College Football Playoff resume rankings: Florida checks in at No. 2 as SEC claims top five spots

How a truly meritocratic CFP resume ranking shakes out, one month into the season

Oct 1, 2026 at 11:07 am ET • 3 min read

Saturday marks one month until the first batch of College Football Playoff rankings is released, at which point the debate over who should make the 12-team bracket will intensify. The discussion will feature a new wrinkle this season, as the SEC's move to a 9-game league schedule has lent greater merit to the league's annual claim of superior schedule strength.

It's still unclear exactly how imbalanced schedules are accounted for during the CFP selection process. In the selection committee room this year, there will be heightened visibility of an existing metric that evaluates the strength of a team's conference opponents. A "record strength" metric was also introduced in 2025. 

But it hasn't been clearly explained to the general public how these metrics work or how much they matter in the selection process.

The CFP could benefit from a metric like the "Wins Above Bubble" introduced to the NCAA Tournament selection process in 2025. It compares a team's performance to that of an "average" bubble team on the same schedule. It's incredibly helpful for comparing teams that played imbalanced schedules.

Using the CBS Sports 138 as our baseline, we have replicated the concept for college football by creating "resume scores."

Every outcome is assigned a value between -1 and 1 based on how likely a typical No. 25-ranked team would be to win the game. If you beat the No. 1 team on the road, it's worth 0.98 for your resume score since an average No. 25 team would lose on the road against No. 1 98% of the time.

CBS Sports 138: Florida crashes top 10, Georgia moves closer to Texas in college football rankings

Chip Patterson

Conversely, if you lose at home against an FCS team, your resume score will be reduced by 0.99 in reflection of that that an average No. 25 team would beat an FCS opponent at home 99% of the time.

Most outcomes fall somewhere in the middle. Texas' Week 4 win at Tennessee adds 0.67 to the Longhorns' resume score since the average No. 25 team would be expected to lose on the road against the No. 17 team 67% of the time.

This system puts a value on what we intrinsically know but struggle to quantify: that not all losses should carry the same penalty and that not all wins are created equal.

That's why 4-0 Georgia remains behind 3-1 Ole Miss in resume score this week. The Bulldogs haven't played a team currently ranked inside the top 45 of the CBS Sports 138. Ole Miss has a 2-1 record against such teams and is therefore given a higher resume score.

College Football Playoff Resume Rankings

1	Texas
Week 1: W vs. No. 78 Texas State (+0.12) Week 2: W vs. No. 5 Ohio State (+0.81) Week 3: W vs. No. 52 UTSA (+0.21) Week 4: W @ No. 17 Tennessee (+0.67) Resume score: 1.81
2	Florida
Week 1: W vs. No. 88 FAU (+0.09) Week 2: W vs. FCS Campbell (+0.01) Week 3: W @ No. 43 Auburn (+0.36) Week 4: W vs. No. 10 Ole Miss (+0.71) Resume score: 1.17
3	Miss. State
Week 1: W vs. No. 134 Louisiana-Monroe (+0.01) Week 2: W @ No. 44 Minnesota (+0.35) Week 3: W @ No. 59 South Carolina (+0.26) Week 4: W vs. No. 24 Missouri (+0.45) Resume score: 1.07
4	Alabama
Week 1: W @ No. 27 Kentucky (+0.50) Week 2: W vs. No. 90 East Carolina (+0.09) Week 3: W vs. No. 56 Florida State (+0.19) Week 4: W vs. No. 59 South Carolina (+0.17) Resume score: 0.95
5	Ole Miss
Week 1: W vs. No. 33 Louisville (Neutral) (+0.40) Week 2: W vs. No. 138 Charlotte (+0.01) Week 3: W vs. No. 11 LSU (+0.69) Week 4: L @ No. 8 Florida (-0.17) Resume score: 0.93
6	Texas Tech
Week 1: W @ No. 58 Oregon State (+0.27) Week 2: W vs. FCS Abilene Christian (+0.01) Week 3: W vs. No. 21 Houston (+0.50) Week 4: W vs. No. 124 Sam Houston (+0.02) Resume score: 0.80
7	UCLA
Week 1: W vs. No. 68 San Diego State (+0.14) Week 2: W @ No. 51 California (+0.30) Week 3: W vs. No. 70 Purdue (+0.14) Week 4: W @ No. 72 Maryland (+0.20) Resume score: 0.78
8	Miami (Fla.)
Week 1: W vs. FCS Florida A&M (+0.01) Week 2: W @ No. 86 Stanford (+0.15) Week 3: W @ No. 23 Wake Forest (+0.58) Week 4: W vs. No. 125 Central Michigan (+0.02) Resume score: 0.76
9	Notre Dame
Week 1: W vs. No. 35 Wisconsin (Neutral) (+0.38) Week 2: W vs. No. 115 Rice (+0.03) Week 3: W vs. No. 77 Michigan State (+0.12) Week 4: W @ No. 70 Purdue (+0.21) Resume score: 0.74
T-10	Oregon
Week 1: W vs. No. 28 Boise State (+0.39) Week 2: L @ No. 20 Oklahoma State (-0.38) Week 3: W vs. FCS Portland State (+0.01) Week 4: W @ No. 19 USC (+0.64) Resume score: 0.66
T-10	Iowa
Week 1: W vs. No. 131 Northern Illinois (+0.02) Week 2: W vs. No. 60 Iowa State (+0.17) Week 3: W vs. FCS Northern Iowa (+0.01) Week 4: W @ No. 31 Michigan (+0.46) Resume score: 0.66
12	Wake Forest
Week 1: W vs. No. 123 Akron (+0.02) Week 2: W @ No. 70 Purdue (+0.21) Week 3: L vs. No. 3 Miami (-0.14) Week 4: W @ No. 33 Louisville (+0.44) Resume score: 0.53
T-13	Georgia
Week 1: W vs. FCS Tennessee State (+0.01) Week 2: W vs. No. 106 Western Kentucky (+0.05) Week 3: W @ No. 81 Arkansas (+0.17) Week 4: W vs. No. 48 Oklahoma (+0.23) Resume score: 0.46
T-13	Utah
Week 1: W vs. FCS Idaho (+0.01) Week 2: W vs. No. 81 Arkansas (+0.11) Week 3: W vs. No. 94 Utah State (+0.08) Week 4: W @ No. 60 Iowa State (+0.26) Resume score: 0.46
T-13	Indiana
Week 1: W vs. No. 87 North Texas (+0.09) Week 2: W vs. FCS Howard (+0.01) Week 3: W vs. No. 106 Western Kentucky (+0.05) Week 4: W vs. No. 37 Northwestern (+0.31) Resume score: 0.46