College football rankings: ESPN reveals final FPI Top 25 rankings after championship weekend (2024)

25. Utah Utes (8-4)

24. Miami Hurricanes (7-5)

23. Louisville Cardinals (10-3)

22.Arizona Wildcats (9-3)

21. USC Trojans (7-5)

20. SMU Mustangs (10-2)

The only change in this group in the final FPI rankings was Louisville falling behind Arizona following the Cardinals' lackluster showing against FSU in the ACC Championship Game. For Louisville, back to back losses to end the campaign leaves a bad taste in the mouth of Jeff Brohm, who otherwise was able to savor his first campaign with double-digit victories. Despite the loss, Louisville will play in a New Year's Six game if FSU is in the final four.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers finished inside the FPI's top 20 to close out the regular season with a dominant win over South Carolina, spearheading Clemson's perfect record in November. And they stayed put after FSU's win over Louisville in the ACC final, too. The defense made big strides this season while quarterback Cade Klubnik bounced back from early struggles. However, it was Clemson's rushing attack that paved the way for a hot stretch to end the season.

Oregon State will be under an interim coach for its bowl game and may be without several impact starters due to the transfer portal following coach Jonathan Smith's exit to Michigan State. It's unfortunate timing for a Beavers team that came up just short of getting to the Pac-12 title game after losing to Washington and Oregon in late November. Still, an eight-win finish was solid in the final year of the Pac-12.

Not where Tennessee wanted to be after nearly making the College Football Playoff in 2022, the Volunteers lacked quality wins, but still managed to fall inside the FPI's final top 20 after notching an 8-4 finish. Tennessee's play in big games — notably Alabama and Georgia — lacked the execution needed to stay competitive against the SEC's two titans. The Volunteers get an opportunity during bowl season to finish inside the top 20 with a victory.

Why is ESPN's FPI so low on the Tigers? One of the nation's unlikeliest 10-game winners, Mizzou's only setbacks came against ranked LSU and Georgia, which means Eli Drinkwitz and this group go to the New Year's Six. Brady Cook, Luther Burden and Cody Schrader created quite the trio offensively for a team that always looked one step ahead of the competition in terms of preparation and execution. That speaks to Missouri's expert-level coaching.

As coach of one of the SEC's four teams to claim double-digit wins, Lane Kiffin isn't standing on any soap boxes to convince the selection committee his team is deserving of a New Year's Six bid, but the Rebels won a variety of different ways this season en route to a 10-2 finish. That's the second time in four seasons under Kiffin that Ole Miss has accomplished that feat, a sign the program's changing under his watch and could be entering the realm of the elites if talent accumulation continues in Oxford.

For unexplainable reasons, the FPI was head over heels for the underachieving Aggies. Wonder if that will be the same next fall when Mike Elko coaches his first game as the program's leader in College Station? The former Aggies' defensive coordinator replaces Jimbo Fisher, who is being paid out a record-setting buyout for being mediocre over his tenure. Texas A&M will play in one of the SEC's lower-tier bowl games despite being top 20 in these ESPN rankings.

According to the numbers, Washington is a lock to make the playoff, along with Michigan and Florida State. Those are the three remaining unbeatens in the Power Five ranks. Washington has done with two consecutive months of narrow, competitive wins that have down to the fourth quarter and late-game execution. The Huskies built a 17-point lead on Oregon before having to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win. Now, Kalen DeBoer's team takes the nation's second-longest winning streak into a semifinal appearance.

With quarterback Will Howard entering the transfer portal this week following a loss to Iowa State, the end of the season isn't exactly what the doctor ordered for Chris Klieman and the Wildcats. Kansas State expected the 2023 campaign to culminate with another Big 12 Championship, or at least the opportunity to go after one. It didn't happen. As it stands, Kansas State is near the top of the league's postseason bowl pecking order and we're expecting the Wildcats to be rewarded for such (potentially landing in Orlando against a nine-win NC State team in the Pop-Tarts).

Thirteen wins and counting for the Seminoles, who have been the FPI's most-disrespected team. In fact, FSU dropped two spots this week outside of the top 10. The analytics still ignore FSU and what it's done in recent weeks to potentially reach the playoff. The Seminoles won with a true freshman third-string quarterback against Louisville thanks to a defensively-dominant performance out of the front seven in Charlotte. FSU now awaits its fate, potentially as the "last team in" as the 4-seed.

Where would Notre Dame have been without Audric Estime leading the charge? His career-best 238-yard, four-touchdown explosion in Saturday's win at Stanford pushed the Fighting Irish to a 9-3 finish under second-year coach Marcus Freeman. They await their bowl fate now as a respectable team inside the FPI's final top 15. As always, Notre Dame is attractive during the bowl selection process and is eligible for all ACC-related bowls.

The highest power-rated three-loss team in the country according to ESPN's FPI for several weeks, LSU's resume included a win over Missouri, but the losses were too tough to overcome — FSU, Ole Miss and Alabama. It was that last setback in Tuscaloosa last month that cost the Tigers a shot at another SEC West crown prior to league expansion. Now, Brian Kelly will follow Heisman finalist Jayden Daniels to New York this week where he hopes his quarterback takes home the greatest individual honor in the sport.

Oklahoma narrowly missed a berth in the Big 12 Championship against Texas thanks to Oklahoma State's comeback win over BYU that pushed the Sooners out of the picture last month. However, a 10-win season for Brent Venables and his staff given last year's struggles marks a major win for the program heading into the SEC. Oklahoma's holding out hope that its ranking is inside the final top 10 to warrant New Year's Six billing.

No team in college football looked more impressive over its final two games of the season than Texas, which humiliated Texas Tech to clinch a berth in the Big 12 Championship, then put its foot on the gas early and often against Oklahoma State. Steve Sarkisian said after Saturday's win over the Cowboys that he felt his team had done enough to warrant a final four berth. He didn't even have to mention the win over now SEC champion Alabama, either.

Georgia only won 50.8% of simulations against Alabama entering Saturday's SEC Championship Game and the Bulldogs' fourth-straight loss to the Crimson Tide in Atlanta likely means no playoff bid for Kirby Smart. No matter how you slice, no conference title or playoff berth would mean a disappointing season for Georgia, this coming after three wins in November over nationally-ranked teams made the Bulldogs seem bullet proof down the stretch.

Everyone knew if Alabama got its chance to play Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, the Crimson Tidecould make the most of it — and they did. Alabama played with a chip on its shoulder throughout Saturday's finale and has done all it can to make the playoff. The rest falls in the hands of the selection committee and whether or not they're willing to keep the SEC champions out of the final four the first time.

Oregon dropped from No. 3 to No. 4 after losing to Washington, the second time this season the Ducks failed in their quest to take out the Huskies. This one will cost Oregon a final four berth, too. Regardless, second-year coach Dan Lanning helped this program take a tremendously positive step in the right direction in 2023. This looks like a program that will have staying power when it opens Big Ten play next year as a possible preseason top 15.

Penn State movedseveral spots inside the top 10 of theFPI's regular-season rankings after dismantling Michigan State at Ford Field last week and don't see much changes after championship weekend. James Franklin was pleased with his team's effort level in a game that didn't mean all that much in the grand scheme following second-half losses to Ohio State and Michigan in the home stretch. The season-ending victory does lock-in a berth in the New Year's Six we expect as the Nittany Lions shoot for another 11-win campaign.

Ohio State finishes as the country's second-best team according to ESPN's power-rated FPI, but the Buckeyes aren't going back to the playoff thanks to Ryan Day's third consecutive loss to Michigan. How'd it happen this time around? For starters, the Buckeyes didn't make enough plays in Ann Arbor and turned it over with a chance to push ahead in the final moments. Quarterback play against Michigan was not good enough and Ohio State failed to come up withempty possessions defensively against Michigan's ground game.

Michigan moved to No. 1 in ESPN's FPI with Saturday's blowout win over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship, solidifying the Wolverines' trip to a third consecutive College Football Playoff. You have to give this program credit for getting through November without Jim Harbaugh and not missing a beat during his return in Indianapolis. As the top seed, Michigan should play in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 with a chance to erase last year's early exit from the final four.