The defining characteristic of the 2024 college football season to date? Parity at the top. We head into the postseason with eight teams separated by just 3.1 points atop the SP+ rankings. This year’s top team in SP+ would have ranked fourth in 2023 and fifth in 2022.
It’s a hell of a time to expand the College Football Playoff, then! Six of those eight barely separated teams made the first-ever 12-team CFP field, and per SP+ no one starts out with a better than 20.4% title chance. With three or four games remaining, this year’s champion still has time to separate itself from the pack, but for now the 2024 season appears unlikely to produce one of the best teams of the CFP era.
All that said, it is once again time to rank every playoff team of the CFP era, a tradition we will continue even though the number of teams has tripled and those from this year account for nearly one-quarter of the list. This era has produced some incredible teams. Where does 2023 Michigan rank after its undefeated national title run? How high can the 2024 champion rise? Let’s dive in.
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Top 10 CFP teams
52. 2024 Arizona State (11-2)
CFP matchup: Peach bowl vs. Texas or Clemson
As late as Week 12, Arizona State’s playoff odds were 2.9%, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor. But Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils beat three of the Big 12’s four best teams as part of a six-game winning streak, charging into and capturing the Big 12 championship game. With running back Cam Skattebo leading the way, the Sun Devils are physical and confident, but they will be underdogs from here.