Ohio State and Alabama are tied for the country's highest blue-chip ratio on their rosters for the 2025 college football season.
In a yearly study conducted by CBS Sports since 2013, a blue-chip ratio equates to what percentage of a team's players are composed of five- and four-star prospects. Both the Buckeyes and the Crimson Tide have a blue-chip ratio of 89 percent, meaning that 89 percent of their rosters consist of either five- or four-star recruits. Transfers are not factored into the blue-chip ratio.
Since the 2011 season, no college team has won the national championship with less than 52 percent of its roster being composed of blue-chip athletes (2016 Clemson was the lowest percentage champion at 52). Ohio State's national championship team in 2014 had a 68 percent blue-chip ratio, while last season's Buckeyes had a whopping 90 percent blue-chip ratio, the highest ever in the sport since the study's inception.
CBS Sports also conducted a blue-chip ratio with transfers factored into the equation, and the Buckeyes lead the nation with an 82 percent blue-chip ratio, followed by Alabama at 78 percent.
The complete list of teams for the 2025 season that meet the 52 percent threshold and therefore are capable of winning the national championship this season per the metric is listed below (not factoring in transfers).
- Ohio State, 89%
- Alabama, 89%
- Georgia, 84%
- Texas A&M, 82%
- Oregon, 78%
- Texas, 78%
- LSU, 73%
- Notre Dame, 73%
- Oklahoma, 70%
- Penn State, 68%
- Miami, 64%
- Florida, 64%
- Auburn, 64%
- Michigan, 57%
- USC, 57%
- Clemson, 55%
- Tennessee, 54%
- Florida State, 54%
