Many things need to happen before a team can win a national championship in college football.
You need to have the right coach calling the right plays and the players executing those plays on the field. You need some injury luck and a few fortunate bounces. More than anything, though, you need talented players who can stand apart from the rest of the field. That starts with recruiting.
If a team has all of those things, there’s a good chance it can compete for a title. How do we figure out which teams are equipped for that though? Fortunately, there’s the 247Sports Blue Chip Ratio, which has been running for a number of years now. Here’s how Bud Elliot explained the ideology:
Sometimes, the most talented team in college football is the champion. Sometimes, it’s a lesser-talented team. But what is the minimum level of talent needed to win it all? That’s a potentially evolving question of interest every year.
I track that minimum required level of recruiting necessary to win a title and publish the teams who have met the standard annually in Blue-Chip Ratio. Since its inception in 2013 it’s been referenced on all the major broadcast networks and referred to by head coaches. It’s not the most complicated calculation in the world, but it’s a great way to figure out the top 10 percent or so of the teams in the sport which can actually take home the title.
Basically, a team will have an easier chance to be successful if it has more “blue chip players” — 4 and 5 star — than not. Seems simple, right? It gets more complicated than that, of course, especially in the world of the transfer portal.
After doing all of the calculations, though, the newest version of the Blue Chip Ratio is out for the 2022 season. So which 15 teams can realistically compete for a national championship this year, and where are the Oregon Ducks among them? Take a look: