Alabama remains the king of the College Football Playoff era.
Will that change when the field expands to 12 teams in 2023? Georgia has won back-to-back national championships, and more teams means more chances for different national champions. That said, the Crimson Tide have been the most consistent program in the four-team era.
Alabama has won three national championships since 2014 as part of an era that has been top-heavy. Only five schools have won national championships in the last nine years. All of those programs made the cut.
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Sporting News ranked the top 12 programs of the CFP era. These are the schools that will likely be the regulars in the 12-team playoff, and the list We used a formula that judges programs through eight categories. Here are the metrics we used to determine those programs:
- National championship: 10 points
- CFP championship appearance: 5 points
- CFP appearance: 5 points
- New Year's Day Six appearance: 2 points
- Winning percentage: (16-1 poll style)
- Consensus All-Americans: 16-1 poll style
- NFL Draft picks: 16-1 poll style
- Heisman Trophy winners: 1 point
That is a straight-forward method that gets to the point. As college fans might expect, two-thirds of the list is composed of Big Ten and SEC schools (not including Oklahoma, which joins the SEC in 2024), an indicator of things to come when the 12-team playoff starts. The list of 12 teams also could be tiered off into three groups – as the gaps in point differential show. Who are the dozen schools that have dominated the CFP era? A closer look:
Top 12 programs of CFP era
1. Alabama
Total score: 162
Lowdown: Nick Saban led the Crimson Tide to three national championships since 2014. Alabama has advanced to the CFP seven times, and they were the first team out in last year's final rankings. On top of that, the Crimson Tide is 115-12 – a winning percentage of .906. No other program has won more than 90% of their games in that stretch. Alabama also has produced the most Consensus All-Americans and NFL Draft picks in this time frame. Georgia might be on top now, but the Crimson Tide have been doing this since the BCS era.
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2. Clemson
Total score: 120.5
Lowdown: Clemson's spot on this list is hard to argue. The Tigers have multiple national championships and reached the CFP six times. That includes four CFP championship appearances, which resulted in a 2-2 record. Detractors might say that was built off an ACC schedule, but the Tigers have produced nine Consensus All-Americans and 49 NFL Draft picks. Dabo Swinney has built a program that has accumulated so much success that the last two seasons – which produced a 21-6 record and an ACC championship – have been scoffed at because the Tigers didn't reach the CFP.
3. Ohio State
Total score: 108
Lowdown: Ohio State is the only program to make the New Year's Day Six or CFP in all nine of seasons since 2014. The Buckeyes scored in every category except Heisman Trophy winner, and they rank second behind Alabama in winning percentage, All-Americans and NFL Draft picks since 2014. Ohio State is 3-4 in CFP games. Ryan Day is 1-3 in the CFP, but the losses are to Clemson, Alabama and Georgia. The semifinal losses to the Tigers and Bulldogs were by a combined total of seven points. The Buckeyes are always in the national championship hunt, and that will continue when the field expands.
4. Georgia
Total score: 98.5
Lowdown: The Bulldogs' score on this list jumped 27.5 points from last year. Another jump like that would push them near the top. They have pushed into the top four of the CFP era with consecutive national championships under Kirby Smart. The Bulldogs are 3-1 against Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State the last two seasons. The Bulldogs have had only one season with more than three losses, and that was Smart's first year in 2016. Georgia also has shot up to third in NFL Drafts picks with 62 – a run helped by 25 picks in the last two drafts.
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5. Oklahoma
Total score: 59.5
Lowdown: After Georgia, there is a steep drop-off in point total until you reach the Sooners, who have reached the CFP four times under Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley while dominating the Big 12. Oklahoma is 0-4 in those CFP semifinals, which they lost by an average of 18 points per game. The Sooners dropped to fifth in overall winning percentage since 2014 after a 5-7 season under first-year coach Brent Venables. Oklahoma is trying to break a national championship drought that extends back to 2000, and this is the program's last season in the Big 12 before the move to the SEC.
6. LSU
Total score: 56.5
Lowdown: LSU and Alabama are the two programs that scored at least one point in every category on this list. The Tigers have the same score as last season, and Brian Kelly led LSU back to the 10-win mark in 2022. If not for a two-year blip under Ed Orgeron from 2020-21 that amounted to an 11-12 record after the 2019 national championship run, LSU would be in the top five on this list. The Tigers have produced the fourth-most NFL Draft picks. Kelly will be able to win with that talent over the next several years.
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7. Michigan
Total score: 48.5
Lowdown: Jim Harbaugh finally broke through in the last two seasons with a pair of Big Ten championships and CFP appearances. Michigan is 0-4 in the CFP or New Year's Day Six – which is the next hurdle for the program. Keep in mind that Harbaugh inherited a program that went 5-7 under Brady Hoke in 2014 – a time when Michigan was nowhere near a top-10 program. Harbaugh has progressively increased the production of All-Americans (tied for third with nine) and NFL Draft picks (sixth with 56). Back-to-back victories against Ohio State have provided a psychological boost too, but now the Wolverines must take more steps toward breaking a national championship drought that extends back to 1997.
8. Notre Dame
Total score: 45.5
Lowdown: Notre Dame belongs in the top 10 on the strength of multiple CFP appearances and six seasons with double-digit wins. The Irish did finish 4-8 in 2016, but they are 63-13 in the last six seasons. The only schools with better records are Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia and Clemson. The Irish have slipped out of the top 10 in NFL Draft picks since 2014, and Marcus Freeman led the team to nine wins in 2022. Notre Dame marks the end of the second tier of schools on this list. There is another drop before we reach No. 9.
9. Oregon
Total score: 21
Lowdown: The Ducks are part of the third-tier on this list and the only Pac-12 team. More than half of their points are off the 2014 season, where Oregon reached the first CFP championship game and Marcus Mariota won the Heisman Trophy. The Ducks have the second-best Pac-12 record since 2014, a half-game behind Utah – who has won the last two Pac-12 championships. That's the rivalry that will continue when USC and UCLA leave the conference, and it's on second-year Dan Lanning to preserve the Ducks' status as a top-10 program.
10. Wisconsin
Total score: 18.5
Lowdown: Luke Fickell takes over at Wisconsin, a program that slipped with a 20-13 record the last three seasons. The Badgers still have the ninth-best record since 2014, and they have the best record among Power 5 schools who have not reached the CFP. Wisconsin has reached the New Year's Day Six three times and has produced six consensus All-Americans. The Badgers are 0-4 in the Big Ten championship game since 2014. Fickell's challenge will be to push the program back into the conversation with Ohio State and Michigan.
11. Florida
Total score: 18
Lowdown: Florida is the only team on this list that did not rank in the top 16 in winning percentage. The Gators do have three New Year's Day Six appearances and have advanced to the SEC championship game three times. The Gators also have produced the fifth most NFL Draft picks in the CFP era. The problem is Billy Napier is the fourth different head coach in that stretch, and that inconsistency against Georgia (4-5 since 2014), LSU (2-7) and Alabama (0-5) still resonates.
12. Penn State
Total score: 17
Lowdown: The Nittany Lions have made four New Year's Day Six appearances; the most of any school that has not participated in the College Football Playoff. James Franklin is 3-1 in those games, and Penn State has the ninth-most NFL Draft picks in that stretch. There have been ups and downs. Four seasons have resulted in 11 or more wins, and four seasons have come with five or more losses. Expectations are higher than ever for Penn State in 2023. Will the Nittany Lions finally break through and reach the CFP?
Total scoring
Here is the total scoring by the system Sporting News used to judge the programs:
| RANK | SCHOOL | POINTS |
| 1 | Alabama | 162 |
| 2 | Clemson | 120.5 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 108 |
| 4 | Georgia | 98.5 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 59.5 |
| 6 | LSU | 56.5 |
| 7 | Michigan | 48.5 |
| 8 | Notre Dame | 45.5 |
| 9 | Oregon | 21 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | 18.5 |
| 11 | Florida | 18 |
| 12 | Penn State | 17 |
| 13 | Utah | 16.5 |
| 14 | Florida State | 16 |
| 15(t) | Washington | 14 |
| 15(t) | TCU | 14 |
| 17 | Iowa | 13.5 |
| 18 | Boise State | 13 |
| 19(t) | Michigan State | 11 |
| 19(t) | USC | 11 |
| 21 | Appalachian State | 10 |
| 22 | Texas | 9.5 |
| 23(t) | Cincinnati | 9 |
| 23(t) | Auburn | 9 |
| 23(t) | Miami | 9 |
| 26 | Texas A&M | 8.5 |
| 27 | Baylor | 7 |
| 28 | Ole Miss | 6.5 |
| 29(t) | Oklahoma State | 4 |
| 29(t) | UCF | 4 |
| 29(t) | San Diego State | 4 |
| 32 | Pitt | 3 |
| 33(t) | Memphis | 2 |
| 33(t) | Arizona | 2 |
| 33(t) | Georgia Tech | 2 |
| 33(t) | Mississippi State | 2 |
| 33(t) | Houston | 2 |
| 33(t) | Stanford | 2 |
| 33(t) | Western Michigan | 2 |
| 33(t) | Virginia | 2 |
| 33(t) | Iowa State | 2 |
| 33(t) | North Carolina | 2 |
| 33(t) | Tulane | 2 |
| 33(t) | Kansas State | 2 |
| 33(t) | Tennessee | 2 |
