College football rankings: What a key continuity metric says about who can win the 2025 national title

Ohio State busted a decade of precedent last season when it won the national title with both a new starting quarterback and offensive coordinator. Prior to the Buckeyes’ defeat of Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship, the sport’s previous 10 champions had each finished in the top 13 of the prior year’s CFP rankings and returned at least three of the following four: 

Head coachOffensive coordinatorDefensive coordinatorQuarterback who started at least four games in the prior year. 

The 10-year run covered the entire four-team era of the CFP before a series of forces collided to allow Ohio State to break the “continuity factor.” First, playoff expansion gave the Buckeyes a life raft. They wouldn’t even have made a four-team CFP last season after suffering a second loss to rival Michigan in the regular season finale.

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However, with a field of 12, Ohio State still made the bracket with relative ease. Second, the plug-and-play nature of the portal has allowed high-caliber programs to eschew quarterback development in favor of high-dollar transfers. Instead of turning to an unproven internal option, the Buckeyes landed Kansas State transfer Will Howard, who brought significant starting experience.

But if Ohio State — currently at…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-rankings-what-a-key-continuity-metric-says-about-who-can-win-the-2025-national-title/

Author : David Cobb

Publish date : 2025-06-24 17:43:00

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