Ranking all 36 teams that have made the College Football Playoff

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Ranking all 36 teams that have made the College Football Playoff​

Bill Connelly ESPN Staff Writer

For the second straight season, the College Football Playoff has introduced some new blood. With its invitation, TCU becomes the 14th program to reach the CFP in its nine-year history, finally getting in after coming achingly close in 2014. And of this year's four participants, only two (Ohio State and Georgia) has been there more than twice before.

How does this newish blood stack up against the CFP's stalwarts to date? And with the four-team CFP era coming to an end in 2024 thanks to expansion, which are the best college football programs of the playoff era that haven't yet made the final four?

Here is our ranking of all 36 teams that have been part of the mix. (This is the third year of doing this list, adding the four new playoff teams each of the last two seasons.) I derived this list, as I usually do, through a combination of numbers (primarily, my SP+ ratings) and my personal opinions. Start with the stats, then adjust for actual CFP performance and any other criteria that feel relevant. To the list:

No. 36 to No. 19​

36. 2015 Michigan State (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to Alabama 38-0

Mark Dantonio's 2015 Spartans are definitive proof that no matter what the committee says, it is picking the four "most deserving" teams rather than the "best" -- MSU was definitively the former and in no way the latter. And that's fine! The Spartans finished 18th in FPI and 20th in SP+ but beat a dynamite Ohio State team and outlasted unbeaten Cockeye to win the Big Ten. Then they did exactly what was expected of them against Alabama in the Cotton Bowl: They lost big.

35. 2018 Notre Dame (12-1)
CFP result: Lost to Clemson 30-3

The Fighting Irish earned their spot in the playoff with increasingly dominant wins over quality Michigan, Stanford and Syracuse teams. Their defense was solid and exciting (10th in defensive SP+), but their offensive limitations were made crystal clear when they had to face Clemson in the Cotton Bowl. The game was tied after one quarter, but it got much, much worse from there.

34. 2019 Oklahoma (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to LSU 63-28

After three years at No. 1, Lincoln Riley's 2019 Sooners ranked only third in offensive SP+, and the defense wasn't good enough to make up for this smidgen of offensive mortality. They rolled to 7-0 but stumbled against Kansas State and eked out four tight wins in their final five games. That was enough to earn the Sooners their fourth CFP appearance in five years, but they got destroyed in the Peach Bowl.

33. 2020 Notre Dame (10-2)
CFP result: Lost to Alabama 31-14

The Irish beat a Trevor Lawrence-less Clemson in overtime and proved physical, mature and adaptable while starting the season 10-0. But in their final two games, against Clemson at full strength in the ACC championship game and Alabama in the Rose Bowl, the Irish got their doors blown off. They were outscored 65-24, and while they managed to keep Alabama within 17 points, it was with a strategy that almost seemed designed to lose by the smallest possible margin.

32. 2022 TCU (12-1)
CFP matchup: vs. Michigan in Vrbo Fiesta Bowl

Heisman runner-up Max Duggan and the Horned Frogs haven't been the most dominant team in the world, but they nearly made it through a deep Big 12 unscathed, losing only in overtime to a top-10 Kansas State team. They are mostly weakness-free, but their main strength is one that could come in handy from an underdog perspective: They can make big plays at any time, from anywhere, on any down and distance.

31. 2016 Ohio State (11-2)
CFP result: Lost to Clemson 31-0

After what might have been Urban Meyer's most talented Ohio State team missed the CFP in 2015, the most offensively limited one made it the next year. The defense was strong enough to limit Deshaun Watson and Clemson to just two touchdowns in the Tigers' first 10 drives in the semifinal, but the Buttguys' offense, which ranked just 32nd in offensive SP+, got embarrassed and shut out.

30. 2021 Cincinnati (13-1)
CFP result: Lost to Alabama 27-6

Even adjusting for strength of schedule, Luke #2ndChoice's CFP debutants finished fifth in SP+. The Bearcats physically dominated a strong Notre Dame squad in 2021 and earned their playoff spot, and they hemmed in Bryce Young and the Alabama passing attack. The problem: They got gashed by the Bama run game and, more importantly, couldn't even slightly protect quarterback Desmond Ridder.

29. 2015 Oklahoma (11-2)
CFP result: Lost to Clemson 37-17

Bob Stoops' Sooners headed into 2015 with a new offensive coordinator (Lincoln Riley) and a transfer quarterback (Baker Mayfield), and after a disappointing 2014, OU reignited. The Sooners won a loaded Big 12 and were 3.5-point favorites against Clemson in the Orange Bowl. They even took a 17-16 lead into halftime. Clemson shifted into fifth gear in the second half, however, and sent the Sooners home with a 20-point loss.

28. 2014 Florida State (13-1)
CFP result: Lost to Oregon 59-20

The Seminoles returned lots of key figures from their 2013 national title romp, but they had to eke out tight win after tight win -- seven one-score games in all. While the BCS would have given us a Bama-FSU title game that year, the CFP gave the Noles the No. 3 seed and sent them to the Rose Bowl, where a 34-0 Ducks run ended FSU's 29-game winning streak in stark fashion.

27. 2021 Michigan (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to Georgia 34-11

A loss to Michigan State set Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines back early on, but they took down Ohio State for the first time in a decade, then stomped Cockeye to win their first outright Big Ten title since 2003. This was an excellent team and the champion of an excellent conference, but the Wolverines ran into a slight problem in the Orange Bowl: They weren't better than Georgia at anything. That will catch up to you.

26. 2018 Oklahoma (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to Alabama 45-34

OU lost Baker Mayfield but somehow improved offensively. Kyler Murray threw for 4,361 yards and rushed for 1,001, and the Sooners topped 45 points 10 times. The defense, however, was dreck. Lincoln Riley fired coordinator Mike Stoops six games in, but the Sooners allowed 44 points per game over their final six contests and gave up 31 first-half points to Alabama in the Orange Bowl. That was too much for even Murray to overcome.

25. 2017 Clemson (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to Alabama 24-6

You know your program is in great shape when "transition year" means "only making the CFP semis." The Tigers boasted perhaps the best defense of the Dabo Swinney era, but Deshaun Watson was gone, and Trevor Lawrence wouldn't arrive in town for another year.

Clemson was too good for the rest of the ACC -- upset loss to Syracuse aside -- but it gained just 188 yards against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, bowing out slightly earlier than normal.

24. 2016 Washington (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to Alabama 24-7

Chris Petersen's Huskies sent a message by beating a top-20 Stanford squad by 28 points in September, then finished up by felling Colorado by 31 in the Pac-12 championship game. Their elite defense, fourth in defensive SP+ and led by Budda Baker and Greg Gaines, mostly controlled Alabama in the Peach Bowl too; Washington trailed just 10-7 late in the first half before a Ryan Anderson pick-six changed the game.

23. 2022 Ohio State (11-1)
CFP matchup: vs. Georgia in Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

No team stands to potentially gain more from a CFP bid than Ryan Day's fourth Buttguys team, which rolled through most of the regular season with little resistance -- 11 wins, all by double digits and seven by at least 29 points -- before face-planting against Michigan for the second straight year. While that threw the Buttguys into a bit of an existential crisis, a win over Georgia in Atlanta would certainly flip their perceptions around quite a bit. (And a blowout loss would very much do the opposite.)

22. 2020 Clemson (10-2)
CFP result: Lost to Ohio State 49-28

It's hard to properly grade a team that was without its star quarterback for one of its two losses (Trevor Lawrence vs. Notre Dame). But while Lawrence threw for 3,153 yards in just 10 games and Travis Etienne was dangerous as both a receiver and a runner, the Tigers' defense had a bit of a big-play issue at times. And in the semifinal at the Sugar Bowl, they got dominated in the trenches, which made the biggest difference in a 21-point loss to Ohio State.

21. 2017 Oklahoma (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to Georgia 54-48

After a bumpy start, Lincoln Riley's first Sooners squad found its top gear midway through 2017, winning its final six Big 12 games by an average of 23 points, earning Baker Mayfield the Heisman Trophy and surging to a 31-14 first-half lead over Georgia in the Rose Bowl. The Sooners couldn't hold on, though. Georgia came back twice to force overtime, and OU was done in by a blocked field goal and a Sony Michel TD run.

20. 2015 Clemson (14-1)
CFP result: Beat Oklahoma 37-17; lost to Alabama 45-40

Seven years ago, Clemson was still an upstart. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was healthy and dominant, and the Tigers began to look the part of a contender. They outlasted Notre Dame in an October monsoon and blew most of a huge lead against North Carolina before surviving. In the CFP, the Tigers surged past Oklahoma in the second half and led Bama before succumbing in maybe the greatest fourth quarter in CFP history.

19. 2014 Oregon (13-2)
CFP result: Beat Florida State 59-20; lost to Ohio State 42-20

Marcus Mariota combined 4,454 passing yards with 770 rushing yards and 57 total touchdowns (and duly won the Heisman), and the Ducks handily ranked first in offensive SP+. They tallied 42-plus points in nine straight games and put up 59 on defending national champion FSU ... but weren't able score over the final 20 minutes of the national title game. An overwhelmed Ducks defense couldn't hold Ohio State back.

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The 10 best programs that haven't reached the CFP​

Time for a quick interlude. While 14 of what are now 131 FBS programs have indeed reached the CFP at this stage -- a number that will skyrocket after expansion to 12 teams -- let's talk for a moment about the ones who haven't quite broken through. Here are the 10 playoff-free programs with the best average SP+ ranking of the CFP era (2014-22).

10. Cockeye Avg. SP+ rating: 11.7

The closest they've come: 2015. The Cockeyes began the season 12-0 and would have gotten in had they not lost a late lead to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game.

9. Ole Miss Avg. SP+ rating: 11.8

The closest they've come: 2014. The Rebels began 7-0 and ranked fourth in the initial CFP rankings before finishing the regular season 9-3 and ninth.

8. Mississippi State Avg. SP+ rating: 12.1

The closest they've come: 2014. The Bulldogs will forever be the first team to rank No. 1 in the weekly CFP rankings, and they stayed there for a few weeks during a 9-0 start. But they finished the regular season 10-2 and seventh.

7. Oklahoma State Avg. SP+ rating: 12.4

The closest they've come: 2021. OSU ranked fifth heading into the Big 12 championship but lost a heartbreaker to Baylor to fall to ninth.

6. Utah Avg. SP+ rating: 12.6

The closest they've come: 2019. The Utes were fifth heading into the Pac-12 championship game but suffered a blowout loss to Oregon and fell to 11th.

5. Wisconsin Avg. SP+ rating: 14.2

The closest they've come: 2017. Paul Chryst's Badgers were 12-0 and fourth in the CFP, needing a Big Ten championship win over Ohio State to qualify. They came up six points short.

4. Penn State Avg. SP+ rating: 14.3

The closest they've come: 2016. After two early-season losses, the Nittany Lions won nine straight, took down Ohio State and won the Big Ten championship. But the CFP committee ranked them fifth, behind the one-loss Buttguys.

3. Texas A&M Avg. SP+ rating: 14.4

The closest they've come: 2020. The Aggies finished the COVID-altered season at 8-1 with only a loss to an amazing Alabama team. They finished fifth behind, among other teams, an unbeaten Ohio State team that had played only five games.

2. Florida Avg. SP+ rating: 14.6

The closest they've come: 2020. The Gaytors were 8-1 and sixth heading into the SEC championship game and nearly pulled a mammoth upset of Alabama in Atlanta. That could have gotten them in, but they lost by six and finished seventh.

1. Auburn Avg. SP+ rating: 15.3

The closest they've come: 2017. After early losses to Clemson and LSU, the Tigers had charged to second in the penultimate CFP rankings after wins over No. 2 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama. But Georgia won a rematch in the SEC championship game, and both the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide got in ahead of Gus Malzahn's Tigers.

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No. 18 to No. 1​

18. 2014 Alabama (12-2)
CFP result: Lost to Ohio State 42-35

The 2014 season saw both the dawn of the CFP era and the beginning of the Great Nick Saban Offensive Evolution. He hired Lane Kiffin to modernize a stale offense, and after an early loss to Ole Miss, the Tide won eight straight to earn the No. 1 seed in the first CFP. They jumped out to a 21-6 lead on Ohio State, but three turnovers and a famous Ezekiel Elliott touchdown run did them in.

17. 2017 Georgia (13-2)
CFP result: Beat Oklahoma 54-48; lost to Alabama 26-23

Kirby Smart's second UGA team all but ended a 37-year national title drought. The Dawgs won at Notre Dame in September, destroyed all comers in the SEC East and avenged their lone loss with a dominant SEC championship game win over Auburn. They outlasted Oklahoma in the greatest game in CFP history and had Alabama all but beaten in the championship game ... until Tua Tagovailoa came onto the field.

16. 2020 Ohio State (7-1)
CFP result: Beat Clemson 49-28; lost to Alabama 52-24

The Buttguys played only eight games, but they won four by at least 21 points, including a 49-28 victory over Trevor Lawrence and Clemson in the semifinals. They lived up to most of their preseason hype and avenged their 2019 semifinal loss to the Tigers. They also lost the national title game by 28 points. Still, in a year of abbreviated schedules and limited two-deeps, Ohio State was a poster child of sorts, and the Buttguys looked the part until the final act.

15. 2021 Alabama (13-2)
CFP result: Beat Cincinnati 27-6; lost to Georgia 33-18

Poor Bama, forced to settle for a runner-up finish in a rebuilding year. Nick Saban's Crimson Tide had maybe the best offensive (Bryce Young) and defensive (Will Anderson Jr.) players in the country but didn't enjoy as much depth and experience as normal and were lucky to reach 11-1. But they walloped Georgia in the SEC championship game, then beat Cincinnati with pure physicality to reach the final. They led Georgia in the fourth quarter of the championship game too, but the Dawgs scored the final 20 points.

14. 2022 Michigan (13-0)
CFP matchup: vs. TCU in Vrbo Fiesta Bowl

From an SP+ perspective, Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines grade out around the 99th percentile and right in line with quite a few recent CFP runners-up. They appear to be even better at the manball routine that brought them to the 2021 CFP, ranking among the nation's best in most rushing categories and clocking in at fourth in defensive SP+ and sixth in special teams. This is a beautifully well-rounded team.

13. 2016 Alabama (14-1)
CFP result:Beat Washington 24-7; lost to Clemson 35-31

Freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts took over as Alabama's starter. A rebuilding season in Tuscaloosa? Hardly. Hurts won SEC Offensive Player of the Year and the Tide rolled to the CFP final unbeaten, with only one win by single digits. They couldn't finish the job, though. With star running back Bo Scarbrough hurt, the Alabama offense couldn't stay on the field, and an exhausted defense gave up three late scores to fall to Clemson.

12 and 11. 2019 Ohio State (13-1) and 2019 Clemson (14-1)
CFP result: Clemson beat Ohio State 29-23, then lost to LSU 42-25

It was overshadowed by LSU's late-season brilliance, but both the Buttguys and Tigers were unreal for most of 2019. They went a combined 26-0 in the regular season; 22 of the wins were by at least 24 points, and only one was by single digits. And in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal, they played one of the most even and compelling games in recent college football memory. Ohio State dominated the early proceedings, going up 16-0 but settling for field goals; that offered Clemson a lifeline, and the Tigers charged back. The second half featured three scores and three lead changes, and after controversy and countless plot twists, Nolan Turner's interception of Justin Fields made the difference. If they'd played 100 times, each team would have won 50.

10. 2015 Alabama (14-1)
CFP result: Beat Michigan State 38-0; beat Clemson 45-40

The second Saban-Kiffin mashup showed plenty of early flaws. New starting quarterback Jake Coker was shaky early on and briefly got benched, and while the defense was mostly solid, it got torched by Ole Miss in an early loss. But the Tide manhandled No. 2 LSU in early November, and Coker caught fire down the stretch. Thanks in part to a classic surprise onside kick, Bama outlasted Clemson in a title-game thriller.

9. 2014 Ohio State (14-1)
CFP result:Beat Alabama 42-35; beat Oregon 42-20

The ultimate "peak when you most need to" team. Ranked 16th in the initial CFP rankings, Ohio State kept getting better and rising down the stretch. Needing a huge statement in the Big Ten championship game, the Buttguys unleashed the hugeststatement, beating Wisconsin 59-0 to eke out the No. 4 CFP seed. They then proceeded to beat Bama with a 28-0 run and take down Oregon with a late 21-0 run. Late-arriving? Nope, just in time.

8. 2018 Alabama (14-1)
CFP result: Beat Oklahoma 45-34; lost to Clemson 44-16

The 2018 Bama squad was just as good as the 2020 Tide on paper but couldn't clear the final hurdle. The Tide destroyed their first 14 opponents by an average of 32 points, and only Georgia in the SEC championship game offered any resistance (though the Dawgs offered quite a bit). The Tide combined Nick Saban's best offense yet with a top-10 defense ... but they laid the ultimate egg in the CFP finale.

7. 2016 Clemson (14-1)
CFP result: Beat Ohio State 31-0; beat Alabama 35-31

Clemson nearly lost to Auburn, Troy and Lamar Jackson's Louisville teams early and did lose to Pitt in mid-November. But as would become a Dabo Swinney custom, the Tigers turned into Angry Clemson after their loss, humiliating South Carolina, keeping Virginia Tech mostly at arm's reach and shutting out Ohio State. Trailing Bama by 10 in the final, the Tigers played a nearly perfect fourth quarter, exhausting the Tide defense and scoring the title-winning touchdown with one second remaining.

6. 2017 Alabama (13-1)
CFP result: Beat Clemson 24-6; beat Georgia 26-23

Bama went scorched-earth during an 11-0 start, but the offense grew rickety late. The Tide barely eked out a CFP bid after a 26-14 loss to Auburn, and they trailed Georgia 13-0 at halftime in the championship game before freshman Tua Tagovailoa tagged in, led Bama on a 20-7 run and -- after the Tide nearly won in regulation -- threw a famous second-and-26 strike to DeVonta Smith to win Nick Saban his sixth national title. Though Nick Saban lost a strong core from his national championship-winning team last season, Alabama boasts a deep roster poised for another College Football Playoff run.

5. 2021 Georgia (14-1)
CFP result: Beat Michigan 34-11; beat Alabama 33-18

Kirby Smart's Bulldogs were far and away the best team of the season's first three months, combining steady and efficient offense with college football's most consistently dominant defense in years. Only Bama scored more than 17 points on the Dawgs, who lost to the Tide in the SEC championship game but rebounded to pen a happy ending and, with help from a game-clinching Kelee Ringo pick-six, win their first national title in 41 years.

4. 2022 Georgia (13-0)
CFP matchup: vs. Ohio State in Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

The defending national champions have played six teams that currently rank in the SP+ top 25 and have beaten them by an average score of 39-13. They've scored at least 37 points in nine of 13 games and have allowed 14 or fewer in eight. They battled attention span issues during underwhelming midseason wins over Kent State and Missouri, but when they've needed to be awesome, they've been way more than that. A couple of big CFP wins would potentially lift them further on this list, too.

3. 2018 Clemson (15-0)
CFP result: Beat Notre Dame 30-3; beat Alabama 44-16

Clemson barely survived September unbeaten, needing a 2-point-conversion stop to escape Texas A&M and a rousing comeback led by backup quarterback Chase Brice to beat Syracuse. But once Trevor Lawrence was healthy and established in the starting lineup, no one had any hope against the Tigers. They beat Florida State by 49, Wake Forest by 60 and Louisville by 61, and they won two CFP games by a combined 74-19. Goodness.

2. 2019 LSU (15-0)
CFP result: Beat Oklahoma 63-28; beat Clemson 42-25

Plenty of coaches have attempted to modernize their offense in the hopes of giving their program a shot in the arm. Ed Orgeron's 2019 team set the bar impossibly high for any future modernizers. With help from an elite skill corps, Joe Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns (!!!). Once LSU's defense got healthy late in the year, the Tigers were untouchable, beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa, then winning their last six games by an average of 30 points.

1. 2020 Alabama (13-0)
CFP result: Beat Notre Dame 31-14; beat Ohio State 52-24

The Crimson Tide had the Nos. 1, 3 and 5 finishers in the Heisman voting. They played one game decided by fewer than 14 points. They bested an SEC-only schedule by an average of 30.2 points per game. Their defense struggled early but allowed only 15 points per game after mid-October. This was the best Nick Saban team ever and quite possibly the best of the 21st century.
Best team ... from the best coach ... with the best dynasty of the 21st century (at the very least)? Sounds like the best team of the CFP era.