DSA Labs Research · First of its kind
Every college football team. One scale.
Every division normally gets ranked on its own, with its own #1 set to 100. That means a 100 in DIII and a 100 in FBS are not the same team. We used the games played between divisions to measure how far apart they really are, then put all 662 teams in FBS, FCS, DII and DIII on a single index.
2025 season · final · updated October 1, 2026
- Teams on one scale
- 662
- Games analyzed
- 3,772
- Cross-division bridges
- 227
- Unconnected, flagged
- 10
Where each division's #1 lands overall
- FBS15-0
Indiana Hoosiers
Overall rank
#1
Index
100.0
- FCS14-2
Montana State Bobcats
Overall rank
#120
Index
7.12
- DII16-0
Ferris State Bulldogs
Overall rank
#189
Index
2.09
- DIII14-1
The shape of the sport
How the divisions stack up
Each dot is one team, placed by its overall rank. FBS fills the top of the table on its own. The first team from outside FBS is Montana State Bobcats (FCS) at #120. Below that, the other three divisions mix together, and the best DIII teams usually finish above the best DII teams.
The rankings
All divisions, one table
Index is on one scale where the top FBS team is 100. Because the model is Bradley-Terry, the numbers work as ratios: a team with an Index of 50 is half as strong as one at 100. The bar uses a log scale so you can still see the differences between teams outside FBS.
| Rank | Team | Div | Div rank | Record | Div index | Index (log scale) | vs #1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indiana Hoosiers | FBS | 1 | 15-0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | — |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | FBS | 2 | 13-2 | 79.7 | 79.7 | 44.3% |
| 3 | Miami Hurricanes | FBS | 3 | 13-2 | 76.3 | 76.3 | 43.3% |
| 4 | BYU Cougars | FBS | 4 | 12-2 | 74.1 | 74.1 | 42.6% |
| 5 | Ole Miss Rebels | FBS | 5 | 13-2 | 69.3 | 69.3 | 40.9% |
| 6 | Georgia Bulldogs | FBS | 6 | 12-2 | 67.6 | 67.6 | 40.3% |
| 7 | Ohio State Buckeyes | FBS | 7 | 12-2 | 67.5 | 67.5 | 40.3% |
| 8 | Texas Tech Red Raiders | FBS | 8 | 12-2 | 65.2 | 65.2 | 39.5% |
| 9 | North Texas Mean Green | FBS | 9 | 12-2 | 63.0 | 63.0 | 38.7% |
| 10 | Navy Midshipmen | FBS | 10 | 11-2 | 59.6 | 59.6 | 37.3% |
| 11 | Texas A&M Aggies | FBS | 11 | 11-2 | 58.0 | 58.0 | 36.7% |
| 12 | Utah Utes | FBS | 12 | 11-2 | 57.9 | 57.9 | 36.7% |
| 13 | James Madison Dukes | FBS | 13 | 12-2 | 57.5 | 57.5 | 36.5% |
| 14 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | FBS | 14 | 10-2 | 55.7 | 55.7 | 35.8% |
| 15 | Tulane Green Wave | FBS | 15 | 11-3 | 55.5 | 55.5 | 35.7% |
| 16 | Alabama Crimson Tide | FBS | 16 | 11-4 | 53.7 | 53.7 | 34.9% |
| 17 | Oklahoma Sooners | FBS | 17 | 10-3 | 53.3 | 53.3 | 34.8% |
| 18 | Virginia Cavaliers | FBS | 18 | 11-3 | 51.6 | 51.6 | 34.1% |
| 19 | Texas Longhorns | FBS | 19 | 10-3 | 49.2 | 49.2 | 33.0% |
| 20 | Old Dominion Monarchs | FBS | 20 | 10-3 | 46.8 | 46.8 | 31.9% |
| 21 | Vanderbilt Commodores | FBS | 21 | 10-3 | 45.4 | 45.4 | 31.2% |
| 22 | Michigan Wolverines | FBS | 22 | 9-4 | 45.0 | 45.0 | 31.0% |
| 23 | Iowa Hawkeyes | FBS | 23 | 9-4 | 44.4 | 44.4 | 30.7% |
| 24 | USC Trojans | FBS | 24 | 9-4 | 44.3 | 44.3 | 30.7% |
| 25 | South Florida Bulls | FBS | 25 | 9-4 | 41.5 | 41.5 | 29.4% |
| 26 | Kennesaw State Owls | FBS | 26 | 10-4 | 41.4 | 41.4 | 29.3% |
| 27 | Illinois Fighting Illini | FBS | 27 | 9-4 | 41.3 | 41.3 | 29.2% |
| 28 | Houston Cougars | FBS | 28 | 10-3 | 40.8 | 40.8 | 29.0% |
| 29 | TCU Horned Frogs | FBS | 29 | 9-4 | 40.7 | 40.7 | 28.9% |
| 30 | Duke Blue Devils | FBS | 30 | 9-5 | 40.5 | 40.5 | 28.9% |
| 31 | Arizona Wildcats | FBS | 31 | 9-4 | 39.5 | 39.5 | 28.3% |
| 32 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | FBS | 32 | 9-4 | 38.6 | 38.6 | 27.9% |
| 33 | SMU Mustangs | FBS | 33 | 9-4 | 38.6 | 38.6 | 27.8% |
| 34 | East Carolina Pirates | FBS | 34 | 9-4 | 38.4 | 38.4 | 27.8% |
| 35 | Wake Forest Demon Deacons | FBS | 35 | 9-4 | 37.4 | 37.4 | 27.2% |
| 36 | Washington Huskies | FBS | 36 | 9-4 | 36.8 | 36.8 | 26.9% |
| 37 | Iowa State Cyclones | FBS | 37 | 8-4 | 35.9 | 35.9 | 26.4% |
| 38 | Louisville Cardinals | FBS | 38 | 9-4 | 35.5 | 35.5 | 26.2% |
| 39 | NC State Wolfpack | FBS | 39 | 8-5 | 35.3 | 35.3 | 26.1% |
| 40 | UNLV Rebels | FBS | 40 | 10-4 | 34.6 | 34.6 | 25.7% |
| 41 | Arizona State Sun Devils | FBS | 41 | 8-5 | 34.3 | 34.3 | 25.5% |
| 42 | Western Kentucky Hilltoppers | FBS | 42 | 9-4 | 34.3 | 34.3 | 25.5% |
| 43 | New Mexico Lobos | FBS | 43 | 9-4 | 34.0 | 34.0 | 25.4% |
| 44 | Boise State Broncos | FBS | 44 | 9-5 | 33.6 | 33.6 | 25.1% |
| 45 | San Diego State Aztecs | FBS | 45 | 9-4 | 33.4 | 33.4 | 25.0% |
| 46 | Western Michigan Broncos | FBS | 46 | 10-4 | 31.8 | 31.8 | 24.1% |
| 47 | Pittsburgh Panthers | FBS | 47 | 8-5 | 30.2 | 30.2 | 23.2% |
| 48 | Minnesota Golden Gophers | FBS | 48 | 8-5 | 29.5 | 29.5 | 22.8% |
| 49 | UConn Huskies | FBS | 49 | 9-4 | 29.1 | 29.1 | 22.5% |
| 50 | Memphis Tigers | FBS | 50 | 8-5 | 28.6 | 28.6 | 22.2% |
Showing 50 of 672
Matchup lab
Pick any two teams, from any division
Every team is on the same scale, so we can estimate a result between teams that would never meet: a DIII champion against a mid-table FBS team, or the top FCS team against a Power 4 school. Home field multiplies the home team's strength by 1.45.
vs
40.6%
Montana State Bobcats
59.4%
Michigan State Spartans
- Montana State Bobcats
- #120 · 7.12 · 14-2
- Michigan State Spartans
- #103 · 10.4 · 4-8
- Strength ratio
- 1 / 1.46
- Confidence
- Moderate: cross-division
The research
How we put 700 teams on one scale
01 — The naive approach
Putting every game into one model doesn't work
The simple idea is to load every game into one model and let the results sort it out. We tested that on the full 2025 season: 3,824 games, 699 teams, and 99% of teams linked by a chain of results. The ranking still made no sense. Only 227 games (6%) were played between divisions. That wasn't enough to separate four talent pools, so a 14-1 DIII team ended up looking a lot like a 13-2 FBS team.
- 1FBSIndiana Hoosiers15-0
- 2DIIIWisconsin-River Falls Falcons14-1
- 3DIIFerris State Bulldogs16-0