NCAA College Football Power Rankings - 2024 Final Rankings

Two of the biggest upsets of the season -- Northern Illinois beating Notre Dame in South Bend and Michigan beating Ohio State at the Shoe -- turned out to be irrelevant. Call me crazy, but I think rendering the regular season irrelevant is a monumentally bad idea. Be honest...how many of you have watched more than five college basketball games this year? How about NBA games? Why? The regular seasons don't matter much in the NBA and not at all in college basketball. This is not the fate that college football deserves.

There are going to be some big movers here and the teams that weren't crippled by opt-outs had a decided advantage. Teams that were also in the 12-team playoff had an advantage as well. Are my top 12 the same as the playoff teams? I'm not going to ruin the surprise!

These are my rankings, and they don't match the AP poll. I watched more football than all of them and I spent my season trying to be impartial. You won't find any biases here. You know my favorite team is Oklahoma and you know that I had Texas ranked high until they lost to Georgia. Just because I don't like them and can't cheer for them doesn't mean I don't recognize when they have a good team.

(25) Memphis (11-2) (NR)

Last week: W 42-37 vs. West Virginia

West Virginia had all of their starters and Memphis still won. Welcome back to the rankings!

(24) Colorado (9-3) ⇓5

Last week: L 14-36 vs. (14) BYU

Colorado had most of its starters -- including the two Heisman contenders -- and still got blown off the field. Ouch.

(23) Navy (10-3) (NR)

Last week: W 21-20 vs. Oklahoma

It's a win over a brand name that shouldn't be discounted. Michael Hawkins Jr. started for a month this year and we haven't had a healthy WR room since August. Navy deserves credit for this win and for demolishing Army.

(22) UNLV (11-3) ⇓1

Last week: W 24-13 vs. California

I know it was a win, but the Rebels barely beat a Cal team without a QB and the top two receivers. It wasn't that impressive.

(21) Syracuse (9-3) ⇑4

Last week: W 52-35 vs. Washington State

Kyle McCord went out in style with another monster performance. Can you imagine if he had stayed with the Orange for one more year? I'll call it now: Quinn Ewers to Syracuse.

(20) Missouri (10-3) ⇔

Last week: W 27-24 vs. Iowa

Sorry, Mizzou. Illinois beating South Carolina was enough to move them up in front of you. It's not you, it's them.

(19) Alabama (9-4) ⇓7

Last week: L 13-19 vs. Michigan

The Tide lost to an average Michigan team that wasn't even at full strength. They're lucky I'm still ranking them at all...

(18) SMU (11-2) ⇓3

Last week: L 10-38 vs. (5) Penn State

There's little doubt who the worst playoff team was this year, but the committee painted itself into this corner back in October. SMU and Indiana were both rewarded for win numbers but not win quality from the very beginning.

(17) South Carolina (9-4) ⇓8

Last week: L 17-21 vs. Illinois

Don't hang your heads, South Carolina fans. It was still a great season even though this loss stung quite a bit.

(16) Illinois (10-3) ⇑6

Last week: W 21-17 vs. (9) South Carolina

The Gamecocks were the one team that I thought had a legitimate gripe about being left out and Illinois still beat them. The Illini got my respect with that win. It may have been the best game that they played all season, but they played it at the right time.

(15) Miami (FL) (10-3) ⇑2

Last week: L 41-42 vs. (18) Iowa State

This THROW by Cam Ward ?

The pre-draft hype is only going to RISE for the Hurricanes QB. pic.twitter.com/NKMeyZuOGY

— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) January 24, 2025

The Pop-Tarts Bowl has one of the dumbest names but may have had the best game. And yes, Miami moving to Emory Williams at quarterback cost them the game.

(14) Iowa State (11-3) ⇑4

Last week: W 42-41 vs. (17) Miami (FL)

After 132 years of playing Football the Iowa State Cyclones have finally won 10 games in a season.

The drought is over! pic.twitter.com/aQDJ33Efey

— Wilson F. Ball, CFB Analyst (@WillyFoosball) December 1, 2024

We're getting into the tier of underachievers. I don't feel the need to put "playoff" teams in my top 12. I've gone against the grain for much of the season. Why stop now? I'll give teams credit for showing up in bowl games. They deserve praise for caring enough to put on that uniform one more time.

(13) Clemson (9-4) ⇓3

Last week: L 24-38 vs. (3) Texas

Did Clemson belong on that field with Texas? Probably not. Who would have been better though? Mississippi is the only team that may have come close. To be fair, no ACC team played like they deserved to be in.

(12) Boise State (12-2) ⇑4

Last week: L 14-31 vs. (5) Penn State

I wasn't going to move Boise up, but they do deserve some credit for hanging around with Penn State for 40 minutes. They were never a threat to win the game though. Penn State did a great job on Ashton Jeanty and the passing game wasn't good enough to make them pay.

(11) BYU (11-2) ⇑3

Last week: W 36-14 vs. (19) Colorado

BYU wasn't as vocal about the playoff snub, but they went out there and took it to a hot Colorado team in San Antonio.

(10) Mississippi (10-3) ⇑3

Last week: W 52-20 vs. Duke

I know that Mississippi didn't make the playoff, nor do I think they should have. However, Lane Kiffin thought they should have and spent all of the first round telling anyone who would listen. He's not the only coach that did this, but he was the most vocal.

You know what? His team went out there and took care of business. Miami, South Carolina, and Alabama did not. Ole Miss left no doubt who the best team on the field was and left everyone wondering how far the Rebels could have gone in the playoffs.

(9) Tennessee (10-3) ⇓3

Last week: L 17-42 vs. (4) Ohio State

I will say that a healthy Dylan Sampson for the whole game would have made a difference, but there may not have been a team that could have beaten Ohio State in this game. Tennessee fans showed up en masse. Ohio State sent them back down I-75 in dumbfounded disbelief.

That said, Tennessee's trolling on X before the game was legendary and mostly good-natured. They did the same when they came to Norman this year and I took it for what it was: fun. More fanbases need to troll like the Vols because 99% of them didn't cross the line.

(8) Indiana (11-2) ⇔

Last week: L 17-27 vs. (7) Notre Dame

Ok it took all of 5 minutes into College Gameday for Kirk Herbstreit to embarrass himself by trashing Indiana. Low class all the way Kirk! Let’s act like Indiana is the first team to ever struggle in a playoff game. Way to go Kirk you did it again, keep carrying water for ESPN… pic.twitter.com/zyuy81wBCd

— Ace Football Analytics (@js_ace_football) December 21, 2024

Indiana's two losses were to teams that played for the National Championship. If they had just one good win, I would have the Hoosiers in the top five. Indiana wasn't "outclassed" because they allowed a 98-yard touchdown run on the first play.

The game wasn't a blowout. The Hoosiers showed heart and kept it close. 10 points isn't an embarrassing loss by any measure. No one is piling it on Tennessee for getting dominated by Ohio State. Why the hate for Indiana, the best story in college football this year? Because the elites don't like the rabble eating from their buffet.

(7) Georgia (11-3) ⇓5

Last week: L 10-23 vs. (7) Notre Dame

The only question I have is whether Georgia will go into the portal and make it rain to upgrade the quarterback position. Gunner Stockton wasn't bad, but he wasn't that good either.

All things considered, this was not a bad game for his first career start. Georgia's inability to run the ball was a huge problem in this game. Notre Dame dominated the "middle eight" which ultimately doomed the Bulldogs.

(6) Arizona State (11-3) ⇑5

Last week: L 31-39 (2 OT) vs. (3) Texas 

The Sun Devils pushed Texas to the brink before losing, and honestly, probably should have won this game. What say you? To me, this looks a lot like targeting. That would have kept the drive going for Arizona State inside of two minutes and very likely affected the outcome of the game. Stop me if you've heard that before.

Scott Van Pelt: “I don’t care who it is. That’s targeting 100 times out of 100. It wasn’t [called] in this case.”

Dusty Dvoracek: “I thought it was targeting in the moment. I picked up the phone, made a few phone calls. I talked to Bill Lemonnier, who I think is one of the… pic.twitter.com/Ug0CqFWljR

— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) January 2, 2025

Do you know what really seals it for me? ES(EC)PN admitted on SportsCenter that it was targeting. This is the network that lights the SEC torch saying that the refs blew the call against an SEC team.

I feel really bad for Arizona State. This isn't as egregious as the Nebraska-USC game, but the game was FAR more important. The officials altered the course of history in the first 12-team playoff. Would Arizona State have beaten Ohio State? I doubt it, but we'll never know.

(5) Oregon (13-1) ⇓4

Last week: L 21-41 vs. (4) Ohio State

Somewhere, regular season success still matters. It didn't in this game. Oregon struggled to solve the Ohio State defense and was powerless to stop their offense. The extra week off probably didn't do the Ducks any favors, but that's not the only reason they lost this game. Oregon was outplayed at every position.

(4) Penn State (13-3) ⇑1

Playoffs: W 38-10 vs. (15) SMU, W 31-14 vs. (16) Boise State, L 24-27 vs. (7) Notre Dame

James Franklin is now 1-15 vs. AP top-5 opponents as the head coach at Penn State pic.twitter.com/uvTUztVJ2q

— DraftKings (@DraftKings) January 10, 2025

Is getting to the playoff enough for Penn State? Considering where they were before James Franklin got there, it should be. Overall, it was not a bad finish for Penn State in the Final Four, but they had an easy road to get there.

(3) Texas (13-3) ⇔

Playoffs: W 38-24 vs. (10) Clemson, W 39-31 (2 OT) vs. (11) Arizona State, L 14-28 vs. (4) Ohio State

People are dogging Notre Dame's run through the playoffs, but what about Texas? I'm not going to argue that Arizona State didn't belong -- they did -- but the auto-bid for Clemson was a nice warm-up for Texas.

Texas was one of the teams who would have been in the four-team playoff and they played like it. That's a successful season, right? And we get Arch Manning next year. I'm an Oklahoma fan and I want to see that!

(2) Notre Dame (14-2) ⇑5

Playoffs: W 27-17 vs. (8) Indiana, W 23-10 vs. (2) Georgia, W 27-24 vs. (5) Penn State, L 23-34 vs. (4) Ohio State

The Golden Standard ☘️

Congratulations to Coach Marcus Freeman on being named the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/RIiIhBeun4

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 23, 2025

I knew when the Irish hired Marcus Freeman that they made the right hire. I openly criticized the hiring of Brian Kelly, Charlie Weis, and Tyrone Willingham. Don't even get me started on George O'Leary. I didn't criticize Freeman. The Irish caught the break of all breaks when Kelly left for LSU.

The Irish still had their share of shortcomings this year, but to be fair, every team did. That's how we wound up with a two-loss champion. Coaching was not one of the shortcomings. For those of you who don't like Notre Dame, it could be a long two decades or so before Freeman steps down.

Notre Dame's run to the title game was "easy," but all of the teams that they beat were in my top 10 as well as any sane poll. We all know that the seeding was bogus.

We can argue about the merits of Texas in this spot, but they lost to Georgia twice. Notre Dame beat Georgia, even though it was without Carson Beck. It is worth noting that Texas was ahead of Georgia when Beck got hurt. Therefore, the Irish keep the spot.

(1) Ohio State (14-2) ⇑3

Playoffs: W 42-17 vs. (6) Tennessee, W 41-21 vs. (1) Oregon, W 28-14 vs. (3) Texas, W 34-23 vs. (7) Notre Dame

What do Ohio State fans do during the offseason? LSU has baseball. I’m not trying to take a shot I’m being serious

— Mike Ross (@standtalkla) January 23, 2025

This is the first two-loss champion, and unfortunately, it won't be the last. What have you savages done to the sport I love? You can't take anything away from Ohio State's run. They beat four solid teams to claim the championship.

Others Receiving Votes

• Florida
• Kansas State
• LSU
• Army
• Louisville
• TCU

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