2016 season
128 teams across 5 tiers
- National champion
- Alabamafrom Premier
- Biggest riser (2016 tiers)
- Penn State▲ 1 tier
- Biggest faller
- UCLA▼ 1 tier
Biggest movers
Teams with the largest tier change after promotions and relegations.
- ColoradoTier 5▲ 1Tier 4
- LouisvilleTier 2▲ 1Premier
- Middle TennesseeTier 5▲ 1Tier 4
- Old DominionTier 5▲ 1Tier 4
- Penn StateTier 2▲ 1Premier
- ArizonaTier 2▼ 1Tier 3
- Arizona StatePremier▼ 1Tier 2
- Fresno StateTier 4▼ 1Tier 5
- Iowa StateTier 3▼ 1Tier 4
- MarshallTier 2▼ 1Tier 3
Regular season champions
Tier winners — the top finisher in each tier on points, before any promotion playoff or main-playoff games.
Tier standings
Final regular-season standings. Promoted rows tinted green, relegated rows tinted red, survival winners tinted amber.
| Team | ⓘ
| Status | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff Zone | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Alabama | 13 | 0 | 43 | 527 | 153 | +374 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Ohio State | 11 | 1 | 41 | 512 | 170 | +342 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Oklahoma | 10 | 2 | 36 | 536 | 356 | +180 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Stanford | 9 | 3 | 35 | 317 | 242 | +75 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Clemson | 12 | 1 | 34 | 522 | 239 | +283 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | USC | 9 | 3 | 34 | 395 | 266 | +129 | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Wisconsin | 10 | 3 | 31 | 373 | 202 | +171 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Oklahoma State | 9 | 3 | 29 | 464 | 337 | +127 | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Utah | 8 | 4 | 28 | 362 | 287 | +75 | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Florida | 8 | 4 | 25 | 281 | 215 | +66 | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Florida State | 9 | 3 | 24 | 423 | 293 | +130 | ||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Boise State | 10 | 2 | 23 | 427 | 272 | +155 | ||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Texas A&M | 8 | 4 | 21 | 425 | 286 | +139 | ||||||||||||||||
| 14 | LSU | 7 | 4 | 21 | 311 | 180 | +131 | ||||||||||||||||
| 15 | Iowa | 8 | 4 | 19 | 321 | 215 | +106 | ||||||||||||||||
| 16 | Georgia | 7 | 5 | 19 | 288 | 289 | -1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 17 | Texas | 5 | 7 | 18 | 383 | 378 | +5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 18 | TCU | 6 | 6 | 15 | 380 | 333 | +47 | ||||||||||||||||
| 19 | Oregon | 4 | 8 | 13 | 425 | 497 | -72 | ||||||||||||||||
| 20 | Baylor | 6 | 6 | 12 | 419 | 365 | +54 | ||||||||||||||||
| Relegation Zone | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | UCLA | 4 | 8 | 12 | 299 | 330 | -31 | Relegated | |||||||||||||||
| 22 | Arizona State | 5 | 7 | 12 | 400 | 478 | -78 | Relegated | |||||||||||||||
| 23 | Notre Dame | 4 | 8 | 11 | 371 | 334 | +37 | Relegated | |||||||||||||||
| 24 | Michigan State | 3 | 9 | 9 | 289 | 333 | -44 | Survived | |||||||||||||||
Main playoff
Twelve-team championship bracket: top 8 from Premier (seeds 1–8), top 2 from Tier 2 (seeds 9–10), top 2 from Tier 3 (seeds 11–12). Seeds 1–4 receive first-round byes. Champion: Alabama.
Promotion playoffs
Each lower tier sends two teams up automatically (ranks 1 and 2); ranks 3–6 contest a single-elimination playoff for the third promotion spot.
Relegation playoffs
Bottom 4 of each upper tier play a survival bracket. The Survival Final winner stays up; the other three drop down.
2017 starting tiers
Cascade from 2016: promoted teams move up, relegated teams move down, and FBS membership is reconciled against CFBD's roster for the next year.
- Alabama1
- Ohio State2
- Penn State3
- Oklahoma4
- Stanford5
- Clemson6
- USC7
- West Virginia8
- Wisconsin9
- Oklahoma State10
- Utah11
- Louisville12
- Florida13
- Florida State14
- Boise State15
- Texas A&M16
- LSU17
- Iowa18
- Georgia19
- Texas20
- TCU21
- Oregon22
- Baylor23
- Michigan State24
- Washington1
- Michigan2
- Virginia Tech3
- Washington State4
- San Diego State5
- Pittsburgh6
- Nebraska7
- Houston8
- BYU9
- Kansas State10
- Auburn11
- North Carolina12
- Miami (FL)13
- Northwestern14
- South Carolina15
- Ole Miss16
- UCLA17
- Arizona State18
- Notre Dame19
- Nevada20
- Missouri21
- Cincinnati22
- East Carolina23
- Northern Illinois24
- South Florida1
- Western Michigan2
- Tennessee3
- Temple4
- Navy5
- Georgia Tech6
- Arkansas7
- California8
- Tulsa9
- Air Force10
- Toledo11
- Vanderbilt12
- Maryland13
- Texas Tech14
- Mississippi State15
- UCF16
- NC State17
- Louisiana Tech18
- Duke19
- Boston College20
- San Jose State21
- UConn22
- Arizona23
- Bowling Green24
- Marshall25
- Rutgers26
- Colorado1
- Wyoming2
- Minnesota3
- Kentucky4
- Memphis5
- New Mexico6
- Indiana7
- Western Kentucky8
- Middle Tennessee9
- Central Michigan10
- Old Dominion11
- Colorado State12
- Southern Miss13
- Ohio14
- Oregon State15
- Syracuse16
- App State17
- Illinois18
- Purdue19
- UNLV20
- Arkansas State21
- Iowa State22
- Utah State23
- Virginia24
- Kent State25
- Hawaii1
- Army2
- Eastern Michigan3
- Wake Forest4
- Troy5
- SMU6
- North Texas7
- South Alabama8
- Idaho9
- Akron10
- Florida International11
- UTSA12
- Miami (OH)13
- Charlotte14
- Louisiana-Lafayette15
- Tulane16
- Kansas17
- Georgia Southern18
- Florida Atlantic19
- New Mexico State20
- Ball State21
- UTEP22
- Rice23
- Louisiana-Monroe24
- Georgia State25
- Texas State26
- Massachusetts27
- Fresno State28
- Buffalo29