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Those of you who are familiar with the NFL standings probably know how simple it is to understand the system. Teams are awarded 1 win for a win, 1 loss for a loss, and 1 tie for a tie. At the end of the 17-game regular season, the teams are ranked in their respective divisions based on the number of wins they have accumulated over the seasons. The top four teams from each division make it into the playoffs automatically followed by the remaining three best-ranked teams in the entire conference.
College football on the other hand is not as simple as that. For starters, college football, which comes under the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association), does not control every aspect of the game. Especially the Power Five conferences, which are more independent in their functioning. So how are all the teams ranked in one college season?
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How college football standings work
As we saw earlier, most of the top conferences in college football are independent and free to make their own decisions. In this way, each conference is able to not only decide how many games the teams in their respective conference will play, but they can also decide which opponents they will play. All this makes the college system a bit different from the more famous professional league.
And since none of the conferences are linked to each other in college football, each conference has its own standings table. More often than not, the teams at the top of the table will be the one with the best win-loss record from the conference games. However, in the case of teams with similar results, there are a number of different tie-breakers used by each conference to determine the order of the standings.
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Going a little into the depth of college football, we can understand that there are mainly four divisions, which are: Division 1 FBS, Division 1 FCS, Division 2, and Division 3. However, the only division that is really talked about or given importance is the Division 1 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision). In FBS itself there are multiple conferences and as a result, each conference will have its own standings table.
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What are the FBS conferences?
Under the Division 1 FBS conference, there are Power 5 and Group of 5 conferences. The Power 5 conferences are generally the most prominent and highest-earning conferences in college football. These are clearly the conferences that boast of schools with the best athletics programs.
Power 5 conferences
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- ACC - Atlantic Coast Conference
- Big Ten Conference
- Big 12 Conference
- Pac-12 Conference
- SEC - Southeastern Conference
ACC Conference Standings
The ACC Conference used to have two divisions, namely the Atlantic and the Coastal until 2022. However, in 2023, the ACC introduced a new format which is known as the 3-5-5 format. In this format, each team from the ACC will have 3 permanent rivals every year along with two separate 5-team rotations that are alternated every other year. In addition to these games, the ACC conference teams will also play four non-conference teams each year. In the end, the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will play in the ACC championship game.
Teams
- Duke Blue Devils
- Louisville Cardinals
- Florida State Seminoles
- Miami (FL) Hurricanes
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Syracuse Orange
- Wake Forest Demon Deacons
- Boston College Eagles
- North Carolina State Wolfpack
- Pittsburgh Panthers
- Virginia Tech Hokies
- Virginia Cavaliers
- Clemson Tigers
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Big Ten Conference Standings
The Big Ten Conference has two separate divisions divided into East and West based on the locality of the schools. From 2016, the Big 10 conference has been following a 9-game conference schedule. Every team will play each of the other six teams in their division once a year. Then they will play three cross divisional games to make up the remainder of the 9 conference games. In addition to this, each team will also play three non-conference games.
In the end, the two teams on top of their respective divisions as per the win-loss record will go head to head for the Big 10 Conference Championship game which is held after the regular season comes to an end.
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However, things are going to change from 2014 onwards as four more teams will be joining this conference. At that time, the divisions will be gone and it will be a single conference with 18 teams.
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East
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights
- Maryland Terrapins
- Michigan Wolverines
- Michigan State Spartans
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Indiana Hoosiers
West
- Minnesota Golden Gophers
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- Purdue Boilermakers
- Wisconsin Badgers
- Northwestern Wildcats
- Nebraska Cornhuskers
Big 12 Conference Standings
The Big 12 has also undergone a change in scheduling from what it first started with. This conference used to have two divisions known as the North and the South with six teams in each. However, that system is now gone and the Big 12 has introduced a round-robin concept without any divisions with 14 teams in the conference. At the end of the round-robin round, the top two teams in the conference that have the best win-loss record will face off for the Big 12 Championship game.
Teams
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- BYU Cougars
- Cincinnati Bearcats
- Kansas Jayhawks
- Kansas State Wildcats
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- Texas Longhorns
- UCF Knights
- Houston Cougars
- Iowa State Cyclones
- TCU Horned Frogs
- West Virginia Mountaineers
- Baylor Bears
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
PAC-12 Conference Standings
The PAC-12 football conference also followed a similar division structure until recently which consisted of North and South divisions. However, the PAC-12 has also done away with the divisions and now has all teams under the conference playing a round-robin system with the two teams with the highest winning percentage meeting in the PAC-12 Championship game.
Teams
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- USC Trojans
- Colorado Buffaloes
- Oregon Ducks
- Oregon State Beavers
- UCLA Bruins
- Utah Utes
- Washington Huskies
- Washington State Cougars
- Arizona Wildcats
- Arizona State Sun Devils
- California Golden Bears
- Stanford Cardinal
SEC Conference Standings
The SEC conference as of 2023 still operates in a division format which includes the East and the West. Each division has seven teams each. But it is expected to be the last year for this system as new teams will be added to the conference from 2024 onwards. As for now, teams are playing eight conference games, but with a conference of fourteen teams, it means that almost half of the teams don’t play each other every year.
Each team in one division will play against all the other teams for a total of six games. Then each team will play one cross-divisional game which is fixed while the remaining game will be played as a cross-divisional rotation-based game.
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The SEC Championship game is then played out between the two teams at the top of their respective divisions as per their win-loss record.
East
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Missouri Tigers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- Florida Gators
- South Carolina Gamecocks
West
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- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Auburn Tigers
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- LSU Tigers
- Texas A&M Aggies
Group of 5 conferences
- AAC - American Athletic Conference
- C-USA - Conference USA Conference
- MAC - Mid-American Conference
- MWC - Mountain West Conference
- SBC - Sun Belt Conference
AAC Conference Standings
The AAC has just made recent changes to its previous scheduling format which directly affects the way the standings are calculated. From the 2023 season onwards till the end of 2026 season, the AAC has ensured that each team will play eight conference games every year. Incidentally, 2023 is the first year that this conference has 14 teams in its conference. For the upcoming four year model the AAC has decided to not use a division based format. Therefore, the top two teams which have the best winning record in the conference will automatically play the Championship game.
Teams
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- Memphis Tigers
- Charlotte 49ers
- Florida Atlantic Owls
- Navy Midshipmen
- Rice Owls
- SMU Mustangs
- South Florida Bulls
- Temple Owls
- Tulane Green Wave
- Tulsa Golden Hurricane
- UAB Blazers
- UTSA Roadrunners
- East Carolina Pirates
- North Texas Mean Green
C-USA Conference Standings
This conference has seen a lot of changes with former teams leaving for different conferences and new teams getting added. As of 2023, the C-USA consists of nine teams and is set to expand next year. As a result, the season schedule will be only for this one season. For the 2023 season, the C-USA will hold a round-robin system where all teams will get a chance to play each other. At the end of the season, the teams will be ranked according to their final win-loss record.
Teams
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- Liberty Flames
- Jacksonville State Gamecocks
- Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
- Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
- Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
- Sam Houston Bearkats
- FIU Panthers
- New Mexico State Aggies
- UTEP Miners
MAC Conference Standings
The Mid-American Conference has been divided into the East and West divisions of six teams each. As per their format, the teams will play eight conference games which include five divisional games and three cross-divisional games. From both divisions, the team at the top based on their winning record will then meet for the MAC Championship game.
East
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- Ohio Bobcats
- Akron Zips
- Bowling Green Falcons
- Miami (OH) RedHawks
- Buffalo Bulls
- Kent State Golden Flashes
West
- Central Michigan Chippewas
- Eastern Michigan Eagles
- Northern Illinois Huskies
- Toledo Rockets
- Western Michigan Broncos
- Ball State Cardinals
MWC Conference Standings
This conference also had a division-based format till last year. From the 2023 season, the MWC has decided to do away with divisions and will now play a 2-6 format in which every team will be playing two permanent teams each year. The remaining 6 games will be rotation based which will be flipped every other year. A new change has been made to the Championship game as well as it will no longer be between the top teams from each division. Instead, the top two teams with the best records in the entire conference will feature in the Championship game.
Teams
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- Air Force Falcons
- Fresno State Bulldogs
- Wyoming Cowboys
- San Diego State Aztecs
- New Mexico Lobos
- UNLV Rebels
- Utah State Aggies
- Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
- San Jose State Spartans
- Colorado State Rams
- Boise State Broncos
- Nevada Wolf Pack
SBC Conference Standings
The Sun Belt Conference features two divisions with seven teams each. This conference decides its champion based on a championship game played between the division winners of both divisions. Division winners will be those teams with the highest winning percentage from all conference games which includes both divisional and non-divisional games.
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East
- Old Dominion Monarchs
- Georgia Southern Eagles
- Georgia State Panthers
- James Madison Dukes
- Marshall Thundering Herd
- Appalachian State Mountaineers
- Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
West
- Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
- South Alabama Jaguars
- Southern Miss Golden Eagles
- Texas State Bobcats
- Troy Trojans
- Arkansas State Red Wolves
- Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Independents (FBS) Conference
Back in the day there were many Independent teams than what we have today. As a matter of fact, currently only four teams belong to the independents conference. These teams do not have to schedule their games like the other conferences. They have many long standing rivalries.
Teams
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- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Army West Point Black Knights
- Massachusetts Minutemen
- Connecticut Huskies
FCS Conference
The FCS conferences have similar standings tables but in general, there are a lot of changes going around in the lower subdivision of Division 1 college football. As a result there is no concrete information on how the various conferences schedule their matchups every year. However, the standings tables are updated in the same way as those in the FBS division with the best overall record taking the top spot and tiebreaker rules coming into play in case of multiple teams with the same records.
The FCS consists of fifteen conferences as of 2023 which are as follows:
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- Big Sky Conference
- Big South Conference
- Coastal Athletic Association Conference
- Independents (FCS) Conference
- Ivy League Conference
- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Northeast Conference
- Ohio Valley Conference
- Patriot League Conference
- Pioneer League Conference
- Southern Conference
- Southland Conference
- Southwestern Athletic Conference
- United Athletic Conference
