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The 2018 season

Clemson finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 15–⁠0 under Dabo Swinney, after it beat Alabama 44–⁠16 in the CFP National Championship. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Clemson 44, No. 1 Alabama 16 (Jan 7, 2019). Two FBS teams finished unbeaten. 70 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma, who also won the Davey O’Brien and Manning.

The Heisman vote: Kyler Murray 2,167 points, Tua Tagovailoa 1,871
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Kyler Murray QB, Oklahoma2,16751727860
Tua Tagovailoa QB, Alabama1,871 *299431122
Dwayne Haskins QB, Ohio State78346111423
Will Grier QB, West Virginia12641780
Gardner Minshew QB, Washington State12261574
McKenzie Milton QB, UCF394419
Travis Etienne RB, Clemson290617
Quinnen Williams DT, Alabama271416
Jonathan Taylor RB, Wisconsin261219
Darrell Henderson RB, Memphis210315

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. * The votes shown don’t add up to the points shown; the source has a typo in one of them.

The 2018 Columbia team
The 2018 Columbia team: Columbia vs Cornell Big Red at Wien Stadium, November 17Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The 2018 Columbia season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Clemson (61)Atlantic Coast Conference
2AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
3Ohio StateBig Ten
4OklahomaBig 12
5Notre DameFBS Independents
6LSUSoutheastern Conference
7FloridaSoutheastern Conference
7GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
9TexasBig 12
10Washington StatePac-12
11UCFAmerican Athletic Conference
12KentuckySoutheastern Conference
13WashingtonPac-12
14MichiganBig Ten
15SyracuseAtlantic Coast Conference
16Texas A&MSoutheastern Conference
17Penn StateBig Ten
18Fresno StateMountain West Conference
19ArmyFBS Independents
20West VirginiaBig 12
21NorthwesternBig Ten
22Utah StateMountain West Conference
23Boise StateMountain West Conference
24CincinnatiAmerican Athletic Conference
25IowaBig Ten

Biggest upsets

Sep 22, 2018Old Dominion 49, 13Virginia Tech 35Old Dominion +28.5
Sep 15, 2018BYU 24, 6Wisconsin 21BYU +23.5
Nov 8, 2018Wake Forest 27, 22NC State 23Wake Forest +19
Oct 13, 2018Tennessee 30, 21Auburn 24Tennessee +15.5
Sep 22, 2018Texas Tech 41, 15Oklahoma State 17Texas Tech +14.5
Nov 3, 2018SMU 45, 17Houston 31SMU +14
Oct 13, 2018Michigan State 21, 8Penn State 17Michigan State +13.5
Sep 8, 2018Kentucky 27, 25Florida 16Kentucky +13.5
Jan 1, 201914Texas 28, 6Georgia 21Texas +13
Sep 1, 2018Maryland 34, 23Texas 29Maryland +13
Oct 20, 2018Purdue 49, 2Ohio State 20Purdue +12.5
Oct 27, 2018California 12, 15Washington 10California +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

Nov 24, 2018Texas A&M 74, 8LSU 72
Nov 3, 2018Massachusetts 62, Liberty 59
Sep 29, 2018Hawai’i 44, San José State 41
Sep 29, 2018Northern Illinois 26, Eastern Michigan 23
Dec 29, 2018Nevada 16, Arkansas State 13
Nov 17, 20189Ohio State 52, Maryland 51
Oct 20, 2018Syracuse 40, North Carolina 37
Sep 1, 2018Nicholls 26, Kansas 23

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 2018, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalWashington State: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 25, Wk 9 No. 14, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 12, Final No. 1010 Washington StateTexas: Wk 1 No. 23, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 18, Wk 6 No. 19, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 15, Wk 12 No. 13, Wk 13 No. 11, Wk 14 No. 9, Wk 15 No. 14, Final No. 99 TexasFlorida: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 25, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 22, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 19, Wk 12 No. 15, Wk 13 No. 13, Wk 14 No. 11, Wk 15 No. 10, Final No. 77 FloridaGeorgia: Wk 1 No. 3, 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. 8, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 6, Final No. 77 GeorgiaLSU: Wk 1 No. 25, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 11, Final No. 66 LSUNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 3, Final No. 55 Notre DameOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 4, Final No. 44 OklahomaOhio State: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 11, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 5, Final No. 33 Ohio StateAlabama: 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. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Final No. 22 AlabamaClemson: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 2, Final No. 11 Clemson
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. LSUNo. 25 → No. 6
  2. Floridaunranked → No. 7
  3. Washington Stateunranked → No. 10
  4. TexasNo. 23 → No. 9
  5. Kentuckyunranked → No. 12

Fell

  1. WisconsinNo. 4 → unranked
  2. MiamiNo. 8 → unranked
  3. AuburnNo. 9 → unranked
  4. Michigan StateNo. 11 → unranked
  5. StanfordNo. 13 → unranked

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

The College Football Playoff

Semifinal

National Championship

Champion: Clemson

National leaders

Passing yards

  1. 1Gardner Minshew Washington State4,776 yds
  2. 2Dwayne Haskins Ohio State4,751 yds
  3. 3Kyler Murray Oklahoma4,364 yds
  4. 4Tua Tagovailoa Alabama3,966 yds
  5. 5Taylor Cornelius Oklahoma State3,950 yds

The NCAA’s official leader is Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State), with 4,831 yds; our source has him at 4,751 yds.

Passing touchdowns

  1. 1Dwayne Haskins Ohio State49 TD
  2. 2Tua Tagovailoa Alabama43 TD
  3. 3Kyler Murray Oklahoma42 TD
  4. 4Gardner Minshew Washington State38 TD
  5. 5Will Grier West Virginia37 TD

The NCAA’s official leader is Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State), with 50 TD; our source has him at 49 TD.

Rushing yards

  1. 1Jonathan Taylor Wisconsin2,194 yds
  2. 2Darrell Henderson Memphis1,909 yds
  3. 3Trayveon Williams Texas A&M1,760 yds
  4. 4Travis Etienne Clemson1,658 yds
  5. 5Eno Benjamin Arizona State1,642 yds

Rushing touchdowns

  1. 1Travis Etienne Clemson24 TD
  2. T2Darrell Henderson Memphis22 TD
  3. T2Devin Singletary Florida Atlantic22 TD
  4. 4Michael Warren II Cincinnati19 TD
  5. 5Trayveon Williams Texas A&M18 TD

Receiving yards

  1. 1Andy Isabella Massachusetts1,697 yds
  2. 2Tylan Wallace Oklahoma State1,458 yds
  3. 3Antoine Wesley Texas Tech1,410 yds
  4. 4A.J. Brown Ole Miss1,355 yds
  5. 5Preston Williams Colorado State1,345 yds

The NCAA’s official leader is Andy Isabella (Massachusetts), with 1,698 yds; our source has him at 1,697 yds.

Receiving touchdowns

  1. 1John Ursua Hawai’i16 TD
  2. T2J.J. Arcega-Whiteside Stanford14 TD
  3. T2Jerry Jeudy Alabama14 TD
  4. T2Preston Williams Colorado State14 TD
  5. 5Andy Isabella Massachusetts13 TD

Tackles

  1. 1Ben Burr-Kirven Washington165 tkl
  2. 2Kenneth Murray Oklahoma155 tkl
  3. 3Malik Fountain Central Michigan151 tkl
  4. 4Joe Dineen Jr. Kansas142 tkl
  5. 5Bryton Barr Massachusetts141 tkl

Sacks

  1. 1Josh Allen Kentucky17 sacks
  2. 2Nate Harvey East Carolina14.5 sacks
  3. 3Jaylon Ferguson Louisiana Tech13 sacks
  4. T4Oshane Ximines Old Dominion12 sacks
  5. T4Sutton Smith Northern Illinois12 sacks

Interceptions

  1. T1Andre Cisco Syracuse7 INT
  2. T1Hamp Cheevers Boston College7 INT
  3. T3Jaylinn Hawkins California6 INT
  4. T3Juan Thornhill Virginia6 INT
  5. T3Juwan Foggie Charlotte6 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
UAB
Mid-American Conference
Northern Illinois
Mountain West Conference
Fresno State
Pac-12
Washington
Southeastern Conference
Alabama
Sun Belt Conference
App State

FCS

Big Sky
Eastern Washington, UC Davis and Weber State (shared)
Big South
Kennesaw State
Colonial Athletic Association
Maine
Ivy League
Princeton
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
North Carolina A&T
Missouri Valley Football Conference
North Dakota State
Northeast Conference
Duquesne and Sacred Heart (shared)
Ohio Valley Conference
Jacksonville State
Patriot League
Colgate
Pioneer Football League
San Diego
Southern Conference
East Tennessee State, Furman and Wofford (shared)
Southland Conference
Incarnate Word and Nicholls (shared)
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Alcorn State

Division II and below

Lone Star Conference
Tarleton State
Northeast-10 Conference
Long Island University

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 2018 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 2018 All-America teams page.

The 2018 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

Clemson 59 on the staff list

  • Dabo Swinneyhead coach
  • Brent Venablesassociate head coach, defensive coordinator, linebackers
  • Danny Pearmanassistant head coach, special teams coordinator, tight ends
  • Tony Elliottco-offensive coordinator, running backs
  • Jeff Scottco-offensive coordinator, wide receivers
  • Robbie Caldwellassistant coach, offensive Linemen
  • Mike Reedassistant coach, cornerbacks
  • Brandon Streeterassistant coach, recruiting coordinator, quarterbacks
  • Todd Batesassistant coach, defensive tackles
  • Mickey Connassistant coach, safeties
  • Lemanski Hallassistant coach, defensive ends
Support staff (48)

Analysts and quality control

  • Wes Goodwin senior defensive assistant
  • Tyler Grisham offensive analyst
  • Kyle Richardson senior offensive assistant
  • Cam Aiken assistant for offensive player development
  • Miguel Chavis assistant for defensive player development
  • Brandon McCombs assistant for special teams Analysis & Research development
  • DeAndre McDaniel defensive analyst & assistant Camp director

Strength and conditioning

  • Joey Batson director of football strength & conditioning
  • Larry Greenlee assistant director of football strength & conditioning
  • Paul Hogan senior assistant football strength & conditioning coach
  • Adam Smotherman assistant strength & conditioning coach, football
  • Adrien Dunn Graduate assistant football strength & conditioning coach

Operations and recruiting

  • Woody McCorvey associate AD of football administration
  • Thad Turnipseed director of football recruiting & External Affairs
  • Brad Scott director of football player development
  • Mike Dooley director of football operations, player personnel
  • D.J. Gordon assistant director of football Ops & creative coordinator
  • Jordan Sorrells coordinator of football recruiting communications
  • Tyler Clements recruiting operations coordinator
  • Jeff Davis assistant AD of football player relations
  • Savannah Bailey director of Life Skills & Community Service
  • Rashard Hall director of Career & Professional development
  • Henry Guess director of football Coaching video
  • Todd Green director of football video operations
  • Joshua Smick assistant director of football video operations
  • Jeff Fellers graphic design coordinator
  • Beth Douglas senior administrative assistant to the head coach
  • Ashley Spiers administrative assistant to the head coach
  • Morgan Tadlock administrative assistant for recruiting operations
  • Ren Windham administrative assistant
  • Jennifer Benton administrative assistant
  • Jill Williams-Wilks administrative assistant, administration

Sports medicine and nutrition

  • Danny Poole director of sports medicine, head athletic trainer – football
  • Scott Crothers assistant athletic trainer – football
  • Abby Dedecker assistant athletic trainer – football

Equipment

  • Abe Reed director of equipment for football
  • Nicholas Yarid assistant director of equipment for football

Video, communications and other staff

  • Paul Harrington director of football nutrition
  • Donna McCain performance Chef
  • Ross Taylor assistant AD, football communications
  • Brian Hennessy senior associate director of communications (football, Baseball)
  • Amanda Gray associate AD, football Compliance
  • Matt Lombardi director of football Academic services
  • Luke Fieser associate director of football Academic services
  • Chris Roberts associate director of football Academic Advising
  • Reggie Pleasant Life coach
  • Steve Duzan sr. associate AD, Student-Athlete services
  • Don Munson director of Broadcasting

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 2018, as Wikipedia lists its members by season (CC BY-SA). The list doesn’t name that season’s chair.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 15, 2018Tulane 41, Louisiana 24Cure Bowl
Dec 15, 2018Utah State 52, North Texas 13New Mexico Bowl
Dec 15, 201819Fresno State 31, Arizona State 20Las Vegas Bowl
Dec 15, 2018Georgia Southern 23, Eastern Michigan 21Camellia Bowl
Dec 15, 2018App State 45, Middle Tennessee 13New Orleans Bowl
Dec 18, 2018UAB 37, Northern Illinois 13Boca Raton Bowl
Dec 19, 2018Ohio 27, San Diego State 0Frisco Bowl
Dec 20, 2018Marshall 38, South Florida 20Gasparilla Bowl
Dec 21, 2018Florida International 35, Toledo 32Bahamas Bowl
Dec 21, 2018BYU 49, Western Michigan 18Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Dec 22, 2018Wake Forest 37, Memphis 34Birmingham Bowl
Dec 22, 201822Army 70, Houston 14Armed Forces Bowl
Dec 22, 2018Troy 42, Buffalo 32Dollar General Bowl
Dec 22, 2018Louisiana Tech 31, Hawai’i 14Hawai’i Bowl
Dec 26, 2018Minnesota 34, Georgia Tech 10Quick Lane Bowl
Dec 26, 2018TCU 10, California 7Cheez-It Bowl
Dec 27, 2018Duke 56, Temple 27Independence Bowl
Dec 27, 2018Wisconsin 35, Miami 3Pinstripe Bowl
Dec 27, 2018Baylor 45, Vanderbilt 38Texas Bowl
Dec 28, 2018Auburn 63, Purdue 14Music City Bowl
Dec 28, 201817Syracuse 34, 15West Virginia 18Camping World Bowl
Dec 28, 201812Washington State 28, 25Iowa State 26Alamo Bowl
Dec 29, 201810Florida 41, 8Michigan 15Peach Bowl
Dec 29, 2018Virginia 28, South Carolina 0Belk Bowl
Dec 29, 2018Nevada 16, Arkansas State 13Arizona Bowl
Dec 29, 20182Clemson 30, 3Notre Dame 3Cotton Bowl, CFP Semifinal
Dec 29, 20181Alabama 45, 4Oklahoma 34Orange Bowl, CFP Semifinal
Dec 31, 2018Cincinnati 35, Virginia Tech 31Military Bowl
Dec 31, 2018Stanford 14, Pittsburgh 13Sun Bowl
Dec 31, 2018Oregon 7, Michigan State 6Redbox Bowl
Dec 31, 2018Oklahoma State 38, 24Missouri 33Liberty Bowl
Dec 31, 2018Northwestern 31, 20Utah 20Holiday Bowl
Dec 31, 201821Texas A&M 52, NC State 13Gator Bowl
Jan 1, 2019Iowa 27, 18Mississippi State 22Outback Bowl
Jan 1, 201911LSU 40, 7UCF 32Fiesta Bowl
Jan 1, 201916Kentucky 27, 13Penn State 24Citrus Bowl
Jan 1, 20195Ohio State 28, 9Washington 23Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 201914Texas 28, 6Georgia 21Sugar Bowl
Jan 7, 20192Clemson 44, 1Alabama 16CFP National Championship

Rule book changes

Every rule book

The 2018 NCAA rule book against the one before: 6 changed and 2 removed articles, which took effect in 2017 or 2018 (the dataset has no book for the season before).

Rule 1: The Game, Field, Players and Equipment

  • Changed Rule 1-4-1 Recommended Numbering (Players and Playing Equipment)
  • Changed Rule 1-4-8 Mandatory and Illegal Equipment Enforcement (Players and Playing Equipment)
  • Removed Rule 1-4-12 Coaches’ Phones (Players and Playing Equipment)

Rule 4: Ball in Play, Dead Ball, Out of Bounds

  • Changed Rule 4-2-3 Loose Ball Out of Bounds (Out of Bounds)

Rule 9: Conduct of Players and Others Subject to the Rules

  • Changed Rule 9-1-2 Striking Fouls and Tripping (Personal Fouls)
  • Changed Rule 9-1-6 Blocking Below the Waist (Personal Fouls)
  • Removed Rule 9-1-9 Roughing the Passer (Personal Fouls)
  • Changed Rule 9-1-15 Horse Collar Tackle (Personal Fouls)

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).