CFA Top 30: Alabama The Pick at No. 1

It was a weekend for upsets and close calls in NCAA Division I football, and especially for FCS teams taking it to their FBS brethren.

A total of six FCS teams pulled off upsets on the road at FBS opponents, starting with UC Davis (19-17 over Tulsa) and Eastern Washington (35-33 over UNLV) on Thursday night and continuing Friday night with defending FCS runner-up South Dakota State’s 42-23 win at Colorado State. Three more FCS teams kept the party rolling on Saturday, highlighted by Montana’s 13-7 win over CFA No. 19 Washington. Holy Cross upended UConn 38-28, and East Tennessee State dominated Vanderbilt in a 23-3 win.

The College Football America Top 30

Alabama looks like the right pick at No. 1 a week into the 2021 season, but Georgia jumps from No. 5 to No. 2, trading places with Clemson, which is still most likely a Top 4 or 5 team. That matches Georgia’s highest-ever position in our rankings. Penn State, meanwhile, is the big mover in the Top 30, jumping from No. 21 to No. 11 after a big road win at previous No. 11 Wisconsin. LSU, North Carolina, Washington and West Virginia all drop out of the Top 30 after opening-game losses, replaced by No. 24 UCF, No. 26 Virginia Tech, No. 29 Ole Miss and No. 30 NC State. Ole Miss’s No. 29 position marks the Rebels’ debut in our weekly rankings dating back to 2017.

1. Alabama (1-0)
2. Georgia (1-0)
3. Ohio State (1-0)
4. Oklahoma (1-0)
5. Clemson (0-1)
6. Texas A&M (1-0)
7. Notre Dame (1-0)
8. Florida (1-0)
9. Iowa State (1-0)
10. Oregon (1-0)
11. Penn State (1-0)
12. Iowa (1-0)
13. Miami [FL] (0-1)
14. Cincinnati (1-0)
15. USC (1-0)
16. Wisconsin (0-1)
17. Utah (1-0)
18. Texas (1-0)
19. Michigan (1-0)
20. Indiana (0-1)
21. Auburn (1-0)
22. Oklahoma State (1-0)
23. Kentucky (1-0)
24. UCF (1-0)
25. Missouri (1-0)
26. Virginia Tech (1-0)
27. TCU (1-0)
28. Boise State (1-0)
29. Ole Miss (1-0)
30. NC State (1-0)

The College Football America 2021 Yearbookfeatures more than 900 college football teams from the United States and Canada in more than 250 striking, full-color pages. That includes every team from the NCAA (FBS, FCS, Division II and Division III), NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA and U Sports (Canada). It also includes updates on club football, one-year postgraduate prep/sports academies and Mexican college football, along with dozens of action shots and stadium photos taken by the CFA staff.

The print edition is available online via Amazon.com and other major retailers such as Barnes & Noble.