The College Football News 2020 final rankings, based on a mix of opinion and what happened on the field.
And here they are – the final college football rankings for the 2020 season.
We always try to take into account the entirety of the campaign with Week 1 meaning as much to the overall equation as a late season win … sort of.
Of course it makes a difference if teams – like Oklahoma – are far better as the season goes on, but results have to matter or there’s no reason to play the games. If you’re wondering why your team is where it is, look at who it lost to and/or beat.
As always, if you have beef or a question, tweet us @ColFootballNews and we’ll try to explain.
College Football News Rankings: 2020 Final
Contact @ColFootballNews
College Football News Rankings 2020 Final
130-101 | 76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10
Final AP Rankings | Final Coaches Poll Rankings
Bowl Grades For Every Team | 2020 Bowl Rankings
2019 CFN Final Rankings
NR New Mexico State (0-0)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 128
Why Ranked Here? The Aggies didn’t play this season
NR Old Dominion Monarchs (0-0)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 121
Why Ranked Here? The Monarchs didn’t play this season.
NR UConn Huskies (0-0)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 130
Why Ranked Here? The Huskies didn’t play this season.
127 UMass Minutemen (0-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 126
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: at Florida Atlantic 24-2
Why Ranked Here? The Minutemen gave it a go, but there wasn’t anything that worked. They started late, only played four games – all on the road – and got walloped by a combined score of 161 to 12 against Georgia Southern, Marshall, Florida Atlantic and Liberty.
126 Bowling Green Falcons (0-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 125
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: at Akron 31-3
Why Ranked Here? Not only did the Falcons go winless in their five games, but they weren’t even close. The closest battle was a 28-point loss to an Akron program that broke a massive losing streak.
125 FIU Golden Panthers (0-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 110
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: Jacksonville State 19-10
Why Ranked Here? Not only didn’t the Golden Panthers win a game, but they also suffered the indignity of being the only team to lose to an FCS team – dropping the date to Jacksonville State. However, they did open the season with a 36-34 push of Liberty.
124 ULM Warhawks (0-10)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 124
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: Texas State 38-17
Why Ranked Here? The Warhawks were never able to get the offense going in loss after loss after loss. They pushed Georgia Southern in a 35-30 defeat, and that was the only loss by fewer than 18.
123 Akron Zips (1-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 129
Best Win: Bowling Green 31-3
Worst Loss: Western Michigan 58-13
Why Ranked Here? There was only one win over Bowling Green, but it was the program’s first victory since late November of 2018. They lost by 14 to Ohio and were obliterated by everyone else.
122 Northern Illinois Huskies (0-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 117
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: Eastern Michigan 41-33
Why Ranked Here? The expectations weren’t high, but to still finish winless was a gut-punch for a program that’s normally in the MAC championship mix. On the plus side, three of the six losses were in good battles, including a 31-25 defeat against eventual MAC champion Ball State.
121 UTEP Miners (3-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 127
Best Win: at ULM 31-6
Worst Loss: at Charlotte 38-28
Why Ranked Here? Starting 3-1 is great no matter what for a UTEP that’s known nothing but pain and suffering for so long, but two of those three were against FCS teams, and the other was against a ULM team that went winless. However, unlike past seasons, the team was at least competitive in most of the losses. Give the Miners a little credit; the last five games were on the road.
120 UNLV Rebels (0-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 109
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: Wyoming 45-14
Why Ranked Here? There wasn’t any luck in the first year under Marcus Arroyo, but it’s not like there was a truly embarrassing loss in the bunch other than the home blowout to Wyoming. The Rebels were the underdogs in all six games, but still … it would’ve been nice to get a win.
119 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (3-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 102
Best Win: at Troy 20-17
Worst Loss: North Texas 52-35
Why Ranked Here? The team started out with an awful 42-0 loss to Army and things didn’t get a whole lot better. The offense was inconsistent, the defense struggled throughout, and there was never any consistency. However, it won three of its last five games.
118 North Texas Mean Green (4-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 108
Best Win: UTEP 45-43
Worst Loss: Charlotte 49-21
Why Ranked Here? The offense was a ton of fun, and the defense was two tons of bad. The team got to a bowl game – and got rolled by Appalachian State 56-28 – and there were just enough wins to keep this from being a total disaster.
117 Southern Miss Golden Eagles (3-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 98
Best Win: Florida Atlantic 45-31
Worst Loss: Rice 30-6
Why Ranked Here? The Golden Eagles struggled in a 1-5 start, but they got a win over North Texas to be ranked just a little bit higher. With the win over Florida Atlantic, they came up with two victories over teams that went to bowls games.
116 Charlotte 49ers (2-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 115
Best Win: at North Texas 49-21
Worst Loss: at Florida Atlantic 21-17
Why Ranked Here? The 49ers never got going with just six games, but they were able to beat a bowl bound North Texas on the road. Three of the four losses were to teams that went to bowls, and Duke, but there weren’t enough games to make a statement. Losing to WKU pushed them one spot down here.
115 WKU Hilltoppers (5-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 97
Best Win: Southern Miss 10-7
Worst Loss: at Florida Atlantic 10-6
Why Ranked Here? The Hilltoppers were able to get in 12 games including a bowl, but there wasn’t a good win in the bunch. Beating Middle Tennessee and Charlotte on the road isn’t anything special, but they did push Liberty in a 30-24 loss early on.
114 Utah State Aggies (1-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 80
Best Win: New Mexico 41-27
Worst Loss: Fresno State 35-16
Why Ranked Here? It was a disaster of the season with five blowout losses, an early coaching change, and with the only win over New Mexico. The offense struggled to get going – failing to score more than 16 points in any of the losses – and being outscored 211-93 overall.
113 USF Bulls (1-8)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 101
Best Win: Citadel 27-6
Worst Loss: at Temple 39-37
Why Ranked Here? The Bulls started playing better at the end, and they really did play well enough to be ranked a whole lot higher than this, but they failed to beat an FBS team. They beat Citadel to open the year, but lost every game the rest of the way. On the positive side, they gave UCF and Memphis a tremendous push.
112 Arkansas State Red Wolves (4-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 93
Best Win: Georgia State 59-52
Worst Loss: at Texas State 47-45
Why Ranked Here? The team was supposed to struggle a wee bit, but it’s still Arkansas State – it had the offense to be among the top Sun Belt teams. It shocked Kansas State, got by Georgia State in a wild shootout, and got rocked by everyone else the rest of the way before finally beating a winless ULM.
111 Texas State Bobcats (2-10)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 121
Best Win: Arkansas State 47-45
Worst Loss: at South Alabama 30-20
Why Ranked Here? The Bobcats only won two games, but they were able to get by Arkansas State late in the year and played a whole lot better than a lot of their final scores. They only lost to SMU by seven, to UTSA by three in a wild shootout that could’ve gone either way, and by three at Boston College.
110 Temple Owls (1-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 71
Best Win: USF 39-37
Worst Loss: East Carolina 28-3
Why Ranked Here? The Owls didn’t win. They got the one win over a South Florida team that didn’t beat anyone in the FBS, and that was it. The loss at Navy wasn’t okay, and the 28-3 season finale at home against East Carolina was worse.
109 Ohio Bobcats (2-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 96
Best Win: Akron 24-10
Worst Loss: at Central Michigan 30-27
Why Ranked Here? It was only a three-game season. The team was good, but it didn’t have the chance to prove it with the wins over Akron and Bowling Green – two of the worst teams in college football.
108 South Alabama Jaguars (4-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 123
Best Win: at Arkansas State 38-31
Worst Loss: Troy 29-0
Why Ranked Here? The Jaguars came up with what seemed like a stunning win over Southern Miss to start the season, and they pushed Tulane in a 27-24 loss. The coaching change late mattered, and almost all of the seven losses were to terrific teams.
107 Eastern Michigan Eagles (2-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 113
Best Win: at Western Michigan 53-42
Worst Loss: Central Michigan 31-23
Why Ranked Here? It’s Eastern Michigan, so every game seemed like a fight that could’ve gone either way. Just when it seemed like a lost season with an 0-4 start, the fun win over Western Michigan showed just how good the Eagles really were.
106 Rice Owls (2-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 116
Best Win: at Marshall 20-0
Worst Loss: Middle Tennessee 40-34
Why Ranked Here? Rice could never get the season going, but it was able to shock Marshall with a 20-0 performance and pushed eventual Conference USA champ UAB 21-16 in the season finale. It got better late.
105 Central Michigan Chippewas (3-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 107
Best Win: Ohio 30-27
Worst Loss: Western Michigan 52-44
Why Ranked Here? There weren’t enough games. The Chippewas weren’t bad and got off to a 3-1 start, but the losses to Ball State and Toledo to close out were acceptable, and the loss to Western Michigan was a crazy shootout.
104 Kansas Jayhawks (0-9)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 72
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: at Baylor 47-14
Why Ranked Here? This is giving Kansas a HUGE benefit of the doubt that a winless team that lost by double-digits to everyone but Texas Tech in the season finale was better than the record. Losing to Coastal Carolina was acceptable, but to get rocked that hard by the Big 12 …
103 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (5-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 89
Best Win: UAB 37-34
Worst Loss: TCU 52-10
Why Ranked Here? It was a disappointing season with an offense that struggled throughout, right up to a 38-3 loss to Georgia Southern in the New Orleans Bowl. There was a win over eventual Conference USA champ UAB, but there were too many blowout losses.
102 UTSA Roadrunners (7-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 119
Best Win: Louisiana Tech 27-26
Worst Loss: at Florida Atlanta 24-3
Why Ranked Here? It was a fun first season under head coach Jeff Traylor for program that didn’t have a whole lot of success. It pushed a good Louisiana team in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl and there weren’t any bad losses. However, there weren’t any amazing wins.
101 Florida Atlantic Owls (5-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 7
Best Win: UTSA 24-3
Worst Loss: at Southern Miss 45-31
Why Ranked Here? Willie Taggart’s first season in Boca Raton wasn’t awful, but it was a struggle. The team got to a bowl and had a wining season, but it was all defense, little offense, no great wins, and a three-game losing streak to close things out.
College Football News Rankings 2020 Final
76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10
Final AP Rankings | Final Coaches Poll Rankings
Bowl Grades For Every Team | 2020 Bowl Rankings
2019 CFN Final Rankings
NEXT: CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 100
CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 100
100 Colorado State Rams (1-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 86
Best Win: Wyoming 34-24
Worst Loss: Fresno State 38-17
Why Ranked Here? The Rams didn’t beat anyone. They got by a decent Wyoming team, lost all three road games and … that was it. It was too short a season for new head coach Steve Addazio to do much of anything. Starting the season with a 21-point loss to Fresno State didn’t help.
99 East Carolina Pirates (3-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 91
Best Win: SMU 52-38
Worst Loss: Navy 27-23
Why Ranked Here? The Pirates closed strong. It was a rough run with the only two wins coming over USF and Temple, but the 52-38 victory over SMU changed the final ranking. That’s the perfect momentum-builder going into Year 3 of the Mike Houston era.
98 Toledo Rockets (4-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 104
Best Win: Central Michigan 24-23
Worst Loss: at Western Michigan 41-38
Why Ranked Here? The Rockets probably deserve a little better than this, losing to Western Michigan in an epic finish and to eventual MAC champ Ball State. There weren’t any amazing wins, but the team could argue that it was among the four best in the MAC.
97 Western Michigan Broncos (4-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 103
Best Win: Toledo 41-38
Worst Loss: Eastern Michigan 53-42
Why Ranked Here? The Broncos were almost good enough to be in the mix for the MAC Championship, starting 4-0 before inexplicably dropping a home game to Eastern Michigan and losing to Ball State. The offense was fun, though.
96 Fresno State Bulldogs (3-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 77
Best Win: at Utah State 35-16
Worst Loss: at New Mexico 49-39
Why Ranked Here? The Bulldogs never got going. The loss at home to Hawaii was bad, the three wins weren’t over anyone that great, and losing to Nevada and New Mexico to close things out hurt. However, the last four games were all on the road, and the offense was fun.
95 New Mexico Lobos (2-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 118
Best Win: Fresno State 49-39
Worst Loss: at Utah State 41-27
Why Ranked Here? The Lobos get graded on a curve. They played every game away from home, they got better late in the season, and first year head man Danny Gonzales got nice wins over Wyoming and Fresno State to close out with momentum.
94 Syracuse Orange (1-10)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 52
Best Win: Georgia Tech 37-20
Worst Loss: Duke 38-24
Why Ranked Here? The Orange got a win over Georgia Tech early in the season, and that was it. Injuries, opt-outs, no blocking, and loss after loss after loss marred the season, but it kept on fighting even in the defeats. The team played a bit better than 1-10, but not much.
93 Miami University RedHawks (2-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 111
Best Win: Ball State 38-31
Worst Loss: at Buffalo 42-10
Why Ranked Here? They only played three games and were blown away by Buffalo, but they’re the only team to beat MAC champion Ball State. The other win was against Akron – yippee. The defending MAC champ was going to be interesting, but it didn’t get much of a shot.
92 Duke Blue Devils (2-9)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 51
Best Win: at Syracuse 38-24
Worst Loss: at Georgia Tech 56-33
Why Ranked Here? Yuck. The team was better than the 0-4 record to start the season, then it was just as bad as the stats. It couldn’t stop turning the ball over, the only wins were over bad Syracuse and Charlotte teams, and the defense was non-existent late in the year giving up 56 points in three of the last four games.
91 Vanderbilt Commodores (0-9)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 63
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: South Carolina 41-7
Why Ranked Here? To be fair, the Commodores never got much of a break with the schedule without any non-conference games. It was solid on the road in a 17-12 loss to Texas A&M, and that was about it. Only three of the nine games were decided by fewer than seven points.
90 Arizona Wildcats (0-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 37
Best Win: None
Worst Loss: at UCLA 27-10
Why Ranked Here? The Wildcats didn’t win a game, got rolled by Arizona State 70-7, and fired head coach Kevin Sumlin. Other than that, everything went great. So why not lower? It came this close to beating USC in the opener.
89 Kent State Golden Flashes (3-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 106
Best Win: Eastern Michigan 27-23
Worst Loss: at Buffalo 70-41
Why Ranked Here? It was short, it was crazy, and it was a whole lot of fun. The one loss was in a wild offensive fight with Buffalo, and the wins over Bowling Green and Akron where no big deal, but the O averaged 50 points per game in its limited time.
88 Navy Midshipmen (3-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 75
Best Win: at Tulane 27-24
Worst Loss: Houston 37-21
Why Ranked Here? Navy’s offense started bad, finished worse, and in between the Midshipmen managed to come up with one decent win at Tulane that saved the ranking from being much, much worse. They failed to score more than seven points in five of the ten games.
87 Baylor Bears (2-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 42
Best Win: Kansas State 32-21
Worst Loss: at Texas Tech 24-23
Why Ranked Here? Dave Aranda’s first season was a rough one. There was a win over Kansas in the free space date to open the season, a one-point win over Kansas State, and that was it. The team was wildly inconsistent in a rebuilding campaign.
86 Houston Cougars (3-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 69
Best Win: Tulane 49-31
Worst Loss: Hawaii (New Mexico Bowl) 28-14
Why Ranked Here? It wasn’t the season it was supposed to be after gearing up the 2019 campaign for this. The win over Tulane to open things up was nice, but that was it – beating Navy and USF just wasn’t a big deal. Just when there was a chance to prove that the team really was good, it face-planted in the loss to Hawaii in the Frisco Bowl.
85 Wyoming Cowboys (2-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 76
Best Win: Hawaii 31-7
Worst Loss: at Colorado State 34-24
Why Ranked Here? It was a strange team in a strange season. It was able to beat Hawaii in a 31-7 rocking early on, but managed to lose on the road to New Mexico and got hit by ten against a mediocre Colorado State. There was enough there to have been more like 4-2 instead of the other way around.
84 Troy Trojans (5-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 105
Best Win: at Arkansas State 38-10
Worst Loss: Middle Tennessee 20-17
Why Ranked Here? The 5-6 record might not seem great, but the Trojans pushed Coastal Carolina in the season finale and didn’t have any truly bad losses other than to Middle Tennessee – it was the second time the two teams played. There wasn’t an amazing win, but it was a good, solid Sun Belt team that plated a slew of tight games.
83 Florida State Seminoles (3-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 33
Best Win: North Carolina 31-28
Worst Loss: Georgia Tech 16-13
Why Ranked Here? It’s as close to a total disaster as it gets, but one shocking win over North Carolina helped pull the first season under Mike Norvell out of the nosedive, and blowing out Duke 56-35 to close things out at least ended things on a high note.
82 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 65
Best Win: Louisville 46-27
Worst Loss: Syracuse 37-20
Why Ranked Here? It was an interesting second season under Geoff Collins. The Yellow Jackets seemed like they pulled of a stunner at Florida State to start the season, but that was just Florida State. Beating Louisville was nice, and pushing UCF was okay, but losing by 17 to Syracuse was unacceptable.
81 South Carolina Gamecocks (2-8)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 29
Best Win: Auburn 30-22
Worst Loss: Tennessee 31-27
Why Ranked Here? Easily one of 2020’s biggest disappointments, the Gamecocks weren’t bad in early losses to Tennessee and Florida, beat Auburn, and then … clunk. Six straight losses, a fired head coach, and too many blowouts were all part of the horrible lost year.
80 Air Force Falcons (3-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 74
Best Win: Navy 40-7
Worst Loss: Boise State 49-30
Why Ranked Here? There weren’t any truly bad losses, but the Falcons didn’t get a shot to show all it could do in just six games. They lost to San Jose State, Boise State and Army, but there wasn’t any win of note.
79 Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 56
Best Win: West Virginia 34-27
Worst Loss: at Kansas State 31-21
Why Ranked Here? The Red Raiders won two of their last three games and almost got Oklahoma State in a 50-44 battle. It took a miracle for Texas to pull off the win in Lubbock, just about every game was at least interesting, and … there were too many losses. This was a 6-6ish team if it had a normal non-conference schedule.
78 Georgia Southern Eagles (8-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 84
Best Win: Louisiana Tech (New Orleans Bowl) 38-3
Worst Loss: at Georgia State 30-24
Why Ranked Here? Coastal Carolina and Louisiana got all the Sun Belt love, but Georgia Southern put together a terrific year with the loss to the Chanticleers the only one by more than a touchdown. There wasn’t a great win, but there weren’t any bad losses, either.
77 Georgia State Panthers (6-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 114
Best Win: Georgia Southern 30-24
Worst Loss: at Arkansas State 59-52
Why Ranked Here? The Panthers got rolled by Coastal Carolina, but the close-call fights against Louisiana and Appalachian State showed just how good they really were. The loss at Arkansas State was the clunker, but they came up with a bowl win and they took down their rival, Georgia Southern.
76 Washington State Cougars (1-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 46
Best Win: at Oregon State 38-28
Worst Loss: at Utah 45-28
Why Ranked Here? There were only four games and one win, but all three losses – Oregon, at USC and Utah – were acceptable. The season never got off the ground, and the defense needs work, so call it a soft opening to the Nick Rolovich era.
College Football News Rankings 2020 Final
130-101 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10
Final AP Rankings | Final Coaches Poll Rankings
Bowl Grades For Every Team | 2020 Bowl Rankings
2019 CFN Final Rankings
NEXT: CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 75
CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 75
75 Tennessee Volunteers (3-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 28
Best Win: Missouri 35-12
Worst Loss: at Arkansas 24-13
Why Ranked Here? Uuuuuuugh. Tennessee started out 2-0 with winter over South Carolina and Missouri, and all started to look strong even after an acceptable loss to Georgia, but it all fell apart losing seven of the last eight games with the only win coming over Vanderbilt. So why even this high? The team was competitive – sort of – but it kept losing.
74 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (5-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 78
Best Win: Nevada 24-21
Worst Loss: at Wyoming 31-7
Why Ranked Here? It was a bit of an uneven year, but the Rainbow Warriors won three of their last four games with the lone defeat coming to San Jose State. Throw in the win over Houston in the Frisco Bowl, and it wasn’t a bad first year for Todd Graham.
73 San Diego State Aztecs (4-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 61
Best Win: Hawaii 34-10
Worst Loss: at Nevada 26-21
Why Ranked Here? There were four losses, but none of them were all that bad – San Jose State, BYU, Colorado and Nevada. There wasn’t a great win, but beating Hawaii will have to do.
72 Cal Golden Bears (1-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 38
Best Win: Oregon 21-17
Worst Loss: at Oregon State 31-27
Why Ranked Here? The Bears never had any luck getting their season going. They lost their first three games, but they took down Oregon, lost on a blocked kick against Stanford, and lost on the road by four to Oregon State. The record was bad, but the team wasn’t that awful.
71 Illinois Fighting Illini (2-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 70
Best Win: at Nebraska 41-23
Worst Loss: Purdue 31-24
Why Ranked Here? Winning at Nebraska was just enough to boost up an Illini team that came up with a massively uneven year. It didn’t play poorly in the loss to Purdue, and it beat Rutgers – which means something this year – but there wasn’t too much to get fired up about.
70 UCF Knights (6-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 30
Best Win: Tulane 51-34
Worst Loss: at Memphis 50-49
Why Ranked Here? There weren’t any great wins, but there also weren’t any horrible losses – BYU in the bowl, Cincinnati, Tulsa and Memphis. UCF is expecting more now, but considering all the early opt-outs and various issues – especially on defense – beating Georgia Tech, Houston and Tulane wasn’t bad.
69 Louisville Cardinals (4-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 32
Best Win: Wake Forest 45-21
Worst Loss: at Georgia Tech 46-27
Why Ranked Here? It was a disappointing year, but the Cardinals gave Notre Dame a push and closes out with a strong win over Wake Forest, The loss to Georgia Tech hurts, though.
68 Appalachian State Mountaineers (9-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 62
Best Win: at Georgia Southern 34-26
Worst Loss: at Marshall 17-7
Why Ranked Here? Coastal Carolina and Louisiana took over Appalachian State’s conference, but as losses go, those aren’t bad. Both teams only lost once, and Marshall was one of the best teams in Conference USA. Beating Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and taking out North Texas in the bowl game was solid.
67 Marshall Thundering Herd (7-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 90
Best Win: Appalachian State 17-7
Worst Loss: Rice 20-0
Why Ranked Here? Everything was going great. The defense was amazing on the way to a 7-0 start, and then the offense died. The Herd lost to Rice, lost the Conference USA championship to UAB, lost to Buffalo, and then fired Doc Holliday.
66 Army Black Knights (9-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 99
Best Win: Georgia Southern 28-27
Worst Loss: at Tulane 38-12
Why Ranked Here? The 24-21 bowl loss to West Virginia was the big boost. There were three wins over FCS teams, a win over a winless ULM team, and other victories over bad teams. The Knights gave Cincinnati a few problems and had West Virginia in trouble.
65 Tulane Green Wave (6-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 79
Best Win: Memphis 35-21
Worst Loss: Navy 27-24
Why Ranked Here? The bad performance in the bowl loss to Nevada hurt the final ranking, but losing to a mediocre Navy team was even worse. It was a six-win season, there was a bowl appearance, and the team on four of its last five games before Nevada.
64 SMU Mustangs (7-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 88
Best Win: Memphis 30-27
Worst Loss: at East Carolina 52-38
Why Ranked Here? It was a super-strange year. The Mustangs were good enough to start 5-0 with a win over Memphis, but they were blasted by Cincinnati, melted down against Tulsa, and got rolled by a bad East Carolina.
63 Buffalo Bulls (6-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 83
Best Win: Marshall (Camellia Bowl) 17-10
Worst Loss: Ball State (MAC Champ) 38-28
Why Ranked Here? The Bulls were SO close to having an incredible season. They should’ve beaten Ball State for the MAC title, but didn’t. Getting by Marshall for the bowl win was good, but that was the only decent victory. However, it handed Miami University and Kent State their only defeats.
62 UAB Blazers (6-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 82
Best Win: Marshall (CUSA Champ) 22-13
Worst Loss: at Louisiana Tech 37-34
Why Ranked Here? The Blazers only suffered one mediocre loss – on the road at Louisiana Tech – and was able to take down Marshall for the Conference USA title. However, that’s about it. They got the bad luck of the bowl game being canceled, and there weren’t any amazing wins.
61 Purdue Boilermakers (2-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 58
Best Win: Iowa 24-20
Worst Loss: Rutgers 37-30
Why Ranked Here? Just when it looked like Purdue was going to come up with something great – beating Iowa and Illinois to start, there were four straight tough losses with no luck whatsoever. Even so, losing to Minnesota, Rutgers and Nebraska wasn’t okay.
60 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 85
Best Win: at Michigan State 38-27
Worst Loss: Illinois 23-20
Why Ranked Here? Three wins might not seem like much, but the team was competitive under Greg Schiano in its first season. The turnover-fest win over Michigan State was a great start, the wins over Purdue and Maryland on the road were good, and the days of the brutally ugly losses on a regular basis seemed to stop.
59 Michigan Wolverines (2-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 10
Best Win: at Minnesota 49-24
Worst Loss: Michigan State 27-24
Why Ranked Here? It was a disastrous season, but at least there were only six games. The wins over Minnesota was fine, but it took overtime to get past Rutgers. Losing to Michigan State is never okay, the defense wasn’t there, and the offense wasn’t good enough.
58 Kansas State Wildcats (4-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 41
Best Win: at Oklahoma 38-35
Worst Loss: Arkansas State 35-21
Why Ranked Here? The team just didn’t get it back after injuries hit. The loss to Arkansas State to open the season was awful, the loss to Baylor late was bad, and dropping five straight after starting 4-1 was rough, including getting blown out by Iowa State and Texas.
57 Nevada Wolf Pack (7-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 95
Best Win: Tulane (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl) 38-27
Worst Loss: at Hawaii 24-21
Why Ranked Here? It was a fantastic year. There might have been a loss to San Jose State, and the loss at Hawaii is forgivable, but where there any amazing wins? Sort of – beating San Diego State was strong and taking out Tulane in the bowl was huge for the program.
56 Penn State Nittany Lions (4-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 8
Best Win: at Michigan 27-17
Worst Loss: Maryland 35-19
Why Ranked Here? When the best win is probably over Rutgers, there’s a problem. Beating Michigan on the road is bigger no matter what, and give the Nittany Lions credit. After the worst start in the program’s history – starting 0-5 – they won their last five.
55 Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 47
Best Win: Penn State 30-23
Worst Loss: Illinois 41-23
Why Ranked Here? The machine could just never turn on. There were wins over Penn State, Purdue and Rutgers, and there weren’t too many brutal blowouts – even the 52-17 loss to Ohio State was better than the score – but losing at home to Illinois by 18 is never okay.
54 Michigan State Spartans (2-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 40
Best Win: Northwestern 29-20
Worst Loss: Rutgers 38-27
Why Ranked Here? It didn’t help to start the season with seven turnovers in the loss to Rutgers, but the other four losses were acceptable. The Spartans beat Michigan and were the only team other than Ohio State to beat Northwestern.
53 Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 20
Best Win: at Nebraska 24-17
Worst Loss: at Maryland 45-44
Why Ranked Here? Beating Nebraska was nice, but collapsing against Maryland hurt and for this program, getting rolled by 28 by Iowa and losing to Wisconsin will never sit well.
52 Maryland Terrapins (2-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 73
Best Win: at Penn State 35-19
Worst Loss: Rutgers 27-24
Why Ranked Here? It was a positive year even with the 2-3 record and 43-3 blasting from Northwestern. The comeback win over Minnesota and victory over Penn State showed a good step forward after a disastrous 2019.
51 Oregon State Beavers (2-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 54
Best Win: Oregon 41-38
Worst Loss: Washington State 38-28
Why Ranked Here? The Beavers beat Oregon. That’s it. That’s everything. The Beavers were able to get by the eventual Pac-12 champ, and they beat a Cal team that was stronger than the 1-3 record. It was a competitive team against everyone else.
College Football News Rankings 2020 Final
130-101 | 76-100 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10
Final AP Rankings | Final Coaches Poll Rankings
Bowl Grades For Every Team | 2020 Bowl Rankings
2019 CFN Final Rankings
NEXT: CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 50
CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 50
50 Memphis Tigers (8-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 60
Best Win: UCF 50-49
Worst Loss: at Tulane 35-21
Why Ranked Here? The Tigers were able to get through 11 games including a bowl victory over Florida Atlantic. It would’ve been nice to have beaten SMU and Tulane, but getting by UCF and Houston was good.
49 Boise State Broncos (5-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 43
Best Win: at Hawaii 52-21
Worst Loss: BYU 51-17
Why Ranked Here? Boise State is supposed to win the Mountain West championship and be one of the Group of Five’s biggest stars, but it was gutted in the offensive backfield in the blowout loss to BYU and lost the MW title game to a strong San Jose State – no shame in either of those. There wasn’t a huge win, though.
48 Boston College Eagles (6-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 67
Best Win: Pitt 31-30
Worst Loss: at Virginia 43-32
Why Ranked Here? It wasn’t a bad first year under head coach Jeff Hafley, starting out with a 3-1 record and with a great push against Clemson. It would’ve been nice to close out with a win over a mediocre Virginia team, but losing to Clemson, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and North Carolina was okay.
47 San Jose State Spartans (7-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 100
Best Win: Boise State (MWC Champ) 34-20
Worst Loss: Ball State (Arizona Bowl) 34-13
Why Ranked Here? It’s a shame the Spartans were so ravaged for the bowl game against Ball State, but it was still a dominant Mountain West season with all seven victories by double-digits including the conference championship win over Boise State.
46 Ball State Cardinals (7-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 92
Best Win: San Jose State (Arizona Bowl) 34-13
Worst Loss: at Miami Univ. 38-31
Why Ranked Here? The program was on a run of six straight losing seasons and started out with a loss to Miami University. And then everything kicked in with seven straight wins including a MAC Championship over Buffalo and a bowl game domination over a fantastic – but completed – San Jose State.
45 Virginia Cavaliers (5-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 31
Best Win: North Carolina 44-41
Worst Loss: at Wake Forest 40-23
Why Ranked Here? It was a strange season that started with a 1-4 start before going on a run of four straight wins to save the campaign. Losing to Virginia Tech stinks, but winter over North Carolina and Boston College were strong.
44 TCU Horned Frogs (6-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 34
Best Win: at Texas 33-31
Worst Loss: Kansas State 21-14
Why Ranked Here? Very, very, very quietly, TCU was able to overcome a rough first four games to roll for five wins in the final six games including a victory over Oklahoma State. This was a bit better of a team that it got credit for.
43 West Virginia Mountaineers (6-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 55
Best Win: Army (Liberty Bowl) 24-21
Worst Loss: at Texas Tech 34-27
Why Ranked Here? The Mountaineers could never get a run going with four of the wins followed up by losses, but they survived Army to win a bowl game and were the only team to beat TCU over the second half of the season.
42 Virginia Tech Hokies (5-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 16
Best Win: NC State 45-24
Worst Loss: at Wake Forest 23-16
Why Ranked Here? The Hokies were always that team that was supposed to be great, but could never quite get the team all together to show what it could do, and then … ugh. A four-game losing streak was helped by a rivalry win over Virginia.
41 Pitt Panthers (6-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 18
Best Win: Virginia Tech 47-14
Worst Loss: at Boston College 31-19
Why Ranked Here? The Panthers were able to turn it on in the end with three wins in the last four games, but injuries played a role in the middle of the yea. There wasn’t a big-time win over anyone amazing, but coming up with a winning season in the ACC this year was solid.
40 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 39
Best Win: Virginia Tech 23-16
Worst Loss: at Louisville 45-21
Why Ranked Here? The Demon Deacons started slow, got hot, and ended with a three-game losing streak as they tried to keep starting and stopping throughout the rough year. They beat Virginia and Virginia Tech, though, and got into a 59-53 fight with North Carolina.
39 Tulsa Golden Hurricane (6-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 94
Best Win: SMU 28-24
Worst Loss: Mississippi State (Armed Forces Bowl) 28-26
Why Ranked Here? It all ended with an ugly fight against Mississippi State and a walk-off field goal loss to Tulsa, but Tulsa proved it really could hang with the decent teams. All three defeats – including to Oklahoma State – were close – but there wasn’t any sort of a strong win.
38 Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 24
Best Win: Tulsa (Armed Forces Bowl) 28-26
Worst Loss: Arkansas 21-14
Why Ranked Here? There wasn’t anything pretty about it, but beating LSU on the road in the opener was fun, beating Tulsa in the bowl game was interesting – even with the ugly ending, and beating Missouri in the SEC finals helped. There’s a LOT of tweaking to be done, though.
37 NC State Wolfpack (8-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 44
Best Win: Liberty 15-14
Worst Loss: at Virginia Tech 45-24
Why Ranked Here? The loss to Kentucky in the Gator Bowl ended things with a thud, but the Wolfpack were able to get by Wake Forest, Virginia and Pitt, and they handed Liberty their only loss. Getting rocked by Virginia Tech stunk, but that was way back in Week 2.
36 Kentucky Wildcats (5-6)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 25
Best Win: NC State (Gator Bowl) 23-21
Worst Loss: Ole Miss 42-41
Why Ranked Here? It was a losing season, but Kentucky would’ve had a winning run if it played a normal non-conference slate. It was able to get by NC State in the Gator Bowl, but that was about it. All four other losses were against the SEC weaklings, but there wasn’t horrible loss.
35 Arizona State Sun Devils (2-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 64
Best Win: at Oregon State 46-33
Worst Loss: UCLA 25-18
Why Ranked Here? This is based mostly on how good we think the team was. That’s not quite fair, but the Sun Devils lost a thriller to USC, hit Arizona 70-7 – but who doesn’t? – and the loss to UCLA was a thriller.
34 Arkansas Razorbacks (3-7)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 68
Best Win: Ole Miss 33-21
Worst Loss: LSU 27-24
Why Ranked Here? The Hogs were able to come up with a win over Ole Miss, they got jobbed out of the Auburn game, and they managed to hang around in close game after close game against everyone but the superstars. Getting rocked by Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Georgia is okay.
33 Missouri Tigers (5-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 45
Best Win: LSU 45-41
Worst Loss: at Tennessee 35-12
Why Ranked Here? It ended with a thud – not being able to stop Mississippi State hurt – butt the Tigers were able to beat LSU and Arkansas in shootouts on the way to a solid overall first season under Eliah Drinkwitz.
32 UCLA Bruins (3-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 57
Best Win: at Arizona State 27-18
Worst Loss: Stanford 48-47
Why Ranked Here? It was … fun? There were only three wins, but the four losses were all in competitive fights that could’ve gone either way, the Arizona State win was a blast, and the program started to look like it’s supposed to under Chip Kelly.
31 Stanford Cardinal (4-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 35
Best Win: at Washington 31-26
Worst Loss: Colorado 35-32
Why Ranked Here? The Cardinal were missing starting quarterback Davis Mills in the opener against Oregon – 35-14 loss – and followed it up with a tough 35-32 battle with Colorado. That was it. They handed Washington its only loss of the year and closed out with four straight wins by a combined ten points.
30 Colorado Buffaloes (4-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 59
Best Win: at Stanford 35-32
Worst Loss: Utah 38-21
Why Ranked Here? The Buffaloes might have lost to Utah in the Pac-12 finale, and they were outclassed by Texas in the Alamo Bowl, but the four wins to start the season were enough to get the Karl Dorrell era up and rolling.
29 LSU Tigers (5-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 5
Best Win: at Florida 37-34
Worst Loss: Mississippi State 44-34
Why Ranked Here? It was weird, but considering how many stars were off of the 2019 team, and how many key parts for 2020 were missing, beating Florida and Ole Miss to close out the season was terrific. The finishing kick was enough to push the Tigers up this high.
28 Oregon Ducks (4-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 9
Best Win: USC (Pac-12 Champ) 31-24
Worst Loss: at Cal 21-17
Why Ranked Here? Oregon is being given way too much love here for beating USC for the Pac-12 Championship. There were plenty of opt-outs and too many missing pieces in a rebuilding year, but the Ducks should’ve been far better than this.
27 Utah Utes (3-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 26
Best Win: at Colorado 38-21
Worst Loss: at Washington 24-21
Why Ranked Here? Ignored after starting the season in late November and losing its first two games, the Utes won their final three games including handing Colorado its only loss of the regular season. The loss at Washington was a good battle.
26 Washington Huskies (3-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 21
Best Win: Utah 24-21
Worst Loss: Stanford 31-26
Why Ranked Here? It was only a four game season, but the Huskies were able to beat a solid Utah team and would’ve had a shot to play for the Pac-12 title if they were able. Beating Oregon State and Arizona wasn’t a big deal, but this year 3-1 is a good start for new head man Jimmy Lake.
College Football News Rankings 2020 Final
130-101 | 76-100 | 51-75 | 11-25 | Top 10
Final AP Rankings | Final Coaches Poll Rankings
Bowl Grades For Every Team | 2020 Bowl Rankings
2019 CFN Final Rankings
NEXT: CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 25
CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 25
25 Wisconsin Badgers (4-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 11
Best Win: Wake Forest (Duke’s Mayo Bowl) 42-28
Worst Loss: at Iowa 28-7
Why Ranked Here? The Badgers were amazing in the opener against Illinois and rocked Michigan, but they weren’t right the rest of the way with virus issues and injures becoming crushing as the O went into the tank. Beating Minnesota and winning the bowl over Wake Forest made a massively disappointing season better.
24 USC Trojans (5-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 13
Best Win: at Utah 33-17
Worst Loss: Oregon (Pac-12 Champ) 31-24
Why Ranked Here? The Trojans struggled way too much to get by Arizona State and Arizona, but the wins over Utah and Washington State showed what the team could be. Everything was there to make a theoretical statement to be in the CFP as an unbeaten Power Five champion, but it clunked at home against Oregon.
23 Indiana Hoosiers (6-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 49
Best Win: at Wisconsin 14-6
Worst Loss: Ole Miss (Outback Bowl) 26-20
Why Ranked Here? This was a potential top ten team that ended up in a freefall thanks to the loss to Ole Miss in the Outback. Beating Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin in any normal year would be wonderful, and IU played Ohio State better than Clemson did.
22 Ole Miss Rebels (5-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 48
Best Win: Indiana (Outback Bowl) 26-20
Worst Loss: at Arkansas 33-21
Why Ranked Here? The win over Indiana was a puzzle piece for a whole big part of these rankings. The Rebels won four of their last five games after a 1-4 start, and at least provided a bit of an offensive push against Alabama.
21 Auburn Tigers (6-5)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 12
Best Win: at Ole Miss 35-28
Worst Loss: at South Carolina 30-22
Why Ranked Here? This might seem way high for a team that dropped three of its last four games, but there’s no shame in losing to Alabama, Texas A&M and – after losing head coach Gus Malzahn – in the bowl to Northwestern. There were a few massive breaks, but the Tigers got the wins over Arkansas and Ole Miss on the way to a 5-2 start.
20 Miami Hurricanes (8-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 19
Best Win: at NC State 44-41
Worst Loss: Oklahoma State (Cheez-It Bowl) 37-34
Why Ranked Here? The Hurricanes couldn’t handle Clemson, couldn’t stop the North Carolina running game, and lost star QB D’Eriq King in the bowl loss to Oklahoma State. There weren’t a ton of amazing wins, but there’s a blowout win over eventual Conference USA champ UAB and a strong 8-1 run before the finishing kick.
19 Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 22
Best Win: Iowa State 24-21
Worst Loss: at TCU 29-22
Why Ranked Here? It was a strange year – the team never quite played like it was supposed to. Losing to Texas and Oklahoma was okay, but the 29-22 loss at TCU late in the season stung. The 16-7 opener over Tulsa is a whole lot better than it looked at the time, and closing with a Cheez-It Bowl win over Miami made it a solid run.
18 Texas Longhorns (7-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 14
Best Win: at Oklahoma State 41-34
Worst Loss: TCU 33-31
Why Ranked Here? Yeah, it took a minor miracle to get by Texas Tech, but the losses to TCU, Oklahoma, and Iowa State all were tight and all could’ve gone either way. The Longhorns rocked Kansas State, closed with a blowout win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, and … there’s a new era of Longhorn football coming.
17 Iowa Hawkeyes (6-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 27
Best Win: at Wisconsin 28-7
Worst Loss: at Purdue 24-20
Why Ranked Here? The Hawkeyes lost to Purdue by four and in a comeback by Northwestern by one. That was it. They dominated most of the games the rest of the way with six straight victories including double-digit victories over Wisconsin, Minnesota and Penn State.
16 Iowa State Cyclones (9-3)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 36
Best Win: Oregon (Fiesta Bowl) 34-17
Worst Loss: Louisiana 31-14
Why Ranked Here? The Cyclones beat Oklahoma early on in the season, got past Texas, and beat Pac-12 Champion Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, and … lost to Louisiana. Iowa State only lost to a one-loss Ragin’ Cajun team, to Oklahoma State, and to an Oklahoma team that was far better by the end of the year.
15 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (10-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 81
Best Win: at Iowa State 31-14
Worst Loss: Coastal Carolina 30-27
Why Ranked Here? The Ragin’ Cajuns weren’t always sharp, but they beat Fiesta Bowl champion Iowa State by 17 on the road, beat eventual Conference USA champion UAB on the road, and got by a tough Appalachian State team … on the road. They won a bowl game over UTSA, beat four bowl winners, and the only loss was by three to Coastal Carolina.
14 North Carolina Tar Heels (8-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 17
Best Win: Miami 62-26
Worst Loss: Florida State 31-28
Why Ranked Here? Yeah there was a loss to Florida State, and there was another to Virginia, but the Tar Heels gave Notre Dame a battle and – despite the absence of several star skill parts – pushed Texas A&M hard in the Orange Bowl. They also rocked Miami along the way.
13 BYU Cougars (11-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 66
Best Win: UCF (Boca Raton Bowl) 49-23
Worst Loss: at Coastal Carolina 22-17
Why Ranked Here? The Cougars made a statement in the opener against Navy, made a statement in the bowl win over UCF, and made statements almost everywhere in between including a 51-17 rocking of Boise State on the road and beat San Diego State. The only loss was in the final moments on the road against Coastal Carolina in one of the best games of the year.
12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (11-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 120
Best Win: BYU 22-17
Worst Loss: Liberty (Cure Bowl) 37-34
Why Ranked Here? The only misfire was in overtime in the Cure Bowl loss to Liberty. They started out with a win at Kansas, went on the road and gave Louisiana its only loss of the season, blasted Georgia State 51-0, and won a thriller over BYU. The season might have ended with a disappointment, but it was a fantastic year.
11 Liberty Flames (10-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 112
Best Win: Coastal Carolina (Cure Bowl) 37-34
Worst Loss: at NC State 15-14
Why Ranked Here? There were a TON of lightweight wins, but the Flames managed to beat Syracuse and Virginia Tech on the road, and it took a blocked kick by NC State in the final seconds to keep it from being a 3-0 sweep of the ACC. They handed Coastal Carolina their only loss of the season in a thriller of a Cure Bowl.
College Football News Rankings 2020 Final
130-101 | 76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | Top 10
Final AP Rankings | Final Coaches Poll Rankings
Bowl Grades For Every Team | 2020 Bowl Rankings
2019 CFN Final Rankings
NEXT: CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 10
CFN Final 2020 College Football Rankings Top 10
10 Northwestern Wildcats (7-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 53
Best Win: at Iowa 21-20
Worst Loss: at Michigan State 29-20
Why Ranked Here? The Wildcats dug too big an early hole to climb out of against Michigan State, and they got run over by Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, but they were able to come back to beat Iowa, held on against Nebraska, picked off Wisconsin, and got by Auburn in the Citrus Bowl in a fantastic year.
9 Cincinnati Bearcats (9-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 50
Best Win: Tulsa (AAC Champ) 27-24
Worst Loss: Georgia (Peach Bowl) 24-21
Why Ranked Here? Yeah, there weren’t any amazing regular season wins, and there weren’t any victories over any Power Five teams like Liberty, Coastal Carolina and Louisiana came up with, but the Bearcats pushed Georgia in great Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Even in a loss, they proved they were really just that good.
8 Georgia Bulldogs (8-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 4
Best Win: Cincinnati (Peach Bowl) 24-21
Worst Loss: Florida 44-28
Why Ranked Here? This is a disappointment. The talent level was good enough to be right there with Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson among the four best teams in college football, but the quarterback move to JT Daniels was a bit too late. Even so, losing to Florida and Alabama is hardly anything bad, and handing Cincinnati its only loss of the season was great.
7 Florida Gators (8-4)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 87
Best Win: Georgia 44-28
Worst Loss: LSU 37-34
Why Ranked Here? It all ended horribly with a painful own-goal loss to LSU, a wonderful performance in an SEC Championship loss to Alabama, and a blowout Cotton Bowl to Oklahoma when the team was gutted. When everything was humming, the offense was as good as any in the country.
6 Oklahoma Sooners (9-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 6
Best Win: Florida (Cotton Bowl) 55-20
Worst Loss: Kansas State 38-35
Why Ranked Here? As much as possible, the rankings are based wins and losses, but the Sooners were without top running back Rhamondre Stevenson and pass rusher Ronnie Perkins early on. The Sooners beat Texas and rolled from there with eight straight wins including a blowout over Oklahoma State, a Big 12 Championship over Iowa State, and a dominant victory over Florida in the Cotton.
5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 15
Best Win: Clemson 47-40 OT
Worst Loss: Clemson (ACC Champ) 34-10
Why Ranked Here? It might have all ended with a big thud, but being outclassed by a fully-functioning Clemson and Alabama is hardly anything to get upset about. The Irish got the Tigers in a fantastic first game in South Bend, and they were good enough to hold down a terrific North Carolina team on the road.
4 Texas A&M Aggies (9-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 23
Best Win: Florida 41-38
Worst Loss: Alabama 52-24
Why Ranked Here? Flip a coin between Notre Dame and the Aggies for this spot. The Irish beat North Carolina with all its parts on the road, and A&M struggled to put the Orange Bowl away, but the win over Florida and closing out with seven straight double-digit wins – against all SEC teams and then the Tar Heels – give them the four. That, and the only loss coming on the road to Alabama when it had a fully healthy Jaylen Waddle.
3 Clemson Tigers (10-2)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 2
Best Win: Notre Dame (ACC Champ) 34-10
Worst Loss: at Notre Dame 47-40
Why Ranked Here? If it’s not a national championship season it’s a disappointment now for Clemson, but there’s another ACC Championship, another trip to the College Football Playoff, and with the loss to a jacked-up Ohio State okay by any normal standards. The Tigers blew out Miami, rolled past the Irish to avenge an earlier loss in South Bend, and were a game away from playing for the national title for a third straight year.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 1
Best Win: Clemson (CFP) 49-28
Worst Loss: Alabama (CFP NC) 52-24
Why Ranked Here? So the Buckeyes lost the national championship to one of the greatest offenses in the history of college football. No big whoop. They won the Big Ten title again, exorcised the demon with a College Football Playoff win over Clemson, and battled through a rough run to make it all happen.
1 Alabama Crimson Tide (13-0)
CFN Preseason Preview Ranking: 3
Best Win: Ohio State (CFP NC) 42-24
Worst Loss: NONE
Why Ranked Here? The Crimson Tide were able to hand Texas A&M its only loss, beat Georgia, destroyed arch-rival Auburn, obliterated defending national champion LSU, won a fantastic SEC Championship classic over Florida, went through the motions and beat Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, and won the national title with a performance for the ages over Ohio State. That’s all.
College Football News Rankings 2020 Final
130-101 | 76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25
Final AP Rankings | Final Coaches Poll Rankings
Bowl Grades For Every Team | 2020 Bowl Rankings
2019 CFN Final Rankings
