Consistency is the name of the game played annually in CBS Sports’ Best in College Sports rankings, and no team was as reliable throughout the last athletic season as Michigan Wolverins. Wolverins soared over Notre Dame with 588.50 points, won the crown from 2021 to 22 and won the second Best In College Sports Award in the last three seasons. UM is the first two winners of this award in eight seasons.
Fighting Irish finished second with 512.50 points, and Ohio came in third with 506.75 points. Michigan’s dominance can be so contextualized. The 76-point margin for 2nd place Notre Dame was larger than the ND margin for 5th place Arkansas.
Michigan has spent quite a few years athletic. The football team bounced under Jim Harbaugh, finishing 12-2 and winning a trip to the College Football Playoff, completing the best season since 2011. Men’s Basketball (19-15) has reached Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, and Women’s Basketball has reached the Elite Eight in the (25-7) NCAA Tournament. Wrestling (12-1) finished as an NCAA runner-up, and men’s gymnastics (24-3) finished third in the nation.
Although the award formula only includes two “wild card” sports, Michigan also excels in a number of high-profile sports. Men’s ice hockey reached Frozen Four, women’s gymnastics finished seventh in the country, women’s Lacrosse hosted the NCAA tournament, and baseball and softball reached their respective NCAA regionals.
Georgia, who won the CFP National Championship in soccer, finished 9th overall after failing to score points in men’s basketball.
The National Association of Collegiate Sports Directors (NACDA) has ranked exercise programs for many years by evaluating all sports equally. (Example: National soccer and water polo titles are worth the same number of points.) In 2013, CBS Sports began awarding the Best in College Sports award using a weighted formula that recognizes sports of broader interest. did. All FBS programs are rated on three sports: soccer, men’s basketball and women’s basketball, and two “wild cards”: baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey and wrestling.
The weighted formula focuses 2.5 times more on soccer and 2.0 times more on men’s basketball than any other sport. Teams that do not finish in the final AP Top 25 of football and play in the bowl will be awarded 62.5 points (25 x 2.5). (Teams that opted out of the bowl game or canceled the post-season contest scored 62.5 points in soccer.) The team that created the men’s NIT scored 20 points (10 x 2) and WNIT. The team will get 10 points. For all titles settled through brackets, such as NCAA tournaments, the total points are based on the number of participants. All champions of other sports will receive 100 points in the national championships.
2021-22 Best In College Sports
CBS Sports Best In College Sports Winner
- 2021-22: Michigan
- 2020-21: Alabama
- 2019-20: Not awarded (COVID-19)
- 2018-19: Michigan
- 2017-18: Ohio
- 2016-17: Florida
- 2015-16: Oklahoma
- 2014-15: Stanford
- 2013-14: Louisville
