The SportsRatings 2014 college football preview ranks all 128 teams who play a majority FBS (Division I-A) schedule. The rankings predict how good the teams should be, before taking schedule into account; then, the previews indicate how well a team should do given their schedule.
Odds for winning each scheduled game are given for every team. Two projected records are presented, one based simply on which games a team is favored to win (straight up), plus an aggregate projection (cumulative) that allows for the uncertainty across a season. The expectation for the team's season lies somewhere within the range of the two values. We also show a team's odds of reaching a bowl game and—new for this year, of course—their odds of reaching the 4-team post-season championship playoff.
These ratings are computed based on our own formulas and heuristics, with no subjective interpretation other than that which naturally goes into the formulas themselves. The raw NCAA data comes from a variety of sources, mainly Phil Steele's preview magazine and cfbstats, both of which are much more helpful than the NCAA's new, less-useful official site. Schedule listings are adapted from James Howell's site. Team helmet .gifs are from The Helmet Project.
The previews are presented starting at #128 in late July and finishing some time before the first game of the season (August 27th). Some re-arranging may occur up until the first FBS kickoff.
2014 SportsRatings Pre-season Top 128
1. Florida State Seminoles
2. Alabama Crimson Tide
3. UCLA Bruins
4. Oregon Ducks
5. Baylor Bears
6. Auburn Tigers
7. Georgia Bulldogs
8. BYU Cougars
9. USC Trojans
10. Mississippi Rebels
11. Stanford Cardinal
12. Oklahoma Sooners
13. LSU Tigers
14. South Carolina Gamecocks
15. Michigan State Spartans
16. Houston Cougars
17. Ohio State Buckeyes
18. Indiana Hoosiers
19. Washington Huskies
20. Wisconsin Badgers
21. Florida Gators
22. Arizona State Sun Devils
23. Mississippi State Bulldogs
24. Utah Utes
25. Maryland Terrapins
26. Texas A&M Aggies
27. Missouri Tigers
28. TCU Horned Frogs
29. Michigan Wolverines
30. Texas Longhorns
31. Clemson Tigers
32. Oregon State Beavers
33. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
34. Arizona Wildcats
35. Marshall Thundering Herd
36. Kansas State Wildcats
37. Oklahoma State Cowboys
38. Virginia Tech Hokies
39. Boise State Broncos
40. Miami Hurricanes
41. North Carolina Tar Heels
42. Iowa Hawkeyes
43. UCF Knights
44. Northwestern Wildcats
45. Washington State Cougars
46. Texas Tech Red Raiders
47. Minnesota Golden Gophers
48. Navy Midshipmen
49. Louisville Cardinals
50. Nebraska Cornhuskers
51. Arkansas Razorbacks
52. Duke Blue Devils
53. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
54. Pittsburgh Panthers
55. Cincinnati Bearcats
56. Utah State Aggies
57. West Virginia Mountaineers
58. Bowling Green Falcons
59. California Golden Bears
60. Syracuse Orange
61. Fresno State Bulldogs
62. Tennessee Volunteers
63. Virginia Cavaliers
64. Nevada Wolf Pack
65. Kentucky Wildcats
66. UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns
67. Iowa State Cyclones
68. Northern Illinois Huskies
69. Toledo Rockets
70. Memphis Tigers
71. East Carolina Pirates
72. Penn State Nittany Lions
73. UTSA Roadrunners
74. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
75. Colorado State Rams
76. Colorado Buffaloes
77. Illinois Fighting Illini
78. Vanderbilt Commodores
79. Old Dominion Monarchs
80. Boston College Eagles
81. Kansas Jayhawks
82. North Carolina State Wolfpack
83. Florida Atlantic Owls
84. San Diego State Aztecs
85. Rice Owls
86. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
87. San Jose State Spartans
88. Central Michigan Chippewas
89. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
90. UNLV Rebels
91. Temple Owls
92. North Texas Mean Green
93. Ball State Cardinals
94. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
95. Buffalo Bulls
96. South Alabama Jaguars
97. Tulane Green Wave
98. Wyoming Cowboys
99. Akron Zips
100. South Florida Bulls
101. Ohio Bobcats
102. Connecticut Huskies
103. Army Black Knights
104. Purdue Boilermakers
105. Air Force Falcons
106. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
107. SMU Mustangs
108. Kent State Golden Flashes
109. Arkansas State Red Wolves
110. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
111. New Mexico Lobos
112. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
113. Troy Trojans
114. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
115. UAB Blazers
116. Texas State Bobcats
117. Western Michigan Broncos
118. Appalachian State Mountaineers
119. Idaho Vandals
120. Southern Miss Golden Eagles
121. Georgia Southern
122. UTEP Miners
123. Miami Ohio Redhawks
124. Massachusetts Minutemen
125. FIU Golden Panthers
126. Eastern Michigan Eagles
127. Georgia State Panthers
128. New Mexico State Aggies
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