CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 2017 season

Alabama finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 13–⁠1 under Nick Saban, after it beat Georgia 26–⁠23 in the CFP National Championship. UCF also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Alabama 24, No. 3 Florida State 7 (Sep 2, 2017). One FBS team finished unbeaten. 55 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma, who also won the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Davey O’Brien and Manning.

The Heisman vote: Baker Mayfield 2,398 points, Bryce Love 1,300
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Baker Mayfield QB, Oklahoma2,3987328728
Bryce Love RB, Stanford1,30075421233
Lamar Jackson QB, Louisville79347197258
Saquon Barkley RB, Penn State3041573113
Rashaad Penny RB, San Diego State17573780
Jonathan Taylor RB, Wisconsin582738
Mason Rudolph QB, Oklahoma State5621422
McKenzie Milton QB, UCF5441120
Kerryon Johnson RB, Auburn4501417
Roquan Smith LB, Georgia383117

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

The 2017 UCF team
The 2017 UCF team: UCF celebrates their victory over Memphis in the AAC Championship Game.Photo: elisfkc from Orlando, FL, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The 2017 UCF season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Alabama (57)Southeastern Conference
2GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
3OklahomaBig 12
4ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
5Ohio StateBig Ten
6UCF (4)American Athletic Conference
7WisconsinBig Ten
8Penn StateBig Ten
9TCUBig 12
10AuburnSoutheastern Conference
11Notre DameFBS Independents
12USCPac-12
13MiamiAtlantic Coast Conference
14Oklahoma StateBig 12
15Michigan StateBig Ten
16WashingtonPac-12
17NorthwesternBig Ten
18LSUSoutheastern Conference
19Mississippi StateSoutheastern Conference
20StanfordPac-12
21South FloridaAmerican Athletic Conference
22Boise StateMountain West Conference
23NC StateAtlantic Coast Conference
24Virginia TechAtlantic Coast Conference
25MemphisAmerican Athletic Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 7, 2017Iowa State 38, 3Oklahoma 31Iowa State +30.5
Oct 13, 2017Syracuse 27, 2Clemson 24Syracuse +24
Nov 4, 2017Iowa 55, 3Ohio State 24Iowa +21
Sep 30, 2017Troy 24, 25LSU 21Troy +20.5
Nov 18, 2017Kansas State 45, 10Oklahoma State 40Kansas State +19.5
Sep 2, 2017Maryland 51, 23Texas 41Maryland +18.5
Oct 14, 2017Arizona State 13, 5Washington 7Arizona State +18
Oct 13, 2017California 37, 8Washington State 3California +16.5
Sep 23, 2017Arizona State 37, 24Oregon 35Arizona State +14.5
Nov 23, 2017Ole Miss 31, 16Mississippi State 28Ole Miss +14
Oct 7, 2017Michigan State 14, 7Michigan 10Michigan State +12.5
Nov 24, 2017Pittsburgh 24, 2Miami 14Pittsburgh +12

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

Most exciting games

Oct 7, 2017Western Michigan 71, Buffalo 68
Dec 2, 2017Troy 32, Arkansas State 25
Dec 2, 201712UCF 62, 16Memphis 55
Oct 7, 2017Texas 40, Kansas State 34
Dec 23, 201723South Florida 38, Texas Tech 34
Sep 9, 201720Washington State 47, Boise State 44
Nov 4, 20178Oklahoma 62, 11Oklahoma State 52
Aug 31, 2017Central Michigan 30, Rhode Island 27

By CollegeFootballData.com’s excitement index: how far each team’s chance of winning swung, play by play. Games with an FBS team, decided by 16 points or fewer.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 2017, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalAuburn: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 13, Wk 3 No. 15, Wk 4 No. 15, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 21, Wk 9 No. 19, Wk 10 No. 16, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 7, Final No. 1010 AuburnTCU: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 23, Wk 3 No. 20, Wk 4 No. 16, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 11, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 10, Wk 15 No. 13, Final No. 99 TCUPenn State: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 16, Wk 12 No. 13, Wk 13 No. 12, Wk 14 No. 9, Wk 15 No. 9, Final No. 88 Penn StateWisconsin: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 6, Final No. 77 WisconsinUCF: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 25, Wk 7 No. 22, Wk 8 No. 20, Wk 9 No. 18, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 14, Wk 12 No. 14, Wk 13 No. 13, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 10, Final No. 66 UCFOhio State: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 10, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 11, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 8, Wk 15 No. 5, Final No. 55 Ohio StateClemson: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Final No. 44 ClemsonOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 2, Final No. 33 OklahomaGeorgia: Wk 1 No. 15, Wk 2 No. 15, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 3, Final No. 22 GeorgiaAlabama: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 4, Final No. 11 Alabama
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. UCFunranked → No. 6
  2. TCUunranked → No. 9
  3. Notre Dameunranked → No. 11
  4. GeorgiaNo. 15 → No. 2
  5. Michigan Stateunranked → No. 15

Fell

  1. Florida StateNo. 3 → unranked
  2. MichiganNo. 11 → unranked
  3. LouisvilleNo. 16 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

The College Football Playoff

Semifinal

National Championship

Champion: Alabama

National leaders

Passing yards

  1. 1Mason Rudolph Oklahoma State4,904 yds
  2. 2Baker Mayfield Oklahoma4,627 yds
  3. 3Riley Ferguson Memphis4,257 yds
  4. 4Mike White Western Kentucky4,177 yds
  5. 5Sam Darnold USC4,143 yds

Passing touchdowns

  1. 1Drew Lock Missouri44 TD
  2. 2Baker Mayfield Oklahoma43 TD
  3. 3Riley Ferguson Memphis38 TD
  4. T4Justice Hansen Arkansas State37 TD
  5. T4Mason Rudolph Oklahoma State37 TD

Rushing yards

  1. 1Rashaad Penny San Diego State2,248 yds
  2. 2Bryce Love Stanford2,118 yds
  3. 3Devin Singletary Florida Atlantic1,920 yds
  4. 4Jonathan Taylor Wisconsin1,794 yds
  5. 5Ahmad Bradshaw Army1,746 yds

Rushing touchdowns

  1. 1Devin Singletary Florida Atlantic32 TD
  2. 2Rashaad Penny San Diego State23 TD
  3. T3Myles Gaskin Washington21 TD
  4. T3Nathan Rourke Ohio21 TD
  5. 5Benny Snell Jr. Kentucky19 TD

Receiving yards

  1. 1James Washington Oklahoma State1,549 yds
  2. 2Cedrick Wilson Boise State1,511 yds
  3. 3Anthony Miller Memphis1,462 yds
  4. 4Keke Coutee Texas Tech1,429 yds
  5. 5Michael Gallup Colorado State1,413 yds

Receiving touchdowns

  1. T1Anthony Miller Memphis18 TD
  2. T1David Sills V West Virginia18 TD
  3. 3Anthony Johnson Buffalo14 TD
  4. T4Diontae Johnson Toledo13 TD
  5. T4James Washington Oklahoma State13 TD

Tackles

  1. 1Frank Ginda San José State173 tkl
  2. 2Khalil Hodge Buffalo153 tkl
  3. 3Azeez Al-Shaair Florida Atlantic146 tkl
  4. 4Micah Kiser Virginia143 tkl
  5. 5Leighton Vander Esch Boise State141 tkl

Sacks

  1. T1Joe Ostman Central Michigan14 sacks
  2. T1Sutton Smith Northern Illinois14 sacks
  3. 3Ja’Von Rolland-Jones Arkansas State13 sacks
  4. T4Anthony Winbush Ball State11.5 sacks
  5. T4Mat Boesen TCU11.5 sacks

Interceptions

  1. 1Joshua Jackson Iowa8 INT
  2. T2Jalen Young Florida Atlantic7 INT
  3. T2Lukas Denis Boston College7 INT
  4. T4Andraez Williams LSU6 INT
  5. T4Clifton Duck App State6 INT

FBS players; season totals from CollegeFootballData.com player statistics.

Conference champions

FBS

American Athletic Conference
UCF
Atlantic Coast Conference
Clemson
Big 12
Oklahoma
Big Ten
Ohio State
Conference USA
Florida Atlantic
Mid-American Conference
Toledo
Mountain West Conference
Boise State
Pac-12
USC
Southeastern Conference
Georgia
Sun Belt Conference
App State and Troy (shared)

FCS

Big Sky
Southern Utah and Weber State (shared)
Big South
Kennesaw State
Colonial Athletic Association
James Madison
Ivy League
Yale
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
North Carolina A&T
Missouri Valley Football Conference
North Dakota State
Northeast Conference
Central Connecticut
Ohio Valley Conference
Jacksonville State
Patriot League
Colgate and Lehigh (shared)
Pioneer Football League
San Diego
Southern Conference
Wofford
Southland Conference
Central Arkansas
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling

Division II and below

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
St. Thomas (MN)

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

27 playersAll 11 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 2017 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 2017 All-America teams page.

The 2017 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Defensive player of the year

Scholarship and character

Coaches

The champion’s staff

Every title staff

Alabama 70 on the staff list

  • Nick Sabanhead coach
  • Jeremy Pruittdefensive coordinator and inside linebackers (part of the season)
  • Tosh Lupoico-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers
  • Derrick Ansleydefensive backs
  • Burton Burnsassociate head coach, running backs, special teams
  • Karl Dunbardefensive line
  • Brent Keyoffensive line
  • Michael Locksleyco-offensive coordinator, wide receivers
  • Joe Pannunziospecial teams coordinator, tight ends
  • Brian Dabolloffensive coordinator, quarterbacks
Support staff (60)

Analysts and quality control

  • Dean Altobelli football analyst
  • Shea Tierney football analyst
  • Brendan Farrell football analyst
  • Wes Neighbors football analyst
  • William Vlachos football analyst
  • Garrett Cox football analyst
  • Dan Werner football analyst
  • Chris Weinke football analyst
  • Rob Ezell analyst
  • Alex Mortensen analyst
  • Joe Pendry special adviser and NFL liaison (off-field staff)

Strength and conditioning

  • Scott Cochran head strength and conditioning coach, football
  • Terry Jones assistant head strength and conditioning coach, football and Women’s Basketball
  • Kindal Moorehead assistant strength and conditioning coach, football
  • Josh Chapman assistant strength and conditioning coach, football
  • Tyler Owens assistant strength and conditioning coach, football

Operations and recruiting

  • Ed Marynowitz associate athletics director, football
  • Jody Wright director, player personnel
  • Ellis Ponder director, football operations
  • Brandy Lyerly associate director, football operations
  • JT Summerford assistant director, football operations
  • Ashleigh Kimble associate director recruiting operations
  • Sam Petitto assistant director of player personnel
  • Brian Niedermeyer assistant director, personnel operations
  • Leah Knight director, football recruitment
  • Kerry Stevenson director of player development
  • Denzel Devall director, player development
  • Cedric Burns athletics relations coordinator
  • Linda Leoni administrative assistant
  • Glenda Edwards administrative Secretary
  • Javier Arenas athletics support assistant
  • Jeff Purinton senior associate athletics director

Sports medicine and nutrition

  • Jeff Allen associate athletics director, sports medicine
  • Jeremy Gsell assistant athletic trainer, football
  • Ryan Vicknair athletic trainer
  • Ginger Gilmore director of Behavioral medicine
  • Amy Bragg director of performance nutrition
  • Frank Newell assistant sports nutritionist
  • Dr. James Robinson Medical director
  • Kevin Murray executive Chef
  • Rodney Brown director, Rehabilitation services (athletic trainer)
  • Ginger Gilmore-Childress director of Behavioral medicine
  • Bobby Feeback Graduate assistant (football)
  • Dr. Bhrett McCabe sports and performance Psychologist for the University of Alabama athletic Department

Equipment

  • Jeffrey Springer associate athletics director, equipment operations
  • Kyle Smith assistant athletic equipment manager
  • Jeff Springer athletic equipment director (associate AD, equipment operations)

Video, communications and other staff

  • Bobby Williams special assistant to the head coach
  • Daniel Lyerly assistant athletics director, football video services
  • Troy Finney associate athletics director, sports Technology
  • Josh Maxson assistant athletics director, football communications
  • Jonathan King director, football graphic design
  • Chris Liskiewicz assistant director, football Graphics
  • Michaiah Smith assistant director, football graphic design
  • Molly Dowd assistant director, athletic Student services
  • Matthew Hard assistant director, video services
  • Kent Gidley director of Photography
  • Roots Woodruff associate director of athletics communications (football credentials)
  • Jon Dever senior associate athletics director, Student services (academic support)
  • Jessica Pare associate athletics director, communications

The staff as the school listed it that season, roles in the source’s words (students and graduate assistants left out). Names link to coach pages where we have one, else to Wikipedia. Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages.

The selection committee

The College Football Playoff committee that ranked the teams and picked the field in 2017, as Wikipedia lists its members by season (CC BY-SA). The list doesn’t name that season’s chair.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 16, 2017Troy 50, North Texas 30New Orleans Bowl
Dec 16, 2017Georgia State 27, Western Kentucky 17Cure Bowl
Dec 16, 201725Boise State 38, Oregon 28Las Vegas Bowl
Dec 16, 2017Marshall 31, Colorado State 28New Mexico Bowl
Dec 16, 2017Middle Tennessee 35, Arkansas State 30Camellia Bowl
Dec 19, 2017Florida Atlantic 50, Akron 3Boca Raton Bowl
Dec 20, 2017Louisiana Tech 51, SMU 10Frisco Bowl
Dec 21, 2017Temple 28, Florida International 3Gasparilla Bowl
Dec 22, 2017Ohio 41, UAB 6Bahamas Bowl
Dec 22, 2017Wyoming 37, Central Michigan 14Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Dec 23, 201723South Florida 38, Texas Tech 34Birmingham Bowl
Dec 23, 2017Army 42, San Diego State 35Armed Forces Bowl
Dec 23, 2017App State 34, Toledo 0Dollar General Bowl
Dec 24, 2017Fresno State 33, Houston 27Hawai’i Bowl
Dec 26, 2017Utah 30, West Virginia 14Heart of Dallas Bowl
Dec 26, 2017Duke 36, Northern Illinois 14Quick Lane Bowl
Dec 26, 2017Kansas State 35, UCLA 17Cactus Bowl
Dec 27, 2017Florida State 42, Southern Miss 13Independence Bowl
Dec 27, 2017Iowa 27, Boston College 20Pinstripe Bowl
Dec 27, 2017Purdue 38, Arizona 35Foster Farms Bowl
Dec 27, 2017Texas 33, Missouri 16Texas Bowl
Dec 28, 2017Navy 49, Virginia 7Military Bowl
Dec 28, 201717Oklahoma State 30, 22Virginia Tech 21Camping World Bowl
Dec 28, 201713TCU 39, 15Stanford 37Alamo Bowl
Dec 28, 201718Michigan State 42, 21Washington State 17Holiday Bowl
Dec 29, 2017Wake Forest 55, Texas A&M 52Belk Bowl
Dec 29, 2017NC State 52, Arizona State 31Sun Bowl
Dec 29, 201720Northwestern 24, Kentucky 23Music City Bowl
Dec 29, 2017New Mexico State 26, Utah State 20Arizona Bowl
Dec 29, 20175Ohio State 24, 8USC 7Cotton Bowl
Dec 30, 201724Mississippi State 31, Louisville 27TaxSlayer Bowl
Dec 30, 2017Iowa State 21, 19Memphis 20Liberty Bowl
Dec 30, 20179Penn State 35, 12Washington 28Fiesta Bowl
Dec 30, 20176Wisconsin 34, 11Miami 24Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 2018South Carolina 26, Michigan 19Outback Bowl
Jan 1, 201810UCF 34, 7Auburn 27Peach Bowl
Jan 1, 201814Notre Dame 21, 16LSU 17Citrus Bowl
Jan 1, 20183Georgia 54, 2Oklahoma 48Rose Bowl, CFP Semifinal
Jan 1, 20184Alabama 24, 1Clemson 6Sugar Bowl, CFP Semifinal
Jan 8, 20184Alabama 26, 3Georgia 23CFP National Championship

Rule book changes

Every rule book

There’s no 2017 rule book in the dataset. The changes in the 2018 book took effect in 2017 or 2018.

Only the first sentence of each article is compared, so a change deeper in an article (most penalty clauses, the overtime procedure) doesn’t show here, and a change that shows may be rewording. No rule text is kept: only numbers and headings. Rule books: NCAA, via Pierce’s provision dataset (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0).