College Football Rankings Explained

College Football Rankings Explained Determining College Football Team Rankings Rankings for college football teams change every week throughout football season as aggregate performance impacts how each elite team compares against the others. Related Articles Understanding College Athletic Divisions Understanding College Athletic Divisions College Ranking College Ranking College Football College Football College Football Playoff Rankings The College Football Playoff (CFP) system began with the 2014 season, replacing the former Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The CFP ranking system is the one that, ultimately, is the most meaningful. That's because CFP rankings are the ones that determine which teams will be invited to participate in the playoffs, and the playoffs determine which teams have a shot at winning a national championship. CFP rankings are determined by a selection committee that consists of a mixture of people with expertise in football (such as athletic directors, former NCAA and conference representatives and former head coaches) and leaders outside the sport (as of 2015, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lieutenant General Mike Gould (Ret., U.S. Air Force) serve on the committee). Unlike the Coaches Poll and the AP Poll that are published from the very beginning of football season, CFP rankings aren't released until mid-season, when teams have had a few months to establish their track records. After the initial release date, CFP rankings are updated each week throughout the season, until selection day, which occurs after the last conference championship game has been played. Even though CFP rankings aren't released from the beginning of the season, every game, and even every play, are taken into consideration when determining rankings. Factors taken into consideration include "conference championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, comparison of results against common opponents and other factors." Coaches Poll USA Today is behind the Coaches Poll, and Amway is the name sponsor, so it is referred to as the Amway Coaches Poll. Rankings are determined by a randomly selected panel of head football coaches at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools. Every week, panel members submit their recommendations for the top 25 teams in college football. The panel members don't just submit a list of team names. Instead, the votes they turn in specify which position they feel each team should be in based on performance-to-date in the season, taking any factors they feel are relevant into consideration. A first place vote is worth 25 points, a second place vote is worth 24 points and so on.