Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State may ultimately be how people remember this Oregon team, but the regular season still matters, to me at least.

Notre Dame’s run to the final was thrilling, impressive and earned. But the rest of the Irish resume was lacking. Oregon didn’t win a CFP game but had three wins over CFP teams (Ohio State, Penn State and Boise State), same as Notre Dame. Against common opponents (Ohio State and Penn State), Oregon looked better, and the Rose Bowl blowout loss to Ohio State is still better than the home loss to Northern Illinois, in my opinion. The new CFP bracket could make this part hard every year, but that’s my explanation.

No. 4 Penn State finished with one top-10 win here but had the same number of top-15 wins as Georgia, nearly beat Notre Dame in the semifinals and only lost to the top three teams. The Bulldogs stay ahead of Texas because they beat the Longhorns twice. Tennessee drops behind Arizona State to No. 8 because its resume hinged solely on an Alabama win that got worse with time. No. 7 ASU finished with wins against BYU, Iowa State and Kansas State.

Boise State slips to No. 9 after a competitive loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl. It turns out No. 10 Indiana’s only losses came to the two national championship game participants, though neither game was all that competitive. The Hoosiers deserved their Playoff spot and still deserve an apology from Kirk Herbstreit and others. The win over Michigan looks better now and counts as a top 25 victory here.

11-25

BYU jumps up to No. 11. Why? The Cougars beat SMU earlier in the season, whipped Kansas State and demolished Colorado — with Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter — 36-14 in the Alamo Bowl. While SEC teams like No. 13 Ole Miss got much of the attention around CFP snubs, perhaps BYU should’ve been in the same conversation.

Illinois climbs to No. 14 thanks to its bowl win over South Carolina. The Illini also beat Michigan earlier in the year. Alabama slips to No. 15 after the stunning ReliaQuest Bowl loss to Michigan, capping the Tide’s first four-loss season since 2007. For the strength of schedule argument, the wins against Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri and LSU are the reason the Tide are even this high.

No. 18 Iowa State and No. 19 Syracuse move up after bowl wins, while Miami drops to No. 20 because it lost to both of them. Yes, Cam Ward didn’t play the second half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, but the Canes only led by three when he left the game.

Michigan, 6-5 two games ago, finishes at No. 21 after closing with wins against Ohio State and Alabama. Not a bad rebuilding year after all. Four of the Wolverines’ five losses came to eventual top-15 teams.

Navy also climbs back into the top 25 thanks to wins against Army and Oklahoma since the last edition of these rankings. The Midshipmen also beat 11-win Memphis, which dropped just out of the top 25 as a result, even with the bowl win against West Virginia.

26-50

This is where the nature of other teams’ results impacts the rankings. Memphis, Louisville, LSU and Kansas State didn’t move “down” after bowl wins. Their drop is simply due to Michigan and Navy moving up over them.

Florida finishing at No. 32 after the Billy Napier hot seat talk was quite a turnaround, closing with four consecutive wins, including against LSU, Ole Miss and a (very depleted) Tulane. Vanderbilt jumps to No. 36 after beating Georgia Tech. Iowa lost to Missouri in its bowl game but stays ahead of No. 39 Minnesota due to a head-to-head win.

Texas Tech drops to No. 42 after losing to Arkansas, while USC rises to No. 43 after beating Texas A&M. Nebraska climbs to No. 46 after beating Boston College. MAC champion Ohio jumps to No. 47 after beating Jacksonville State to finish 11-3. Pitt started 7-0 and ended at 7-6, in part due to major injuries, to finish No. 50.

51-75

Oklahoma drops to No. 53 after losing to Navy (with a depleted roster). UConn’s nine wins were its most since 2007, and the Huskies finish No. 58. East Carolina’s “rivalry” win over NC State sees the Pirates jump up and finish at No. 61, one spot ahead of the Wolfpack and another spot ahead of North Carolina.

Bowl wins by No. 71 Miami (Ohio), No. 72 Buffalo, No. 73 Texas State, No. 74 Toledo and No. 75 Northern Illinois, see all five finish in the top 75. While NIU beat Notre Dame in the upset of the season, the Huskies lost to Miami, Buffalo and Toledo, hence their position here.

76-100

Bowl losses see Western Kentucky and Georgia Southern drop out of the top 75. UTSA closed with four wins in its last five games to finish No. 80. But earlier losses to Rice and Tulsa are what keep the Roadrunners from being higher. South Florida beat San Jose State in five overtimes to finish ranked No. 88, while Arkansas State’s win against Bowling Green moved the Red Wolves up to No. 91 and the Falcons down to No. 92. The lowest-ranked team to win a bowl game was No. 98 South Alabama, which beat Western Michigan.

101-134

Western Michigan and Louisiana Tech were the only teams in this last group to reach a bowl game, but Louisiana Tech’s bid and Independence Bowl loss to Army came because Marshall opted out of the game.

None of the teams ranked 103rd or lower changed, having finished their seasons long ago, but Florida State ultimately fell from an undefeated regular season in 2023 to a No. 105 ranking in 2024. The drop from preseason No. 9 is the farthest fall of any team in the last three years I’ve checked (the largest jump was 2022 Tulane, from No. 112 to No. 10). Purdue closes as the lowest-ranked Power 4 team at No. 112.

Kennesaw State won two games in its first FBS season to finish ranked No. 132, while Kent State became the first 0-12 team in the FBS since 2019. The Golden Flashes only had two games finish within three scores — losses against FCS St. Francis (Pa.) and Ball State, which fired its coach. I had Kent State as the preseason No. 133, and the Flashes still fell short of expectations.

(Photo: Erick W. Rasco / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)