2017 season
130 teams across 5 tiers
- National champion
- Alabamafrom Premier
- Biggest riser (2017 tiers)
- Washington State▲ 1 tier
- Biggest faller
- Utah▼ 1 tier
Biggest movers
Teams with the largest tier change after promotions and relegations.
- AuburnTier 2▲ 1Premier
- Fresno StateTier 5▲ 1Tier 4
- Iowa StateTier 4▲ 1Tier 3
- MemphisTier 4▲ 1Tier 3
- Mississippi StateTier 3▲ 1Tier 2
- BaylorPremier▼ 1Tier 2
- Bowling GreenTier 3▼ 1Tier 4
- BYUTier 2▼ 1Tier 3
- CincinnatiTier 2▼ 1Tier 3
- FloridaPremier▼ 1Tier 2
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 | Oklahoma | 12 | 1 | 45 | 584 | 325 | +259 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | USC | 11 | 2 | 41 | 449 | 342 | +107 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Clemson | 12 | 1 | 38 | 460 | 166 | +294 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Georgia | 12 | 1 | 37 | 454 | 172 | +282 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Ohio State | 11 | 2 | 36 | 552 | 259 | +293 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Wisconsin | 12 | 1 | 35 | 439 | 171 | +268 | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Alabama | 11 | 1 | 34 | 469 | 138 | +331 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | TCU | 10 | 3 | 32 | 431 | 229 | +202 | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Stanford | 9 | 4 | 32 | 416 | 279 | +137 | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Penn State | 10 | 2 | 31 | 499 | 186 | +313 | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | LSU | 9 | 3 | 30 | 337 | 225 | +112 | ||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Michigan State | 9 | 3 | 30 | 277 | 243 | +34 | ||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Oklahoma State | 9 | 3 | 29 | 555 | 361 | +194 | ||||||||||||||||
| 14 | Boise State | 10 | 3 | 25 | 417 | 292 | +125 | ||||||||||||||||
| 15 | Texas | 6 | 6 | 20 | 350 | 260 | +90 | ||||||||||||||||
| 16 | Louisville | 8 | 4 | 19 | 468 | 325 | +143 | ||||||||||||||||
| 17 | Oregon | 7 | 5 | 19 | 440 | 339 | +101 | ||||||||||||||||
| 18 | West Virginia | 7 | 5 | 19 | 435 | 379 | +56 | ||||||||||||||||
| 19 | Texas A&M | 7 | 5 | 19 | 373 | 344 | +29 | ||||||||||||||||
| 20 | Iowa | 7 | 5 | 18 | 340 | 239 | +101 | ||||||||||||||||
| Relegation Zone | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | Utah | 6 | 6 | 16 | 354 | 287 | +67 | Relegated | |||||||||||||||
| 22 | Florida State | 6 | 6 | 12 | 320 | 263 | +57 | Survived | |||||||||||||||
| 23 | Florida | 4 | 7 | 9 | 243 | 300 | -57 | Relegated | |||||||||||||||
| 24 | Baylor | 1 | 11 | -2 | 292 | 431 | -139 | Relegated | |||||||||||||||
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.
2018 starting tiers
Cascade from 2017: promoted teams move up, relegated teams move down, and FBS membership is reconciled against CFBD's roster for the next year.
- Oklahoma1
- USC2
- Clemson3
- Georgia4
- Ohio State5
- Wisconsin6
- Alabama7
- Washington State8
- TCU9
- Stanford10
- Penn State11
- Auburn12
- LSU13
- Michigan State14
- Oklahoma State15
- Notre Dame16
- Boise State17
- Texas18
- Louisville19
- Oregon20
- West Virginia21
- Texas A&M22
- Iowa23
- Florida State24
- Northwestern1
- Miami (FL)2
- UCF3
- Washington4
- San Diego State5
- Virginia Tech6
- NC State7
- Michigan8
- South Carolina9
- Mississippi State10
- Arizona State11
- UCLA12
- Missouri13
- Houston14
- Kansas State15
- Utah16
- Northern Illinois17
- Ole Miss18
- Pittsburgh19
- Florida20
- Nebraska21
- East Carolina22
- North Carolina23
- Baylor24
- Memphis1
- Toledo2
- South Florida3
- Boston College4
- Iowa State5
- Texas Tech6
- Duke7
- Purdue8
- Arizona9
- Temple10
- Marshall11
- California12
- Georgia Tech13
- Navy14
- Vanderbilt15
- Air Force16
- Maryland17
- Rutgers18
- Western Michigan19
- Louisiana Tech20
- Arkansas21
- BYU22
- Tennessee23
- Tulsa24
- Cincinnati25
- Nevada26
- Fresno State1
- Virginia2
- Wake Forest3
- Kentucky4
- Colorado State5
- SMU6
- Central Michigan7
- Ohio8
- Utah State9
- Southern Miss10
- Wyoming11
- Minnesota12
- Syracuse13
- Middle Tennessee14
- Indiana15
- Colorado16
- App State17
- Western Kentucky18
- Arkansas State19
- New Mexico20
- UConn21
- UNLV22
- Old Dominion23
- San Jose State24
- Bowling Green25
- Florida Atlantic1
- Army2
- Troy3
- North Texas4
- Tulane5
- Akron6
- UTSA7
- UAB8
- Florida International9
- Buffalo10
- Eastern Michigan11
- New Mexico State12
- Massachusetts13
- Miami (OH)14
- Louisiana-Monroe15
- South Alabama16
- Hawaii17
- Louisiana-Lafayette18
- Idaho19
- Georgia State20
- Illinois21
- Texas State22
- Rice23
- Kent State24
- Ball State25
- Coastal Carolina26
- Oregon State27
- Kansas28
- UTEP29
- Georgia Southern30
- Charlotte31