This one was easy: Ohio State finishes No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank 1-134 after beating Notre Dame 34-23 in Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game.
Notre Dame comes in No. 2 after falling one win short of the program’s first title since 1988. Rounding out the best Bowl Subdivision teams of 2024 are No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 Arizona State, No. 8 Boise State, No. 9 Indiana and No. 10 Tennessee.
Despite losing two games to Georgia, including the SEC championship, the Longhorns come in ahead in the final 1-134 because of playoff wins against Clemson and Arizona State.
The Big Ten and SEC combine for 12 of the top 25, including five of the top six.
This is the first re-rank since the end of the regular season. Bowl results outside of the playoff led to some major shakeups: No. 12 Iowa State climbs 10 spots after beating Miami, No. 20 Illinois climbs seven after beating South Carolina and No. 31 Navy is up 11 spots after getting past Oklahoma.
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That loss dropped the Sooners 16 slots to No. 64. Also dropping in the final Re-Rank are No. 21 Alabama (down eight), No. 42 Georgia Tech (down 13) and No. 60 Pittsburgh (down 11).
There is no doubt about which team brings up the rear. No. 134 belongs to Kent State, the only winless team in the FBS.