Note: These rankings are based on my latest pre-season method. This is not the same list that appeared in the summer of 2006. I show these revisions because pre-season rankings are extremely tricky. A revised method might turn out very different results, and I would like people to evaluate my method based on what I do now, which I believe is more accurate than what I did in the past.
| rank | team | power |
| 1 | Texas | 78.29 |
| 2 | Southern Cal | 76.14 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 72.94 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 71.52 |
| 5 | Louisville | 70.32 |
| 6 | Michigan | 68.49 |
| 7 | Virginia Tech | 67.43 |
| 8 | California | 67.42 |
| 9 | Iowa | 67.37 |
| 10 | Miami | 67.23 |
| 11 | Auburn | 66.40 |
| 12 | West Virginia | 65.80 |
| 13 | Florida | 65.22 |
| 14 | Florida State | 64.76 |
| 15 | Arizona State | 64.06 |
| 16 | Texas Tech | 63.50 |
| 17 | Nebraska | 63.47 |
| 18 | L.S.U. | 63.30 |
| 19 | Arkansas | 63.29 |
| 20 | Boston College | 62.03 |
| 21 | Oklahoma | 61.80 |
| 22 | Alabama | 61.49 |
| 23 | Minnesota | 61.39 |
| 24 | Purdue | 60.97 |
| 25 | Oregon | 60.93 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | 60.74 |
| 27 | Stanford | 60.53 |
| 28 | Clemson | 60.26 |
| 29 | Kansas State | 60.13 |
| 30 | Washington State | 60.01 |
| 31 | Penn State | 59.79 |
| 32 | Boise State | 59.63 |
| 33 | Georgia | 59.62 |
| 34 | Oregon State | 59.44 |
| 35 | Fresno State | 59.36 |
| 36 | Georgia Tech | 59.14 |
| 37 | Iowa State | 58.98 |
| 38 | Utah | 58.58 |
| 39 | Michigan State | 58.28 |
| 40 | UCLA | 58.26 |
| 41 | T.C.U. | 56.49 |
| 42 | Colorado | 56.28 |
| 43 | Texas A&M | 56.12 |
| 44 | North Carolina State | 55.84 |
| 45 | North Carolina | 55.40 |
| 46 | Maryland | 55.39 |
| 47 | Pittsburgh | 55.26 |
| 48 | Washington | 54.80 |
| 49 | Arizona | 54.75 |
| 50 | Virginia | 54.41 |
| 51 | Tennessee | 54.34 |
| 52 | Missouri | 53.36 |
| 53 | B.Y.U. | 53.34 |
| 54 | Wake Forest | 52.73 |
| 55 | Northwestern | 52.38 |
| 56 | Southern Miss | 51.93 |
| 57 | South Carolina | 51.92 |
| 58 | Navy | 50.88 |
| 59 | Air Force | 50.67 |
| 60 | Toledo | 50.53 |
| 61 | Northern Illinois | 50.50 |
| 62 | South Florida | 50.48 |
| 63 | San Diego State | 49.75 |
| 64 | Tulsa | 48.89 |
| 65 | Colorado State | 48.60 |
| 66 | Kansas | 48.49 |
| 67 | New Mexico | 48.36 |
| 68 | Oklahoma State | 48.23 |
| 69 | Cincinnati | 47.63 |
| 70 | Connecticut | 47.27 |
| 71 | Illinois | 46.51 |
| 72 | Syracuse | 46.37 |
| 73 | Rutgers | 45.67 |
| 74 | Houston | 45.43 |
| 75 | UTEP | 45.37 |
| 76 | Marshall | 45.07 |
| 77 | Vanderbilt | 44.94 |
| 78 | Central Florida | 44.91 |
| 79 | Baylor | 44.68 |
| 80 | Kentucky | 44.55 |
| 81 | Hawaii | 44.30 |
| 82 | Wyoming | 43.69 |
| 83 | Mississippi State | 43.28 |
| 84 | Indiana | 43.20 |
| 85 | Memphis | 43.00 |
| 86 | Akron | 42.79 |
| 87 | Bowling Green | 42.48 |
| 88 | Nevada | 42.20 |
| 89 | East Carolina | 41.49 |
| 90 | Western Michigan | 41.40 |
| 91 | U.A.B. | 41.05 |
| 92 | Miami (Ohio) | 41.01 |
| 93 | Ole Miss | 40.89 |
| 94 | Army | 40.78 |
| 95 | Louisiana Tech | 39.26 |
| 96 | Central Michigan | 37.81 |
| 97 | Ohio | 37.53 |
| 98 | S.M.U. | 36.66 |
| 99 | Ball State | 36.35 |
| 100 | Rice | 35.76 |
| 101 | Tulane | 35.14 |
| 102 | Louisiana-Lafayette | 34.36 |
| 103 | UNLV | 33.14 |
| 104 | Eastern Michigan | 33.09 |
| 105 | Middle Tennessee State | 32.89 |
| 106 | Troy | 32.76 |
| 107 | Utah State | 32.02 |
| 108 | North Texas | 31.85 |
| 109 | Idaho | 31.68 |
| 110 | San Jose State | 31.46 |
| 111 | Duke | 30.81 |
| 112 | Kent State | 30.57 |
| 113 | Arkansas State | 29.29 |
| 114 | Louisiana-Monroe | 26.82 |
| 115 | New Mexico State | 26.05 |
| 116 | Temple | 25.72 |
| 117 | Florida Atlantic | 24.49 |
| 118 | Florida International | 23.59 |
| 119 | Buffalo | 22.51 |