The 11 College Football Teams That Spent The Most Consecutive Weeks Ranked In The Top 25

Being ranked in the Top 25 is a sign a college football team is doing something right, and staying there for an extended period of time is obviously a testament to that fact. There are plenty of programs that have become accustomed to having a number next to their name—especially those that have managed to retain that status for years on end.

 

College football has spawned plenty of notable dynasties, and most of them are united by a lengthy streak that saw a team land in the Top 25 and stay there for an impressive amount of time.

However, there are some schools that really stand out from the rest of the pack based on the number of consecutive weeks they managed to remain in the AP Poll before dropping out.

Nebraska—348 Weeks

Bob Devaney ushered in a new era at Nebraska when he took over as head coach in 1962, and the Cornhuskers were perennial contenders for close to 50 years before things started to fall apart after the turn of the new millennium.

This streak could have been even longer if not for a couple of missteps, which included the 1-2 start that ended a 62-week Top 25 streak Nebraska was riding into the 1981 season, which they began at #7

However, the team bounced back that year with an eight-game winning streak that helped them regain their ranked status, and they retained it for over two decades until consecutive losses to Penn State and Iowa State saw them fall to 3-2 and drop out of the Top 25 at the end of September in 2002.

Alabama—277 Weeks

It’s hard to remember a time when Alabama wasn’t one of the most dominant programs in college football—a reputation that obviously stemmed from what unfolded after they hired Nick Saban in 2007.

The Crimson Tide popped up in the Top 25 a couple of times during his first season in Tuscaloosa and were sitting at No. 24 when the 2008 campaign kicked off.

They’ve remained there ever since, and while they still have a long way to go to beat Nebraska, it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.

Florida State—211 Weeks

The legendary Bobby Bowden injected new life into Florida State when he took over in 1976, but the program really ascended to the next level around the time this streak kicked off in 1989.

The Seminoles were on a 35-week Top 25 run and started the season at #6 but plummeted out of the rankings with a 0-2 start after losing to Southern Miss and Clemson.

FSU didn’t lose a single game the rest of the season and returned to the AP Poll just a few weeks after dropping out, and it stayed there until the second-to-last week of the 2001 campaign after dropping to 6-4.

Florida—209

Florida also had a savior in the form of Steve Spurrier, who wasted no time making his mark when he arrived in The Swamp in 1990.

The Gators earned the #24 spot with a win over Oklahoma State to start that season, and they remained ranked for the remainder of Spurrier’s tenure before the streak was snapped when they went 4-3 during the beginning of Ron Zook’s first year at the helm in 2002.

Miami—162

Two head coaches were primarily responsible for a stretch that kicked off during Jimmy Johnson’s second year as the head coach at Miami in 1985.

The U started the season unranked but ended up at #15 by improving to 5-1 with an upset over Oklahoma, and they hadn’t dropped out of the Top 25 by the time Dennis Erickson replaced Johnson in 1990.

The Hurricanes kept the streak alive during the six years he spent with the team, but the good times came to an end when Butch Davis got off to a 1-2 start during his inaugural season in 1995.

Texas—162

Texas ushered in the Mack Brown Era in 1998, and the Longhorns were almost immediately Back once he took the reins.

The school started the 2000 season at #6, and while they were sitting at #25 when they improved to 4-2 with a win over Colorado midway through October, they still fell out of the Top 25 for a single week.

That was the last time that would happen for a decade, as the streak ended almost ten years to the day after it began when the Longhorns squandered a 3-0 start by losing back-to-back games to UCLA and Oklahoma.

Michigan—160

We’ve got yet another Top 25 run that coincides with the arrival of a new head coach. In this case, it’s Bo Schembechler, who landed in Ann Arbor in 1969 and immediately turned Michigan into a contender.

The Wolverines bounced in and out of the AP Poll during the first half of that season but landed at #20 with a win over Minnesota at the end of October and never looked back.

The streak ended a few weeks into the 1980 season, as a Michigan team that had been ranked at #11 when it began found itself on the outside looking in for a month in the wake of a 1-2 start.

Oklahoma—158

It took Chuck Fairbanks a few years to find his footing after he became the head coach at Oklahoma in 1967. However, he turned things around in the second half of his tenure, as the Sooners finished the 1970 season at #24 before starting the following year at #10 and ending at #3.

The Top 25 streak was still intact when Barry Switzer replaced Fairbanks in 1973, and it stayed that way until a 1-2-1 start led to Oklahoma losing its spot in the Top 25 after falling to Texas in the Red River Rivalry in 1981.

Colorado—143

Colorado was a largely mediocre football team during Bill McCartney’s first seven seasons as head coach, but they suddenly emerged as a force to be reckoned with at the end of the 1980s.

The Buffs started the season at #14 and harnessed the dynamic duo of QB Darian Hagan and RB Eric Bieniemy to get off to an 11-0 start before losing to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

The program peaked with a national championship the following season, but it continued to thrive before the Top 25 streak was snapped in the wake of a 2-3 start during Rick Neuheisel’s third year in charge in Boulder in 1997.

Ohio State—132

Ohio State would actually be near the top of this list if not for the disastrous Luke Fickell experiment that was sandwiched between the impressive reigns of Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. This one would also be even longer—and still ongoing—if not for the technicality that brought it to an end thanks to COVID.

Tressel had a 103-week AP Poll streak during his time in Columbus, but Urban Meyer kicked off a longer one when the Buckeyes started the 2012 season at #18 to regain the ranking they’d lost under Fickell’s watch.

The Big Ten’s decision to cancel the season in the wake of the pandemic before reversing course to hold an abbreviated one that began at the end of October meant Ohio State dropped out of the Top 25 when other teams started playing despite being listed at #2 in the preseason.

The Buckeyes are currently riding a 78-game streak since they appeared back in the poll when their season got underway after the delay, which means they would have leapfrogged FSU for the third spot if not for that setback.

Georgia—130

Kirby Smart went 8-5 during his first season at Georgia in 2016, but the Bulldogs quickly transformed into one of the best teams in the country once he worked out the kinks.

Georgia was ranked at #15 at the start of the season in 2017 and has still not dropped out of the Top 25 since then. The school is technically tied with USC (who ended up ranked in 2002 before losing that status in 2009) for the 11th-longest streak, but it’ll gain sole possession when the 2024 season wraps up.