1. How the poll works
Rank your Top 25 in order. Week N is the poll entering CFBD week N. A new ballot week opens when the previous one locks: 30 minutes before the first timed Thursday or Friday game, or Saturday at 10 AM ET, whichever is earlier. Tuesday and Wednesday games do not shorten the window. Publishing opens Sunday at 4 AM ET by default; scheduled ballots can be edited until they publish.
Week 8 · Locks Thu 6:30 PM ET (before Thursday's first kickoff)
Published ballots can be edited until the lock. The original ballot and every later version stay in the public history.
Ballots
How many fans ranked this team anywhere in their Top 25.
Points
A #1 vote is worth 25 points, #2 is worth 24, down to 1 point for #25. Teams are ranked by total points, like the AP poll.
Ballot lock
Ballots lock before the week's first Thursday/Friday game, or Saturday 10 AM ET if there isn't one. Check the week's deadline: no drafts or published ballots can change after it.
Scheduled publish
Submit before the week's games are final and your ballot publishes automatically Sunday at 4:00 AM ET. You can keep editing until then.
2. Reading the poll
Fan Consensus
The combined ranking of every fan ballot this week.
First-place votes
How many ballots ranked this team #1.
Previous rank
Where the team ranked in last week's poll.
Others receiving votes
Teams that got points but didn't make the Top 25.
3. Team stats
Record
Overall wins and losses, followed by the conference record in parentheses when available.
SOS (strength of schedule)
How tough a team's opponents have been, based on their wins and their opponents' wins. #1 is the hardest schedule.
SOR (strength of record)
How impressive a team's record is given its schedule. It asks whether a typical Top-25 team would have done this well; #1 is most impressive.
Projected record
The current record plus expected wins from the remaining games, based on each game's win percentage.
Live SOR example
BYU is 6-0 against opponents who are a combined 19–12, producing SOR #1.
For contrast, James Madison is 7-0 against opponents who are a combined 20–19, producing SOR #20.
Both can be unbeaten, but the record that was less likely against its schedule ranks higher.
4. Win predictions
Win percentage
Each team's estimated chance to win a game before kickoff.
MKT
The win percentage comes from betting markets.
MDL
The win percentage comes from our ratings model—team power ratings plus home field—when no betting line exists yet.
Toss-up
Either team has a 45–55% chance to win.
Underdog
This team has a 30% chance to win or less.
Upset
A team won despite having under a 40% pregame chance. An upset loss means losing despite having over a 60% chance.
Ranked result
The opponent is currently in the Fan Consensus Top 25, making this a ranked win or ranked loss.
Road win
A win in the opponent's stadium rather than at home or at a neutral site.
5. Groups and Official
Group poll
A separate Top 25 built only from the published ballots of that group's approved members.
Official group
An approval-only group of selected voters, with its own separate poll.
6. Where the data comes from
Schedules, scores, records, betting-market probabilities, and SP+ ratings come primarily from CollegeFootballData.com. ESPN is the fallback for records when that feed is unavailable.
Stats After Dark calculates SOS, SOR, model win percentages, and projected records from that source data. Market odds always take priority over the ratings model when available.