News/Commentary

UPDATE: Projected Rankings For the End Of the Regular Season

September 30, 2020 by Staff

After factoring-in this past weekend's results, and projecting the outcomes of all the games yet to be played, here is an updated look at where every team would be ranked at the end of the regular season.

Right now 'every' team means the 91 teams that have either already played football, or have released their schedule. The rankings will change significantly once the schedules are released for the MAC, Mountain West, PAC-12 and UMass. The total number of teams for 2020 would then increase to 127.

Highlighted differences between this week's projected rankings and last week's version:

  • LSU and Oklahoma knocked out of the Final Four after losses to Mississippi State and Kansas State, respectively. Alabama and Notre Dame are the benefactors as the Tide jump from 5th to 1st, and the Irish move from 6th to 4th. Alabama's ascension to No. 1 is due to the fact that the Tide is now projected to win at LSU and finish the season undefeated, whereas they were previously expected to lose that game.
  • Oklahoma fell from 4th to 6th while LSU dropped from 3rd to 10th.
  • Kansas State improved from a projected won-loss forecast of 2-8, to a new projection of 5-5. The Wildcats leapt from an expected No. 73 end-of-season ranking, all the way up to 44th.
  • Mississippi State's projections only improved slightly as the won-loss record rose from 2-8 to 3-7 and the ranking improved from 75th to 67th.

Projected Rankings

LW TW TEAM CONF. POWER RANK W L CW CL SCHED.
5 1 Alabama SEC-W 94.12 94.12 10 0 10 0 19
1 2 Clemson ACC 93.38 93.38 11 0 10 0 47
2 3 Wisconsin Big 10-W 93.07 93.07 8 0 8 0 6
6 4 Notre Dame ACC 88.79 80.72 10 1 9 1 43
7 5 Ohio State Big 10-E 91.13 79.74 7 1 7 1 29
4 6 Oklahoma Big 12 88.46 79.61 9 1 8 1 52
8 7 Virginia Tech ACC 87.09 79.18 10 1 9 1 36
9 8 Minnesota Big 10-W 87.63 76.68 7 1 7 1 21
10 9 Oklahoma State Big 12 83.2 74.88 9 1 8 1 48
3 10 Louisiana State SEC-W 91.02 72.82 8 2 8 2 32
11 11 Brigham Young Ind. 71.55 71.55 8 0     82
12 12 Air Force MWC-M 70.3 70.3 2 0 0 0 65
13 13 Tennessee SEC-E 86.48 69.19 8 2 8 2 17
14 14 Memphis American 75.57 68.01 8 1 6 1 79
16 15 Virginia ACC 82.07 67.15 9 2 8 2 45
15 16 Cincinnati American 74.56 67.11 9 1 7 1 63
17 17 Penn State Big 10-E 89.24 66.93 6 2 6 2 23
18 18 Central Florida American 74.69 66.39 8 1 7 1 58
19 19 Appalachian State Sun-E 72.73 66.12 10 1 8 0 72
20 20 Texas Big 12 82.36 65.88 8 2 7 2 51
21 21 Indiana Big 10-E 87.21 65.41 6 2 6 2 18
22 22 Louisiana-Lafayette Sun-W 71.34 64.85 10 1 7 1 68
23 23 Texas A & M SEC-W 87.23 61.06 7 3 7 3 25
24 24 Florida SEC-E 86.88 60.81 7 3 7 3 24
25 25 Georgia SEC-E 86.68 60.67 7 3 7 3 27
26 26 Marshall CUSA-E 68.42 59.87 7 1 5 1 78
28 27 Pittsburgh ACC 77.76 56.55 8 3 7 3 44
29 28 North Carolina ACC 77.64 56.47 7 3 7 3 53
30 29 Iowa Big 10-W 84.56 52.85 5 3 5 3 9
27 30 Kentucky SEC-E 84.69 50.81 6 4 6 4 20
32 31 Western Kentucky CUSA-E 67.44 49.05 8 3 7 0 69
33 32 Southern Methodist American 67.11 48.81 8 3 5 3 67
31 33 Arkansas State Sun-W 65.82 47.87 8 3 6 2 66
34 34 Iowa State Big 12 76.28 45.77 6 4 6 3 42
36 35 Ala.-Birmingham CUSA-W 63.88 44.72 7 3 5 1 83
37 36 Louisville ACC 79.93 43.6 6 5 5 5 31
38 37 Michigan Big 10-E 86.24 43.12 4 4 4 4 5
35 38 Georgia State Sun-E 64.51 43 6 3 5 3 64
39 39 Baylor Big 12 76.8 42.67 5 4 5 4 40
40 40 Georgia Southern Sun-E 60.84 42.59 7 3 5 3 81
41 41 Navy American 64.07 40.77 7 4 6 2 59
46 42 Auburn SEC-W 81.45 40.72 5 5 5 5 14
42 43 Rice CUSA-W 53.23 35.49 4 2 4 2 91
73 44 Kansas State Big 12 70.81 35.41 5 5 5 4 41
43 45 Tulane American 63 34.36 6 5 3 5 60
50 46 Louisiana Tech CUSA-W 53.59 34.1 7 4 5 3 85
45 47 Miami (FLA) ACC 73.81 33.55 5 6 4 6 26
44 48 Southern Mississippi CUSA-W 57.04 33.28 7 5 5 3 90
52 49 Florida Atlantic CUSA-E 57.79 33.02 4 3 4 3 73
49 50 Army Ind. 55.04 30.02 6 5     84
47 51 Troy Sun-E 54 29.45 6 5 3 4 76
51 52 Missouri SEC-E 71.78 28.71 4 6 4 6 15
53 53 Illinois Big 10-W 75.6 28.35 3 5 3 5 8
55 54 Houston American 63.31 28.14 3 5 2 4 70
54 55 Purdue Big 10-W 73.71 27.64 3 5 3 5 11
48 56 Charlotte CUSA-E 60.02 26.67 4 5 4 3 71
57 57 Michigan State Big 10-E 70.59 26.47 3 5 3 5 12
58 58 Wake Forest ACC 72.77 26.46 4 7 3 7 33
59 59 Boston College ACC 70.84 25.76 4 7 3 7 28
60 60 Liberty Ind. 51.45 25.72 5 5     74
61 61 Coastal Carolina Sun-E 56.34 25.61 5 6 2 6 75
62 62 North Carolina State ACC 66.94 24.34 4 7 3 7 46
63 63 Temple American 64.13 24.05 3 5 3 5 55
64 64 Florida International CUSA-E 53.61 23.83 4 5 3 4 87
65 65 Syracuse ACC 65 23.64 4 7 3 7 35
56 66 West Virginia Big 12 67.74 20.32 3 7 2 7 50
75 67 Mississippi State SEC-W 67.29 20.19 3 7 3 7 13
67 68 Mississippi SEC-W 66.74 20.02 3 7 3 7 16
68 69 UTSA CUSA-W 47.74 19.89 5 7 3 5 88
69 70 Texas Tech Big 12 65.76 19.73 3 7 2 7 49
71 71 Northwestern Big 10-W 72.05 18.01 2 6 2 6 22
72 72 South Florida American 54.36 16.31 3 7 2 6 56
66 73 Texas Christian Big 12 67.76 15.06 2 7 2 7 34
76 74 Vanderbilt SEC-E 66.99 13.4 2 8 2 8 7
70 75 Florida State ACC 70.24 12.77 2 9 1 9 37
82 76 Duke ACC 67.67 12.3 2 9 1 9 39
77 77 Georgia Tech ACC 67.14 12.21 2 9 2 8 30
79 78 North Texas CUSA-W 50.1 10.02 2 8 1 7 89
80 79 South Alabama Sun-W 49.25 9.85 2 8 1 6 62
83 80 Texas-El Paso CUSA-W 37.29 9.32 3 9 0 8 86
78 81 Nebraska Big 10-W 73.28 9.16 1 7 1 7 1
81 82 Maryland Big 10-E 60.79 7.6 1 7 1 7 4
84 83 Tulsa American 56.85 6.32 1 8 1 7 54
85 84 Middle Tennessee CUSA-E 49.44 4.49 1 10 1 7 80
74 85 Louisiana-Monroe Sun-W 52.83 4.4 1 11 1 7 77
86 86 Texas State Sun-W 50.24 4.19 1 11 1 7 61
87 87 South Carolina SEC-E 66.61 0 0 10 0 10 3
88 88 Rutgers Big 10-E 60.92 0 0 8 0 8 10
89 89 Arkansas SEC-W 56.33 0 0 10 0 10 2
90 90 Kansas Big 12 55.54 0 0 10 0 9 38
91 91 East Carolina American 53.3 0 0 9 0 8 57