Best in College Sports: Alabama rolls over competition to claim award for 2020-21 athletic season

The Crimson Tide were tremendous across the board on their way to leading the 2020-21 Best in College Sports rankings

There is a first time for everything ... even when it comes to CBS Sports' annual Best in College Sports award. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced many spring sports to be canceled last season, CBS Sports is back to crown a new champion following a one-year hiatus.

And for the first time since the award's inception, the winner is also the reigning College Football Playoff national champion.

Alabama has been named Best in College Sports for the 2020-21 season, amassing 583.75 points to top the field with one of the largest margins of victory in history. Oklahoma finished second with 473.75 points, while Iowa was third with 463.25 points. 

Consistency is the name of the game for Best in College Sports, and the Crimson Tide were exactly that -- consistent -- across the athletic department. Football won the national title after a 13-0 season, men's basketball (26-7) reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, women's basketball (17-10) reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, softball (52-9) reached the semifinals of the Women's College World Series, gymnastics finished fifth in the nation, and baseball reached the NCAA Regionals. 

Two other programs, Michigan and UCLA, also had tremendous seasons across the board but received zero points in football. Michigan could have won the award with a top five finish in football and would have been named runner-up if it had simply made a bowl game.

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The National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has been ranking athletic programs for years by weighing every sport equally, making a national title in football or water polo worth the same number of points (100). CBS Sports in 2013 began presenting this award with a weighted formula that recognizes sports with more broad fan bases and media interest. We rate every FBS school in three sports -- football, men's basketball and women's basketball -- along with two "wild cards" among the school's most successful spectator sports: baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey and wrestling.

The weighted formula puts 2.5 times as much emphasis on football and 2.0 times as much on men's basketball compared to women's basketball and the "wild card" sports. Teams that do not finish in the final AP Top 25 in football but play in a bowl are awarded 62.5 points (25 x 2.5). Teams that make the men's NIT are given 20 points (10 x 2), while WNIT teams receive 10 points. For all titles settled via bracket, such as the NCAA Tournament, point totals are based on number of participants. All champions in the other sports receive 100 points for a national title.

However, with COVID-19 wreaking havoc on some events, we had to adjust the scoring for 2020-21. Teams that had bowl games canceled, such as UAB, still received 62.5 points in football. The same goes for schools that had winning records and opted out of bowl games, like Boise State and Boston College. In baseball, NC State's season was cut short, but we gave them 83 points for a third-place finish.

Previous winners of CBS Sports' Best in College Sports award from 2013-19: Louisville, Stanford, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan. The Buckeyes are the only two-time winner, while the Crimson Tide become the first SEC team to take the award.

2020-21 Best in College Sports rankings

School	Total	FB	MBB	WBB	WC I	WC II
Alabama	1st -- 583.75	250	128	50	83	72.75
Oklahoma	2nd -- 473.75	183.75	100	0	100	90
Iowa	3rd -- 463.25	146.25	100	64	100	53
Oklahoma State	4th -- 448.00	135	100	50	85	78
Texas	5th -- 433.50	137.50	50	73	90	83
USC	6th -- 428.50	132.5	146	0	100	50
Florida	7th -- 420.50	157.5	100	10	80	73
BYU	8th -- 419.00	165	50	50	90	64
Clemson	9th -- 409.50	212.5	50	10	73	64
Ohio State	10th -- 408.00	225	50	0	69	64
Michigan	11th -- 395.0	0	146	64	100	85
UCLA	12th -- 384.00	0	166	50	90	78
North Carolina	13th -- 381.00	140	50	25	83	83
Texas A&M	14th -- 374.50	200	0	64	73	37.5
Northwestern	15th -- 369.25	168.75	0	50	83	67.5
Oregon	16th -- 368.50	62.5	128	64	64	50
Arkansas	17th -- 364.25	62.5	146	25	66.75	64
Baylor	18th -- 362.00	0	200	73	64	25
Georgia	19th -- 356.00	180	0	50	73	53
Indiana	20th -- 351.75	161.25	0	73	90	27.5
Wisconsin	21st -- 345.5	62.50	100	0	100	83
Liberty	22nd -- 342.50	142.5	100	0	50	50
Stanford	23rd -- 340.50	62.50	0	100	100	78
Iowa St.	24th -- 334.8	172.5	0	50	62.3	50
Florida State	25th -- 333.00	0	128	25	90	90
Notre Dame	26th -- 317.50	187.5	0	0	70	60
West Virginia	27th -- 315.50	62.5	100	50	53	50
Maryland	28th -- 307.00	0	100	64	90	53
NC State	29th -- 303.00	62.5	20	64	83	73.5
Syracuse	30th -- 293.00	0	128	50	90	25
Oregon State	31st -- 291.50	0	146	50	50	45.5
Kentucky	32nd -- 279.25	62.5	0	50	100	66.75
Missouri	33rd -- 257.80	62.5	50	10	71.3	64
Rutgers	34th -- 247.30	0	100	25	62.3	60
Houston	35th -- 238.50	62.5	166	10	0	0
LSU	36th -- 236.75	0	100	0	72.75	64
South Carolina	T37 -- 233.00	62.5	0	83	50	37.5
Virginia	T37 -- 233.00	0	50	0	100	83
Miss. State	39th -- 232.50	62.5	20	0	100	50
Virginia Tech	40th -- 228.00	0	50	50	64	64
Nebraska	41st -- 225.50	62.5	0	10	80	73
Boston College	42nd -- 222.50	62.5	0	0	100	60
Ole Miss	43rd -- 220.50	62.5	20	10	64	64
Illinois	44th -- 220.00	0	100	0	64	56
Washington	T45 -- 218.50	62.5	0	0	83	73
Pittsburgh	T45 -- 218.50	62.5	0	0	83	73
Arizona	47th -- 216.00	0	0	90	73	53
Tennessee	48th -- 210.5	0	50	50	73	37.5
Louisiana	49th -- 210.0	150	0	10	50	0
C. Carolina	50th -- 203.75	153.75	0	0	50	0
Colorado	T51 -- 197.50	62.5	100	10	25	0
Utah	T51-- 197.50	62.50	0	0	85	50
W. Kentucky	53rd -- 184.00	62.5	20	0	64	37.5
Cincinnati	54th -- 176.25	176.25	0	0	0	0
TCU	55th -- 173.00	62.5	0	0	73	37.5
UConn	56th -- 170.50	62.50	20	10	50	50
Purdue	57th -- 170.00	0	50	0	73	47
Miami (Fla.)	58th -- 167.50	130	0	0	37.5	0
Georgia Tech	T59 -- 164.00	0	50	64	50	0
Texas Tech	T59 -- 164.00	0	100	0	64	0
South Florida	T59 -- 164.00	0	0	50	64	50
North Texas	T62 -- 162.50	62.5	100	0	0	0
Hawaii	T62 -- 162.50	62.5	0	0	100	0
Marshall	T62 -- 162.50	62.5	0	0	100	0
Buffalo	65th -- 161.00	122.5	0	20	18.5	0
Wake Forest	66th -- 160.50	62.5	0	25	73	0
UMass	67th -- 160.00	0	0	10	100	50
Duke	68th -- 156.00	0	0	0	83	73
Penn State	69th -- 154.00	0	0	0	90	64
Arizona St.	70th -- 150.75	0	0	10	80	60.75
App. St.	71st -- 147.50	62.5	50	0	35	0
Minnesota	72nd -- 145.75	0	0	0	73	72.75
UCF	73rd -- 137.50	62.5	0	25	50	0
Louisville	74th -- 137.00	0	0	73	64	0
Louisiana Tech	75th -- 132.50	62.5	20	0	50	0
Ohio	76th -- 128.50	0	100	10	18.5	0
Ball St.	77th -- 127.50	127.5	0	0	0	0
C. Michigan	78th -- 127.00	0	0	25	52	50
San Jose St.	79th -- 125.00	125	0	0	0	0
Army	80th -- 119.5	62.5	0	0	32	25
Vanderbilt	81st -- 115.00	0	0	0	90	25
Memphis	82nd -- 107.50	62.5	20	0	25	0
Utah St.	83rd -- 103.00	0	50	0	53	0
Kansas	T84 -- 100.00	0	0	100	0	0
South Alabama	T84 --100.00	0	0	0	50	50
Rice	86th -- 99.00	0	0	10	64	25
Charlotte	87th -- 97.50	0	0	10	50	37.5
Nevada	T88 -- 87.50	62.50	0	0	25	0
Auburn	T88 -- 87.50	62.50	0	0	25	0
Texas St.	T88 -- 87.50	0	0	0	50	37.5
Fresno St.	91st -- 86.00	0	0	10	38.5	37.5
Boise St.	T92 -- 82.50	62.50	20	0	0	0
SMU	T92 -- 82.50	62.50	20	0	0	0
Michigan St.	T94 -- 75.00	0	50	25	0	0
Washington St.	T94 -- 75.00	0	0	25	50	0
Kent St.	T94 -- 75.00	0	0	0	45.5	29.5
California	97th -- 72.75	0	0	0	45.5	29.5
Tulane	98th -- 72.50	62.50	0	10	0	0
Wyoming	99th -- 72.00	0	0	25	47	0
Navy	100th -- 69.50	0	0	0	37	32.5
East Carolina	101st -- 64.00	0	0	0	64	0
Tulsa	T102 -- 62.50	62.5	0	0	0	0
Ga. Southern	T102 -- 62.50	62.50	0	0	0	0
Georgia St.	T103 -- 62.50	62.50	0	0	0	0
FAU	T103 -- 62.50	62.50	0	0	0	0
UTSA	T103 -- 62.50	62.50	0	0	0	0
UAB	T103 -- 62.50	62.50	0	0	0	0
Troy	T103 -- 62.50	0	0	25	37.5	0
Bowling Green	T109 -- 60.00	0	0	10	25	25
New Mexico	T109 -- 60.00	0	0	10	50	0
Temple	111th -- 53.00	0	0	0	50	0
San Diego St.	T112 -- 50.00	0	50	0	0	0
So. Miss	T112 -- 50.00	0	0	0	50	0
Old Dominion	T112 -- 50.00	0	0	0	50	0
UNLV	T112 -- 50.00	0	0	0	50	0
N. Illinois	116th -- 45.00	0	0	0	45	0
W. Michigan	T117 -- 40.00	0	0	0	40	0
E. Michigan	T117 -- 40.00	0	0	0	40	0
Air Force	119th -- 32.00	0	0	0	32	0
Middle Tenn.	T120 -- 25.00	0	0	25	0	0
Miami-OH	T120- 25.00	0	0	0	25	0
Colorado St.	T122-- 20.00	0	20	0	0	0
Toledo	T122 -- 20.00	0	20	0	0	0
Akron	T124 -- 0.00	0	0	0	0	0
Kansas State	T124 -- 0.00	0	0	0	0	0
Arkansas St.	T124 -- 0.00	0	0	0	0	0
New Mexico St.	T124 -- 0.00	0	0	0	0	0
UL-Monroe	T124 -- 0.00	0	0	0	0	0
FIU	T124 -- 0.00	0	0	0	0	0
UTEP	T124 -- 0.00	0	0	0	0	0