The Index

Four offseason signals — fan confidence, market expectations, portal balance, recruiting class — composited into one score per program. Not a power ranking. A momentum board.

Houston

Leads the board — strongest in fan belief

+84 pts

Stanford

Fans rank Stanford 84 percentile points higher than Vegas does this offseason

5/17

ACC

Programs in the top third of The Index — most of any conference

Fan belief 30% Market expectation 30% Portal balance 25% Recruiting class 15% ■ Top third ■ Bottom third

#	Program	Score	Fan belief	Market	Portal	Recruiting
1	Houston Big 12	84	97	84	79	63
2	Miami ACC	81	95	98	39	91
3	UL Monroe Sun Belt	79	96▲	—	95	17
4	Indiana Big Ten	78	49	97	96	66
5	Louisville ACC	75	71	88	77	51
6	Memphis American Athletic	73	85	68	75	57
7	Texas SEC	73	55	96	51	100
8	Toledo Mid-American	72	93▲	77	55	47
9	Marshall Sun Belt	71	87	68	91	13
10	Miami (OH) Mid-American	71	100	69	59	40
11	Oregon Big Ten	71	79	98	12	97
12	Hawai'i Mountain West	70	82	64	99	10
13	Minnesota Big Ten	70	78	49	89	65
14	Ole Miss SEC	70	40▼	74	88	89
15	SMU ACC	69	58	90	50	78
16	LSU SEC	68	16▼	86	92	93
17	Virginia ACC	68	46	80	87	58
18	Virginia Tech ACC	68	60▼	56	91	72
19	Delaware Conference USA	67	96▲	45	98	3
20	South Florida American Athletic	66	62	91	48	53
21	Kentucky SEC	65	89	17	83	80
22	Western Kentucky Conference USA	65	88	57	66	31
23	Northwestern Big Ten	64	71	32	99	53
24	Texas A&M SEC	64	27	92	58	94
25	Texas Tech Big 12	64	3	99	94	66
26	Western Michigan Mid-American	64	67	81	63	25
27	Arizona Big 12	63	88	59	37	64
28	Illinois Big Ten	63	84	65	31	68
29	BYU Big 12	61	83	83	9	61
30	East Carolina American Athletic	61	99▲	62	22	45
31	Liberty Conference USA	61	32	87	78	38
32	San Diego State Pac-12	61	54	75	64	44
33	Utah Big 12	61	57	93	21	72
34	Utah State Pac-12	61	75	37	88	37
35	Iowa Big Ten	60	21▼	65	93	73
36	Tulane American Athletic	60	73	77	33	47
37	Wake Forest ACC	60	79	38	65	55
38	Wyoming Mountain West	60	86▲	41	68	36
39	NC State ACC	59	29▼	70	70	76
40	Washington Big Ten	59	66	80	11	84
41	Nebraska Big Ten	58	39	50	74	85
42	Louisiana Sun Belt	57	94	67	9	42
43	Maryland Big Ten	57	90	31	32	82
44	UNLV Mountain West	57	35	78	72	31
45	Texas State Pac-12	56	69	54	60	27
46	Missouri State Conference USA	55	80	19	100	4
47	Troy Sun Belt	55	99	55	12	41
48	UCLA Big Ten	55	46	56	56	67
49	Alabama SEC	54	33	82	20	99
50	Baylor Big 12	54	35▼	41	81	74
51	Georgia SEC	54	14	94	28	99
52	Notre Dame FBS Independents	54	32▼	100	4	92
53	South Carolina SEC	54	13	53	84	88
54	Tulsa American Athletic	54	98	35	42	21
55	Wisconsin Big Ten	54	18▼	58	76	81
56	Fresno State Pac-12	53	25▼	63	90	26
57	Georgia State Sun Belt	53	93	15	53	52
58	Kansas State Big 12	53	18	86	43	75
59	Massachusetts Mid-American	53	52	—	86	1
60	Army American Athletic	52	76	60	41	6
61	Colorado Big 12	52	77	14	55	74
62	Michigan Big Ten	52	21▼	89	18	96
63	Ohio State Big Ten	52	10	95	23	98
64	Sacramento State Mid-American	52	90	23	69	8
65	App State Sun Belt	51	85	—	31	16
66	Mississippi State SEC	51	59▼	18	64	80
67	Missouri SEC	51	15▼	50	74	86
68	Penn State Big Ten	51	7	89	36	90
69	Ohio Mid-American	50	81▲	51	36	12
70	UCF Big 12	50	82▲	35	35	43
71	USC Big Ten	50	29	92	1	91
72	Auburn SEC	49	45▼	43	34	95
73	Buffalo Mid-American	49	51	26	82	34
74	Florida SEC	49	31▼	62	27	96
75	Jacksonville State Conference USA	49	6▼	66	96	20
76	Kansas Big 12	49	48▼	29	73	48
77	North Dakota State Mountain West	49	63	95	3	4
78	Oklahoma State Big 12	49	8▼	52	85	62
79	TCU Big 12	49	49	53	23	83
80	California ACC	48	30	44	72	50
81	Georgia Southern Sun Belt	48	57▼	14	80	42
82	Georgia Tech ACC	48	26	47	54	85
83	Rutgers Big Ten	48	34	23	77	77
84	New Mexico Mountain West	47	9	71	93	0
85	North Carolina ACC	47	68	21	39	71
86	Tennessee SEC	47	11	76	28	93
87	Arizona State Big 12	46	10	42	82	69
88	Arkansas SEC	46	61	11	52	77
89	James Madison Sun Belt	46	4▼	85	62	22
90	San José State Mountain West	46	76▲	—	30	15
91	Air Force Mountain West	44	65▼	59	25	7
92	Clemson ACC	44	22▼	61	26	82
93	Duke ACC	44	44▲	27	44	79
94	Oklahoma SEC	44	17▼	72	15	88
95	Temple American Athletic	44	37	34	85	11
96	Florida Atlantic American Athletic	43	68	29	34	39
97	Syracuse ACC	43	50	24	40	70
98	UConn FBS Independents	43	41	36	69	18
99	Purdue Big Ten	42	70	5	61	28
100	UTEP Mountain West	42	62▲	10	50	50
101	West Virginia Big 12	42	15	40	61	69
102	Louisiana Tech Sun Belt	41	91	30	7	20
103	Stanford ACC	41	92	8	8	60
104	UTSA American Athletic	41	36▼	79	14	23
105	Cincinnati Big 12	40	38	26	49	56
106	Florida State ACC	40	28▼	47	16	87
107	Washington State Pac-12	40	24	39	57	49
108	Colorado State Pac-12	38	74	2	47	23
109	Kennesaw State Conference USA	38	12	48	80	1
110	Pittsburgh ACC	38	7▼	74	17	64
111	UAB American Athletic	38	74	9	46	9
112	Coastal Carolina Sun Belt	37	54	13	47	34
113	Old Dominion Sun Belt	37	26	73	15	26
114	Southern Miss Sun Belt	37	47	8	66	24
115	Central Michigan Mid-American	36	65▲	44	1	18
116	Rice American Athletic	36	43	6	67	28
117	Sam Houston Conference USA	36	64	7	53	12
118	Boise State Pac-12	35	4▼	83	4	55
119	Iowa State Big 12	35	53	16	19	61
120	Ball State Mid-American	34	24	1	97	14
121	Nevada Mountain West	34	42	20	38	36
122	New Mexico State Conference USA	34	51▼	20	45	9
123	South Alabama Sun Belt	34	72	33	2	15
124	Boston College ACC	33	56	2	29	58
125	Middle Tennessee Conference USA	32	40	4	58	29
126	Florida International Conference USA	27	19	46	10	35
127	Arkansas State Sun Belt	26	1▲	25	45	46
128	Michigan State Big Ten	26	20▼	17	24	59
129	North Texas American Athletic	26	23	32	26	19
130	Bowling Green Mid-American	25	43▼	12	13	32
131	Northern Illinois Mountain West	25	60▼	5	0	39
132	Vanderbilt SEC	25	5	38	20	45
133	Navy American Athletic	24	1▼	71	7	5
134	Akron Mid-American	23	2▼	11	71	7
135	Oregon State Pac-12	23	12▼	22	18	54
136	Charlotte American Athletic	22	38	0	42	2
137	Eastern Michigan Mid-American	20	—	28	5	30
138	Kent State Mid-American	7	0▼	3	6	33

No programs match your search.

~ our read. Fan belief from r/cfb discourse analysis (CardiffNLP sentiment, percentile-ranked within FBS). Market = current median win total across major books. Portal balance = net talent-point delta from transfer activity. Recruiting = 2025 247Sports composite class rating. All dimensions normalized to 0–100 percentile rank within FBS. Composite = weight-renormalized mean of available signals. Conference labels reflect 2024–25 realignment. ▲▼ on fan belief = movement vs. prior week.