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2025 Week 8 CFP Resume Rankings!

  • Writer: John W
    John W
  • 1 minute ago
  • 6 min read

Welcome back to the 2025 College Football Playoff Resume Rankings!


We have entered murky waters for the season when it comes to ranking teams.  We are far enough removed from preseason rankings that in theory there should be minimal impact from the prior beliefs we had about each team coming into the season, and yet we are not far enough through the season for voters to cut through the plethora of teams that should be considered for Top 25 rankings.  There are 6 unbeaten teams remaining, and the surprise unbeaten teams have an uncertain path to the top of the rankings, sometimes being overvalued or undervalued based on the story of the season that they have navigated. 


There are 13 Power 4 teams that have only 1 loss on the season, and not all of them are ranked.  As with the unbeatens, the story of the season often leads to a misevaluation of these teams in the rankings.  There are 20 more 2-loss teams of which 8 are ranked.  Are those the right 8 teams to rank or is there a misrepresentation 8 weeks into the season?  Let’s examine a few 1-loss and 2-loss resumes through a blind resume assessment.  If you want to play along, take the following resumes and order them how you think they should be ranked.  Each win and loss will reference the opponent’s strength rating from our composite.


  • A) Strength: 24.7 // Wins [@15.1, @33.6, 40.7, 66.4, FCS] // Loss [32.1]

  • B) Strength: 23.4 // Wins [23.4, @40.4, @56.8, 58.7, 85.0, FCS] // Loss [@11.8]

  • C) Strength: 30.7 // Wins [@34.2, 37.2, @37.3, 72.0, 92.9, FCS] // Loss [@15.1]

  • D) Strength: 32.1 // Wins [@24.7, 34.0, 52.5, 59.8, 70.4, FCS] // Loss [@42.7]

  • E) Strength: 25.1 // Wins [@32.4, 38.2, 40.4, 72.3, 100, FCS] // Loss [11.8]


Now for the 2-loss teams, with analysis to follow:

  • F) Strength: 23.7 // Wins [28.7, @35.4, 56.1, 59.3, 69.0] // Losses [@19.0, @20.4]

  • G) Strength: 26.7 // Wins [19.0, @37.4, @55.9, 57.1, FCS] // Losses [1.0, @4.6]

  • H) Strength: 36.1 // Wins [17.3, 33.6, @42.7, 59.3, FCS] // Losses [@21.2, @39.2]

  • I) Strength: 21.2 // Wins [36.1, @50.6, @62.4, @67.4, FCS] // Losses [17.3, @23.3]

  • J) Strength: 26.3 // Wins [37.8, @39.2, 54.2, 75.0, FCS] // Losses [@11.8, 14.8]

  • K) Strength: 22.4 // Wins [20.4, @46.1, 66.5, 77.2, 92.9] // Losses [@1.0, @34.2]


Ranking these teams without context on paper is an almost impossible task at first, but it’s a little easier when you cut through the data by prioritizing what really matters to you.  Are you looking for demonstrated strength, regardless of opponent?  Are you interested in big wins, or quality losses?  Maybe a blend of all 3?  Through a specific lens you can rank without putting a name to the resume, but it’s when there is inconsistency in the polls that the lens becomes out of focus. 


If the AP Poll ranks team B over team A, the case seems to be a combo of better strength rating and a better loss despite the lack of better wins.  Why then would team D be ranked over team C in the AP Poll?  Team C has better strength and the better loss between the two, and its only team D’s best win that stands out.  In the 2-loss camp, imagine ranking team J over team G by 6 spots, despite relatively equal strength and better wins and losses for team G.  If that small delta in strength makes the difference, then why is team I unranked and teams K and F are?  It’s of to cut through resumes through a specific view point, but only if there is consistency within that view, otherwise the rankings will not make sense or be fair to the teams worthy of elevation.


Answer Key:  A) AP #19 Louisville, B) AP #10 Vanderbilt, C) AP #18 USF, D) AP #16 Virginia, E) AP #15 Missouri, F) AP #25 Michigan, G) AP #23 Illinois, H) AP #24 Arizona State, I) AP #27 Utah, J) AP #17 Tennessee, K) AP #22 Texas


Week 8 CFP Resume Rankings

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Notes on the CFP Resume Rankings

  • AP Misses:

There are 6 remaining unbeaten teams in the country.  In the AP rankings, #1 through #3 are all unbeaten, then we drop to Georgia Tech at #7, BYU at #11, and Navy who is unranked.  The rankings of Georgia Tech and BYU are a mistake this week, with the former elevated 5 places above their overall resume ranking and the latter 3 places too low.  What happens when we compare the resumes?  BYU ranks as the 15th strongest team currently, and has the 7th strongest raw resume.  Georgia Tech ranks as the 23rd strongest team, and has the 8th best raw resume.  The strength disparity amongst the computer ratings informing this week’s composite is honestly not close.  Of the 30 most correlated models to 2025 season results, 27 rate BYU as a stronger team.  Why might Georgia Tech rank higher in the AP? 


Let’s check the season narrative for both teams.  Georgia Tech opens with a 7-point win over Colorado, picks up an FCS win, then beats preseason #4 and at the time #12 Clemson, launching the Yellow Jackets up the rankings.  GT followed with a win over Temple, a 1-point win over Wake Forest, and 2-score wins over unranked Virginia Tech and Duke.  Pretty mediocre in hindsight knowing what we now know about Clemson (currently 45th strongest in the country).  How about BYU’s season narrative?  Opens with an FCS win, multi-score wins over Stanford and ECU, then close wins over Colorado, WVU, Arizona, and then Utah, who currently rates as the 12th strongest team in the country. 


The difference we can see is that we thought we learned something about Georgia Tech in week 3, but that turned out to be less meaningful, and we have very recently learned something about BYU.  Sometimes the way to rank highly is get ahead and don’t lose, and that’s what Georgia Tech has done, largely influenced by preseason rankings.  In a fresh evaluation of the season, BYU should definitely rank ahead “this week” in the AP Poll.

 

  • Conference Breakdown:

If the playoff field were set today, we’d project five SEC teams (Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, Oklahoma), three Big Ten (Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon), one ACC (Miami), one Big 12 (BYU), one independent (Notre Dame), and one G5 representative (South Florida).


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Top 10 Unexpected Results of the Season

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Week 8 has brought us a new top upset of the season, as UAB with an interim head coach upset previously unbeaten Memphis as nearly 22-point underdogs!  It is a result that will certainly impact the CFP race should the American champion earn a bid.  Also in the top 3 is the week 8 upset win for Stanford over Florida State, narrowly edging out Florida State’s week 1 upset win over Alabama.  Congratulations to both of our new upset winners!


Week 9 Game of the Week

  • No. 8 Ole Miss at No. 13 Oklahoma:

Vanderbilt earned a visit from College Gameday in what should be a strong showdown with Missouri, but it’s a top 15 matchup in Norman that takes the top game honors.  Ole Miss coming off of a loss to Georgia, and Oklahoma still recovering from a beatdown at the hands of Texas is a pivotal matchup in the CFP bubble, with both teams currently holding a CFP worthy resume.  The loser will almost certainly fall out of our projected CFP field with the winner elevating ahead of other bubble teams.  Other top games of the week include unbeaten Texas A&M traveling to LSU and Washington hosting Illinois.

 

Top Models for Week 8: The Models that Beat Our Composite

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That’s a wrap for Week 8! If you have questions about the CFP Resume Rankings or want to follow along, find us @CFPResumeRanks on X. Our DMs are open for inquiries or partnership opportunities. Have a great week, and let’s see what Week 9 brings!


[Note: For tables instead of graphics, visit our resume rankings page at https://cfpresumerankings.wixsite.com/cfpresumerankings/cfp-resume-rankings]

 

 

 
 
 

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