LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 01: Roger Rosengarten #73 of the Washington Huskies, Dillon Johnson #7 of the Washington Huskies, and Camdyn Stiegeler #13 of the Washington Huskies celebrate after Johnson's rushing touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Oregon Ducks during the Pac-12 Championship at Allegiant Stadium on December 01, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)

Ranking 133 college football teams after the 2023 regular season: Should Washington be No. 1?

Chris Vannini
Dec 4, 2023

The College Football Playoff selection committee had no chance of getting it right on Sunday, because there was no right answer.

The committee members were backed into a corner and had to wrong someone in narrowing the field down to four teams. They ultimately chose Florida State, which did nothing wrong all season and finished undefeated including two win over SEC teams in nonconference play. The Seminoles only committed the sin of having Jordan Travis’ left leg twist 90 degrees and backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker suffer a concussion in consecutive weeks. After nine years of choosing teams based on results and not projections, the committee picked Alabama over Florida State because it thought that would produce a better game. (It’s right about that.)

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But the decision was also completely inconsistent with everything the committee has done before. It usually had an easy choice in picking the final four teams, even if we didn’t actually think a few of those CFP teams would beat a left-out Alabama, Georgia or Ohio State on a given day. This time, for the first time and the last time, the committee left out an undefeated Power 5 team because of what they thought the CFP game would look like. It’s a real shame, and I’m gutted for Travis.

go-deeper

Needless to say, there aren’t many changes in this week’s Athletic 133, but my top four is different than the committee’s in more ways than one. As we head into the postseason, here is a slightly updated Athletic 133.

1-10

RankTeamRecordPrev
1
13-0
3
2
13-0
2
3
12-1
7
4
13-0
4
5
12-1
8
6
12-1
1
7
11-1
5
8
11-2
6
9
10-2
9
10
10-2
10

To me, Washington or Michigan for the No. 1 spot should’ve been a lot closer than it was, but the committee liked Michigan all year and did not seem to like Washington. Among my top 35 teams, the Huskies have wins against Oregon (twice), Arizona, Oregon State, Utah and Boise State, while Michigan has wins against Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa and UNLV. Yes, Washington played much closer games against inferior competition and hasn’t won a game by more than one score since September. I don’t have an issue with Michigan getting the No. 1 spot. I just think Washington’s wins are better, and I personally lean toward that among undefeated teams.

The Florida State-Alabama debate is self-explanatory, as mentioned above, and you’ve probably argued about it plenty of times already. To me, the games have to matter, so Florida State gets the No. 4 spot. Regarding Ole Miss and Missouri, their common opponent result against LSU is the difference to me. I really don’t care for comparing who lost to Georgia worse when both lost by multiple scores. Missouri also didn’t have to play Alabama. Both Ole Miss and Missouri reached New Year’s Six games, so it worked out.

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11-25

RankTeamRecordPrev
11
10-2
11
12
10-2
12
13
9-3
13
14
9-3
14
15
10-3
15
16
9-3
16
17
11-2
25
18
13-0
18
19
11-2
17
20
11-1
19
21
9-4
20
22
8-4
21
23
9-3
22
24
10-3
23
25
8-4
26

Oklahoma has better wins than Penn State, including the best or second-best win in the country (vs. Texas). The Nittany Lions’ best argument was losing to Ohio State and Michigan, and that just doesn’t do it for me. Penn State ultimately got the New Year’s Six spot over the Sooners, but I disagree with it. Iowa is a 10-2 team with two losses to ranked teams by a combined score of 57-0 and zero notable wins to go with it.

SMU’s win at Tulane moved the Mustangs up to my top Group of 5 spot, though Liberty got the nod from the selection committee. I do think this was a really close call, and I didn’t strongly favor one team over another. Much like Florida State, if you’re undefeated, that counts for something. SMU was ahead in strength of schedule; Liberty was ahead in strength of record. SMU had zero notable wins until winning at Memphis and at Tulane in the final three weeks, while Liberty beat 10-win New Mexico State twice. I ultimately picked SMU because they had two Power 5 losses to Liberty’s zero Power 5 games, so that’s kind of a wash, and I think the Mustangs would win if they lined up. (I handled this differently than the FSU situation because of FSU’s nonconference schedule strength.)

All that said, had James Madison and Troy met in the Sun Belt championship, the Sun Belt would have had a really good chance of winning the spot, especially if its champion was JMU, which already had a win at Troy.

26-50

RankTeamRecordPrev
26
11-2
29
27
8-4
27
28
8-4
28
29
8-4
30
30
10-4
31
31
8-4
32
32
8-5
62
33
8-4
33
34
9-4
34
35
7-5
35
36
11-2
41
37
11-2
24
38
7-5
36
39
7-5
37
40
8-4
38
41
7-5
39
42
7-5
40
43
8-4
42
44
7-5
43
45
9-3
44
46
7-5
45
47
8-4
46
48
9-3
47
49
7-5
48
50
7-5
49

Boise State’s Mountain West championship win and 3-0 finish moved the Broncos up to No. 33. Congratulations to interim head coach Spencer Danielson for getting the job. Miami (Ohio) beat Toledo with its backup quarterback to win the MAC, but the RedHawks stay behind the other Miami due to their Week 1 head-to-head result.

51-133

RankTeamRecordPrev
51
8-5
50
52
6-6
51
53
6-6
52
54
8-4
53
55
6-6
54
56
6-6
55
57
5-7
56
58
5-7
57
59
6-6
58
60
6-6
59
61
7-5
60
62
8-4
61
63
8-4
63
64
6-6
64
65
7-5
65
66
6-6
66
67
6-6
67
68
5-7
68
69
5-7
69
70
7-5
70
71
5-7
71
72
5-7
72
73
5-7
73
74
5-7
74
75
6-6
75
76
5-7
76
77
4-8
77
78
7-5
78
79
4-8
79
80
6-6
80
81
7-5
81
82
6-6
82
83
7-5
83
84
3-9
84
85
3-9
85
86
4-8
86
87
6-6
87
88
6-6
88
89
6-6
89
90
6-6
90
91
6-6
91
92
5-6
92
93
4-8
93
94
3-9
94
95
4-8
95
96
3-9
96
97
6-6
97
98
6-6
98
99
3-9
99
100
3-9
100
101
4-8
101
102
5-7
102
103
6-6
103
104
4-8
104
105
5-7
105
106
6-6
106
107
5-6
107
108
5-7
108
109
3-9
109
110
4-8
110
111
4-8
111
112
4-8
112
113
4-8
113
114
2-10
114
115
5-8
115
116
3-9
116
117
4-8
117
118
4-8
118
119
4-8
119
120
3-9
120
121
3-9
121
122
3-9
122
123
3-9
123
124
3-9
124
125
4-8
125
126
3-9
126
127
3-9
127
128
2-10
128
129
2-10
129
130
2-10
130
131
3-9
131
132
2-10
132
133
1-11
133

The Athletic 133 Rankings series is part of a partnership with AllState.

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Photo: Ian Maule / Getty Images)

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Chris Vannini

Chris Vannini covers national college football issues and the coaching carousel for The Athletic. A co-winner of the FWAA's Beat Writer of the Year Award in 2018, he previously was managing editor of CoachingSearch.com. Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisVannini