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A quarter-century after experiencing life as a national champion as a walk-on wide receiver at Alabama, Dabo Swinney (who described himself as a "crawl-on" to that title team) gets his second ring after leading Clemson to its first national championship since 1981 with a 35-31 victory over Alabama on Monday night in Tampa, Florida.

In taking down the Tide and handing Nick Saban his first national championship loss, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson cemented himself as an all-time great. And this Tigers program, built on speed, athleticism, versatility and fun, certified its membership as one of the top places in the country to go play your college ball.

Clemson, unsurprisingly, finished as the No. 1 team in the CBS Sports 128 end-of-season rankings with Alabama following close behind at No. 2.

The real fun in our final poll of CBS Sports college football experts lies elsewhere as the lessons of the postseason have shaped our final view of the 2016 season. Southern California was one of the biggest movers in the rankings, up to No. 3 after edging Penn State in a Rose Bowl for the ages. Florida State also benefited from a big-stage win against the Big Ten in a 33-32 Orange Bowl victory over Michigan, and the top-10 ranking that both have below is likely to match where both teams (returning freshman starting quarterbacks) will start in 2017.

College football experts from CBS Sports -- and for the first time this year, partner 247Sports -- contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top-25 below, and 26-128 on our rankings page.

RANK TEAM RECORD PREVIOUS
1 Clemson 14-1 2
2 Alabama 14-1 1
3 USC 10-3 8
4 Oklahoma 11-2 7
5 Washington 12-2 4
6 Ohio State 11-2 3
7 Penn State 11-3 6
8 Florida State 10-3 12
9 Michigan 10-3 5
10 Wisconsin 11-3 9
11 Oklahoma State 10-3 15
12 Western Michigan 13-1 10
13 Colorado 10-4 11
14 Florida 9-4 19
15 LSU 8-4 17
16 Virginia Tech 10-4 20
17 Stanford 10-3 18
18 Louisville 9-4 14
19 USF 11-2 21
20 Miami 9-4 32
21 West Virginia 10-3 13
22 Auburn 8-5 16
23 Western Kentucky 11-3 28
24 Utah 9-4 29
25 Tennessee 9-4 36

Biggest movers

  • Miami (+12): A strong and dominant 31-14 win against West Virginia gave Mark Richt a five-game winning streak to finish the season and climb back into the top 25 of our rankings.
  • Tennessee (+11): The Vols, like Miami, put up 30-plus against a fellow Power Five foe (38-24 vs. Nebraska) and looked much more like the team picked by many to win the SEC East.
  • USC (+5): Start the hype machine now and get it ready to peak in August 2017. The Trojans and QB Sam Darnold are back in the thick of the national championship conversation.
  • Florida (+5): In crushing Iowa 30-3 in the bowl game, Florida's depth really showed through. The Gators carried a thin, injury-ravaged roster in and still looked drastically better than the Hawkeyes.
  • Auburn (-6): Auburn was a mess at quarterback and only looked competitive for about 15 minutes against Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. Once Sean White was knocked out, it was done.
  • West Virginia (-8): As a 10-win team, West Virginia was not likely to fall below No. 25 on most ballots but didn't look anywhere close to Miami on the same field.

Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 128: Teams ranked 26-128