2022 College Football Rankings: CFN Season Formula Top 5
5 TCU (13-2)
2022 CFN Season Score: 22.09
2022 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 2
2022 CFN Preseason Ranking: 48
2021 CFN Season Score: 87
Best Win: Michigan 51-45 (CFP Fiesta Bowl)
Worst Loss: Kansas State 31-28 (Big 12 Championship)
All TCU had to do was not get obliterated by Georgia in the national championship. One 65-7 loss in the worst bowl defeat of all-time later, and that was just enough – along with the loss itself – to get bounced out of the top four.
Even with the rough ending, the win over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl and the 12-0 start were enough to finish in the top five. But the 104 points allowed in the last six quarters of the season mattered.
4 Ohio State (11-2)
2022 CFN Season Score: 22.37
2022 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 4
2022 CFN Preseason Ranking: 2
2021 CFN Season Score: 7
Best Win: Penn State 44-31
Worst Loss: Michigan 45-23
The team might have been a field goal away from almost certainly winning a national championship, but there weren’t quite enough big victories to get the No. 3 spot.
The two losses to finish up the season might have been Elite – losses to teams that finished with two losses or fewer – but that’s offset by the Bad Wins over Arkansas State and Northwestern and the lack of Quality Wins.
3 Tulane (12-2)
2022 CFN Season Score: 23.04
2022 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 16
2022 CFN Preseason Ranking: 88
2021 CFN Season Score: 111
Best Win: USC 46-45 (Cotton Bowl)
Worst Loss: Southern Miss 27-24
Quality Wins. Tulane had eight of them including the shocker over USC in the Cotton Bowl. The thrilling comeback was enough to count in several categories to move up into the top three – it would’ve been just inside the top ten with a loss. That, the win over Big 12 Champion Kansas State, and those six other wins over teams that finished with a winning record were enough to overcome rough losses to Southern Miss and the first time around against UCF.
2 Michigan (13-1)
2022 CFN Season Score: 25.59
2022 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 3
2022 CFN Preseason Ranking: 7
2021 CFN Season Score: 6
Best Win: Ohio State 45-23
Worst Loss: TCU 51-45 (CFP Fiesta Bowl)
Even with the loss to TCU in the CFP Semifinal, Michigan still made it here with ease helped by Elite Wins over Ohio State and Penn State. The program caught a break, though, with a relatively light schedule only yielding six wins over teams that finished with a winning record. Even so, it was a dominant yet up until the end.
1 Georgia (15-0)
2022 CFN Season Score: 32.52
2022 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 1
2022 CFN Preseason Ranking: 3
2021 CFN Season Score: 1
Best Win: TCU 65-7 (CFP National Championship)
Worst Performance: Georgia 26, Missouri 22
Everything started well with a dominant win over a terrific Oregon team, and everything else rolled on from there. Oh sure, the performances against Kent State and Missouri weren’t top drawer, but the team turned it on when it had to.
None of the 14 wins over FBS teams came against anyone who didn’t win at least five games. In the SEC Championship win over LSU, the CFP semifinal against Ohio State, and in the dominant national’ championship victory over TCU, Georgia averaged over 52 points per game.
CFN 2022 Rankings: Season Formula Final
101-131 | 76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10 | Top 5
CFN College Football Season Formula
CFN Final Overall, Conference Rankings by Opinion – 1-131