Our ranking philosophy
What counts is what happens on the field.
Every season starts with a clean slate. A program’s history can make a great story. It cannot win this season’s games.
Winning comes first
Winning is the principal competitive accomplishment. Our rankings recognize the results teams have earned in the current season, with appropriate recognition for strong victories.
The matchups matter
Head-to-head results matter. Beating a strong opponent matters. We consider a team’s competitive accomplishments in context, rather than treating its name as evidence.
The same standards for everyone
All FBS programs are evaluated under consistent standards. Conference prestige and historical reputation do not independently earn ranking bonuses. We publish no preseason FBS Meritocracy rankings.
Independent by design
These rankings are independently developed and may differ substantially from conventional polls. External human polls can serve a secondary role within the private methodology; they do not define our publication’s perspective.
Principles in public. Calculations in private.
The exact formula, numerical weights, thresholds, internal scores, and detailed tiebreaker procedures are proprietary. This website publishes approved results, not the calculation engine.
Each historical poll identifies its methodology version and remains unchanged when the methodology evolves. The inaugural October 18, 2026 poll used version 1.3.