AP top 25 poll: Ohio State is No. 1 in final college football rankings

Ohio State finishes at No. 1 in the AP top 25 college football rankings for the first time in a decade after winning the national championship game.
Ohio State leads the way in the final AP top 25 college football rankings after winning the national championship.
Ohio State leads the way in the final AP top 25 college football rankings after winning the national championship. / Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After emerging as the last team in the 12-team College Football Playoff, Ohio State predictably ended up as the No. 1 team in the final AP top 25 college football rankings of the 2024 season after beating Notre Dame in the CFP National Championship Game.

That marks the first time that Ohio State finished in the No. 1 position in the poll in the last decade, coinciding with the last time it also won the national championship.

That year found the Buckeyes making history by claiming the first-ever College Football Playoff national title, and this year they made more by winning the first 12-team tournament.

CFP finalist Notre Dame jumped SEC champion Georgia to finish in the No. 2 position in the rankings ahead of the Bulldogs squad the Irish beat in the playoff quarterfinal round game.

Oregon slipped to No. 3 in the final poll despite spending most of the second half of the season at No. 1 as college football’s only undefeated team to that point, before succumbing to Ohio State in a 20-point loss in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal.

Boise State placed inside the top 10 of the final rankings as the highest-ranked Group of Five team after earning a place in the College Football Playoff and finished 12-2 with a Mountain West championship over UNLV.

AP top 25 rankings

First-place votes in parentheses

  1. Ohio State (56)
  2. Notre Dame
  3. Oregon
  4. Texas
  5. Penn State
  6. Georgia
  7. Arizona State
  8. Boise State
  9. Tennessee
  10. Indiana
  11. Ole Miss
  12. SMU
  13. BYU
  14. Clemson
  15. Iowa State
  16. Illinois
  17. Alabama
  18. Miami
  19. South Carolina
  20. Syracuse
  21. Army
  22. Missouri
  23. UNLV
  24. Memphis
  25. Colorado

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Other teams receiving votes

Navy 55, LSU 39, Louisville 38, Michigan 36, Kansas State 11, Marshall 8, Ohio 8, Florida 7, TCU 2, Texas A&M 1.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.