Month: December 2021

And there we have it folks, like the blink of an eye, the college football regular season has concluded (except for the Army-Navy game of course). This season we’ve seen some several unprecedented achievements in the sport, but none more spectacular than Cincinnati becoming the first team in my lifetime from outside of the Power 5 conferences to get a chance to play for the national championship. Interestingly, in last season’s end of regular season CFRA poll, Cincinnati was ranked ahead of Notre Dame for the # 4 spot, but the the Irish still got the last College Football Playoff bid. This season Cincy again finds themselves at # 4 in this poll and Notre Dame is once again # 5, but the Playoff Committee decided to follow suit this year and also rank the Bearcats ahead of the Irish. Without further ado, here is this year’s CFRA End of Regular Season Poll.  First-place votes are in parentheses next to each team.

1. Alabama (7)– 389 points

2.  Michigan (4)– 377 points

3.  Georgia (1)– 367 points

4.  Cincinnati (4)– 366 points

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5.  Notre Dame– 335 points

6.  Baylor– 312 points

7.  Ohio State– 305 points

8.  Oklahoma State– 272 points

9.  Ole Miss– 267 points

10. Utah– 248 points

11. Pittsburgh– 224 points

12. Michigan State– 218 points

13. Oklahoma– 172 points

14. Oregon– 162 points

15. Brigham Young– 158 points

16. Wake Forest– 147 points

17. Iowa– 136 points

18. Clemson– 124points

19. NC State– 121 points

20. UL-Lafayette– 111 points

21. Houston– 62 points

22. UTSA– 59 points

22. Texas A & M– 59 points

24. Arkansas– 58 points

25. Kentucky– 54 points

Others Receiving Votes: Wisconsin 23, Penn State 18, Utah State 12, San Diego State 10, Memphis 7, Purdue 6, LSU 4, Appalachian State 4, Maryland 4, Auburn 3, Coastal Carolina 3, Western Kentucky 2, Miami-FL 1

Dropped Out (since Midseason Poll): Penn State 9, Coastal Carolina 11, SMU 20, San Diego State 21, Auburn 23

Teams Ranked Higher in CFRA than CFP, AP and Coaches Polls: Oklahoma State (8), Pittsburgh (11), Wake Forest (16), Clemson (18), UTSA (22), Texas A & M (22).

Teams Ranked Lower in CFRA than CFP, AP and Coaches Polls: Ole Miss (9), Michigan State (12), Brigham Young (15), NC State (19), San Diego State (NR).

Teams Ranked Exactly the Same in All 4 Major Human Polls (CFP, AP, CFRA, and Coaches): Alabama (1), Michigan (2), Georgia (3), Cincinnati (4), Notre Dame (5).

For the tenth consecutive season, the College Football Researchers Association has bestowed a Player of the Year award to the best overall player in college football, and this season Bryce Young from Alabama has taken the title by a large margin. Young bested all of his rivals by 28 points and received 10 of the 16 possible first-place votes. Seven of the previous nine winners of this award went on to win the Heisman Trophy, with Deshaun Watson (2016) and Tua Tagovailoa (2018) being the two exceptions. The full breakdown of votes is below with the number of first-place votes each player received in parentheses:

1.  Bryce Young, Alabama (10)– 68 points

2. Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh (4)– 40 points

3. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State– 29 points

4. Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State– 22 points

5. Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan (2)– 19 points

6. Matt Corral, Ole Miss– 14 points

7. Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati– 10 points

7. Sam Hartman, Wake Forest– 10 points

9. Will Anderson, Alabama– 9 points

9. Jordan Davis, Georgia- 9 points

11. John Metchie III, Alabama– 4 points

12. Jordan Addison, Pittsburgh– 2 points

13. Bailey Zappe, Western Kentucky– 1 point

13. Jerome Ford, Cincinnati– 1 point

13. Caleb Williams, Oklahoma– 1 point