Our first rankings - pro and FCS version!

In keeping with the College Football Playoff committee's first rankings coming out tomorrow evening, we also wait until now to actually rank our (American) football teams - until there's a truly legitimate body of work to evaluate with. Yesterday, we posted the FBS list (check the previous post out), and now here's the NFL and FCS (Division 1-AA) rosters, still utilizing tiers as we have all year (that's how we determine point spreads), but also including rankings for the top thirty or so and the bottom sixteen...

In the NFL, following the Broncos' upset of the Packers last night, there's a definitive #1...

Tier A) 1. New England Patriots (7-0) - 2. Cincinnati Bengals (7-0) - 3. Carolina Panthers (6-0) - 4. Denver Broncos (7-0).
Tier B) 5. Green Bay Packers (6-1) - 6. Arizona Cardinals (5-2) - 7. Seattle Seahawks (4-3).
Tier C) 8. St. Louis Rams (4-3) - 9. Minnesota Vikings (5-2) - 10. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-4) - 11. Kansas City Chiefs (3-5) - 12. Atlanta Falcons (6-2).
Tier D) 13. Philadelphia Eagles (3-4) - 14. Buffalo Bills (3-4) - 15. Oakland Raiders (4-3).
Tier E) 16. New York Jets (4-3) - 17. Baltimore Ravens (2-6) - 18. San Diego Chargers (2-6) - 19. New Orleans Saints (4-4).
Tier F) 20. Washington Redskins (3-4) - 21. New York Giants (4-4) - 22. Miami Dolphins (3-4) - 23. Dallas Cowboys (2-5) - 24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-4).
Tier G) 25. Chicago Bears (2-5) - 26. San Francisco 49ers (2-6) - 27. Houston Texans (3-5) - 28. Cleveland Browns (2-6) - 29. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5).
Tier H) 30. Indianapolis Colts (3-4) - 31. Detroit Lions (1-7) - 32. Tennessee Titans (1-6).

And in the FCS, there's just one team in the top tier - the one who took the Auburn Tigers to overtime on the road... (Note that we've combined all 1-AA conferences into this one ranking for a change. We'll single out the others afterwards.) Remember that all these tiers match with the FBS tiers, so in theory a team in Tier L here is equal to a Tier L team on the FBS list, and vice versa. We've ranked the top 28 and the bottom 16; the rest are in random order within their tiers as usual:

Tier L) 1. Jacksonville St (5-0 ovc, 7-1 overall).
Tier M) 2. Illinois St (5-0 mvc, 7-1) - 3. North Dakota St (4-1 mvc, 6-2).
Tier N) 4. Southern Utah (5-0 big sky, 6-2) - 5. Portland St (4-1 bgsky, 7-1) - 6. South Dakota St (3-2 mvc, 6-2).
Tier O) 7. Chattanooga (5-0 sthn, 7-1) - 8. Youngstown St (2-3 mvc, 4-4) - 9. McNeese St (7-0 sthld, 8-0) - 10. Harvard (4-0 ivy, 7-0) - 11. Sam Houston St (5-1 sthld, 6-2) - 12. William & Mary (4-1 caa, 6-2) - 13. James Madison (4-2 caa, 7-2) - 14. Northern Iowa (2-3 mvc, 4-4) - 15. Coastal Carolina (2-1 bgsth, 7-1) - 16. Western Illinois (3-2 mvc, 4-4).
Tier P) 17. Indiana St (2-3 mvc, 4-4) - 18. The Citadel (5-0 sthrn, 6-2) - 19. Southern Illinois (2-3 mvc, 3-5) - 20. Eastern Kentucky (4-1 ovc, 5-3).
Tier Q) 21. Charleston Southern (4-0 bgsth, 7-1) - 22. Dartmouth (3-1 ivy, 6-1) - 23. Eastern Washington (5-0 bgsky, 6-2) - 24. Eastern Illinois (5-0 ovc, 5-3).
Tier R) 25. Richmond (5-0 caa, 7-1) - 26. Montana (3-2 bgsky, 4-4) - 27. Montana St (2-3 bgsky, 4-4) - 28. Cal Poly SLO (1-4 bgsky, 2-6).

Tier S) Northern Arizona (3-2 bgsky, 5-3); Towson (3-2 caa, 5-3); UT-Martin (4-1 ovc, 5-3); Central Arkansas (5-1 sthld, 6-2); North Carolina A&T (5-0 meac, 7-1); Alcorn St (4-1 swac, 5-2); Fordham (3-1 patr, 7-2); Furman (2-2 sthrn, 4-4).
Tier T) Bethune-Cookman (5-1 meac, 7-2); North Dakota (3.3 bgsky, 5-4); Liberty (1-2 bgsth, 4-4); Villanova (3-2 caa, 4-4); New Hampshire (2-3 caa, 4-4); SE Louisiana (3-3 sthld, 4-4), South Carolina St (4-1 meac, 5-3).
Tier U) Dayton (5-0 pfl, 8-0); Weber St (3-3 bgsky, 4-5); SE Missouri St (2-2 ovc, 3-5); Tennessee St (0-4 ovc, 4-4); Lamar (3-3 sthld, 4-4); Grambling St (6-0 swac, 6-2).
Tier V) Samford (1-4 sthrn, 3-5); Jacksonville (3-2 pfl, 6-2); Penn (3-1 ivy, 4-3); Princeton (2-2 ivy, 5-2); Western Carolina (3-2 sthrn, 5-3).
Tier W) Wofford (2-3 sthrn, 4-5); Stephen F Austin (3-3 sthld, 3-5); Colgate (3-0 patr, 4-4); Elon (2-3 caa, 3-5); Delaware (2-3 caa, 3-5); Stony Brook (1-5 caa, 2-5); Bryant (2-1 nec, 4-4), San Diego (4-1 pfl, 6-2); Yale (1-3 ivy, 4-3).
Tier X) Idaho St (1-4 bgsky, 2-6); Maine (3-2 caa, 3-5); Mercer (0-4 sthrn, 3-5); NW State (2-4 sthld, 2-6); Abilene Christian (2-5 sthld, 2-6); Lehigh (2-1 patr, 4-4); Holy Cross (1-2 patr, 4-4); Hampton (3-3 meac, 4-5); Prairie View A&M (5-1 swac, 5-2); Southern (4-2 swac, 4-4).
Tier Y) Kennesaw St (2-1 bgsth, 6-2); Northern Colorado (2-4 bgsky, 4-4); Sacramento St (1-4 bgsky, 2-6); Duquesne (3-1 nec, 6-3); St Francis (2-1 nec, 4-3); Murray St (1-4 ovc, 2-6); Tennessee Tech (1-5 ovc, 2-6); Bucknell (1-2 patr, 4-4); North Carolina Central (4-1 meac, 5-3); Morgan St (3-2 meac, 3-4); Norfolk St (2-3 meac, 2-6), Monmouth (1-3 bgsth, 3-6).
Tier Z) Alabama A&M (2-3 swac, 2-5); Albany (1-4 caa, 2-6); Rhode Island (1-4 caa, 1-7); Sacred Heart (1-2 nec, 4-4); Drake (3-3 pfl, 4-5); Columbia (1-3 ivy, 2-5); Georgetown (2-2 patr, 4-5); Alabama St (4-3 swac, 4-4).
Tier "a" (lowercase) UC Davis (1-4 bgsky, 1-7); Missouri St (0-5 mvc, 1-7); Central Connecticut St (3-1 nec, 4-5); Morehead St (4-1 pfl, 5-3); Marist (3-2 pfl, 4-4), Campbell (3-3 pfl, 5-4); Brown (2-2 ivy, 4-4); Jackson St (3-3 swac, 3-5); Gardner-Webb (2-2 bgsth, 3-5); VMI (1-4 sthrn, 2-7).
Tier "b") Presbyterian (0-3 bgsth, 1-7), Butler (2-3 pfl, 4-4); Howard (1-5 meac, 1-7); Texas Southern (2-4 swac, 3-4); Incarnate Word (3-3 sthld, 4-4)

And, without further ado, the Bottom Sixteen...

Tier "c") 110. Nicholls St (1-5 sthld, 1-7) - 111. Florida A&M (1-4 meac, 1-7) - 112. Austin Peay (0-6 ovc, 0-9).
Tier "d") 113. Lafayette (0-4 patr, 1-8) - 114. Cornell (0-4 ivy, 0-7) - 115. Wagner (0-3 nec, 0-8) - 116. Delaware St (0-5 meac, 0-8).
Tier "e") 117. Robert Morris (1-3 nec, 2-6) - 118. Arkansas Pine Bluff (0-6 swac, 1-7) - 119. Stetson (1-5 pfl, 2-6).
Tier "f") 120.  Savannah St (1-4 meac, 1-6) - 121. Houston Baptist (0-6 sthld, 1-7) - 122. East Tennessee St (0-0 sthrn, officially; 1-7 overall) - 123. Mississippi Valley St (0-7 swac, 0-9) - 124. Valparaiso (1-4 pfl, 1-6).
Tier "g") 125. Davidson (0-5 pfl, 1-7).

If you're wondering, when you get towards the bottom, some or most of those out-of-conference wins are against teams in lower divisions - after all, "bottom" is in the eye of the beholder!

Within the Intramural Division, your top three are:
1. Harvard (tier O) - 2. Dartmouth (tier Q) - 3. Fordham (Tier S),
... and your bottom three are:
1. Cornell (tier d) - 2. Lafayette (tier d) - 3. Brown (tier a). 

And, within the Historically Black College division, your top three are:
1. North Carolina A&T (tier S) - 2. Alcorn St (tier S) - 3. Bethune Cookman (tier T),
...and your bottom three are:
1. Mississippi Valley St (tier f) - 2. Savannah St (tier f) - 3. Arkansas Pine Bluff (tier e).

Here are the new FCS tiers after the fourth week...

For starters, here are the teams from the nine conferences who actually participate in the "Football Championship Subdivision" championship... the highest tier is Tier N, lining up with tier N within the FBS (meaning we think they match up evenly with those teams), and the lowest is Tier "d", lower case, which would be four levels below capital Z. (We've stretched these groups out two more rungs since last week, which is why we didn't publish them with the FBS teams last night.)

FF tier	Team	Conference	Conf Record		Overall Record
N	Jacksonville State	ovc	1	0	2	1
N	North Dakota State	mvc	0	0	2	1
N	Northern Iowa	mvc	0	0	2	1
N	Portland State	b-sky	1	0	2	0
N	South Dakota State	mvc	0	0	2	0
O	Coastal Carolina	b-sou	0	0	3	0
O	Illinois State	mvc	0	0	2	1
O	Liberty	b-sou	0	0	2	1
O	Montana	b-sky	0	1	1	2
O	South Dakota	mvc	0	0	2	1
O	William & Mary	caa	0	0	1	1
P	Chattanooga	sthrn	1	0	2	1
P	Eastern Kentucky	ovc	0	0	1	1
P	James Madison	caa	1	0	3	0
P	Montana State	b-sky	0	0	1	1
P	Southern Illinois	mvc	0	0	0	2
P	Western Illinois	mvc	0	0	1	2
Q	Cal Poly SLO	b-sky	1	0	1	2
Q	Eastern Illinois	ovc	0	0	0	3
Q	Eastern Washington	b-sky	1	0	2	2
Q	Indiana State	mvc	0	0	2	1
Q	Southern Utah	b-sky	1	0	1	2
R	Lamar	s-land	1	0	2	1
R	Northern Arizona	b-sky	0	0	2	1
R	Sam Houston St	s-land	0	1	0	2
R	Stony Brook	caa	1	0	2	0
R	Youngstown State	mvc	0	0	2	1
S	Furman	sthrn	0	0	1	2
S	New Hampshire	caa	0	1	1	2
S	North Dakota	b-sky	0	0	2	1
S	SE Missouri State	ovc	0	0	1	2
S	Weber State	b-sky	1	0	1	2
T	Charleston Southern	b-sou	0	0	2	1
T	McNeese State	s-land	2	0	2	0
T	Samford	sthrn	0	1	2	1
T	SE Louisiana	s-land	1	0	2	1
T	Towson	caa	0	0	2	1
U	Central Arkansas	s-land	0	0	0	2
U	Idaho State	b-sky	0	1	1	3
U	Richmond	caa	0	0	2	1
U	Tennessee State	ovc	0	1	2	1
U	Wofford	sthrn	0	0	1	2
V	Abilene Christian	s-land	1	0	1	1
V	Bryant	nec	0	0	2	0
V	Jacksonville	pion	0	0	2	0
V	UT-Martin	ovc	0	0	1	1
V	Villanova	caa	1	0	2	1
W	Dayton	pion	0	0	1	0
W	Delaware	caa	0	1	1	2
W	Drake	pion	0	0	1	1
W	Elon	caa	0	0	1	2
W	Stephen F Austin	s-land	0	1	0	3
W	Tennessee Tech	ovc	0	0	1	2
X	Albany	caa	1	1	1	2
X	Mercer	sthrn	0	0	2	1
X	Northwestern St	s-land	0	1	0	3
X	Presbyterian	b-sou	0	0	1	2
X	The Citadel	sthrn	1	0	2	1
Y	Duquesne	nec	0	0	2	1
Y	Monmouth	b-sou	0	0	1	2
Y	Morehead State	pion	0	0	0	2
Y	Sacramento State	b-sky	0	2	1	3
Y	San Diego	pion	0	0	1	1
Y	VMI	sthrn	0	0	1	2
Z	Murray State	ovc	0	0	1	2
Z	Northern Colorado	b-sky	0	1	2	1
Z	Sacred Heart	nec	0	0	2	1
Z	UC Davis	b-sky	0	0	0	3
Z	Western Carolina	sthrn	0	1	1	2
a	Gardner-Webb	b-sou	0	0	1	2
a	Marist	pion	0	0	0	2
a	Missouri State	mvc	0	0	1	2
a	Robert Morris	nec	0	0	1	2
a	St. Francis - PA	nec	0	0	1	2
b	Butler	pion	0	0	1	1
b	Campbell	pion	0	0	2	0
b	Kennesaw St	b-sou	0	0	3	0
b	Maine	caa	0	0	0	2
b	Wagner	nec	0	0	0	2
c	Austin Peay	ovc	0	0	0	3
c	Central Connecticut	nec	0	0	1	2
c	Incarnate Word	s-land	1	1	2	2
c	Rhode Island	caa	0	1	0	3
c	Stetson	pion	0	0	1	1
d	Davidson	pion	0	0	0	2
d	East Tennessee St*	sthrn	0	0	0	3
d	Houston Baptist	s-land	0	1	1	2
d	Nicholls State	s-land	0	1	0	2
d	Valparaiso	pion	0	0	0	2

Next, we look at the two conferences who choose not to play a post-season with the rest of the FCS, but rather hold their own "Celebration Bowl", matching the titlists of the two Historically Black College conferences (the SWAC and the MEAC:

FF tier	Team	Conference	Conf Record		OverallRecord
S	SC State	meac	1	0	2	1
T	Southern	swacW	2	0	2	1
U	Bethune-Cookman	meac	0	0	2	1
V	Alcorn State	swacE	2	0	2	1
V	Grambling St	swacW	1	0	1	2
W	NC A&T	meac	0	0	2	1
X	Hampton	meac	1	0	2	1
X	Morgan State	meac	0	0	1	2
X	Norfolk State	meac	0	0	0	3
X	Alabama State	swacE	0	2	0	3
Y	NC Central	meac	0	0	1	2
Y	Alabama A&M	swacE	0	1	0	2
Z	Florida A&M	meac	0	1	0	3
Z	Jackson State	swacE	0	1	0	3
a	Howard	meac	0	1	0	3
a	Texas Southern	swacW	1	1	2	1
b	Prairie View A&M	swacW	2	0	2	1
b	Ark-Pine Bluff	swacW	0	1	1	2
c	Delaware State	meac	0	0	0	3
c	Miss Valley St	swacE	0	2	0	3
d	Savannah State	meac	0	0	0	2

And finally, the two conferences who choose not to compete in a post-season for academic reasons, the Ivy League and the Patriot League:

FF tier	Team	Conference	Conf Record		OverallRecord
R	Dartmouth	ivy	0	0	1	0
S	Fordham	patr	0	0	2	1
T	Harvard	ivy	0	0	1	0
U	Colgate	patr	0	0	0	3
V	Princeton	ivy	0	0	1	0
W	Yale	ivy	0	0	1	0
W	Holy Cross	patr	0	0	1	1
X	Lehigh	patr	0	0	2	1
Y	Penn	ivy	0	0	0	1
Y	Bucknell	patr	0	0	2	1
Z	Georgetown	patr	0	0	1	2
Z	Lafayette	patr	0	0	0	3
a	Brown	ivy	0	0	0	1
b	Cornell	ivy	0	0	0	1
c	Columbia	ivy	0	0	0	1