The 21 College Football Teams That Have Never Been Ranked In The Top 25

Earning a spot in the Top 25 is a sign you’re doing something right as a college football team. Plenty of programs have become accustomed to having a number next to their name to the point where ending up on the outside looking in is a major cause for concern, but there are others that are still waiting for the day they know what that feels like.

These are the FBS teams that have never earned a spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll

In 1936, the Associated Press organized the poll it’s been using to evaluate the best college football teams in the country for close to 90 years, and the vast majority of the programs at the FBS level have managed to make an appearance on at least one occasion since then (it was initially a Top 20—and briefly a Top 10 between 1961 and 1967—before the Top 25 became the standard in 1989).

You probably won’t be shocked to learn the AP poll has only included FBS teams, although it’s theoretically possible for squads at a lower division to make the cut; voters were allowed to cast a ballot for an FCS team for the first time after Appalachian State upset #5 Michigan in 2007, and the 74 votes North Dakota State received after beating #11 Iowa in 2016 is the closest one has come to making the cut (the Bison were effectively listed at #27).

However, there are more than 20 FBS programs that are still waiting to be ranked, and here’s a look at all of them listed from the shortest to longest wait they’ve had to endure.

Delaware and Missouri State

I feel sort of bad including Delaware and Missouri State, as the Blue Hens and Bears have had a grand total of two games to earn a spot in the Top 25 after making their FBS debut in 2025. However, they technically qualify.

Kennesaw State

There are a few other programs here that also really had much of a chance to make their mark after making the leap. That includes Kennesaw State, which got a rude welcome to the FBS during a season where the Owls went 2-10 during their first year as a member of Conference USA.

Jacksonville State and Sam Houston

Jacksonville State and Sam Houston both made their FBS debut in 2023. The Gamecocks announced their arrival with back-to-back nine-win seasons, while the Bearkats went 3-9 before rebounding with a 10-3 showing.

Both teams have shown some promise, but they’re still searching for their first Top 25 appearance.

Charlotte

Charlotte had a football team for a grand total of three years in the 1940s before it returned to the FBS level in 2015 after two years as an FCS independent. 2019 marks the only time the 49ers have had a winning record, as they went 7-6 during a season that ended with a loss to Buffalo in the Bahamas Bowl.

Georgia Southern

Georgia Southern is one of the two teams on this list that arrived in the FBS in 2014, but I’m not going to consolidate entries like I did at the start now that we have a little more history to work with.

The Eagles have made seven bowl games in the ten seasons they’ve been eligible since then. They peaked with a 10-3 record in 2018, but a Top 25 appearance has eluded them.

Old Dominion

In 2009, Old Dominion resurrected a football program that had been dormant since the start of the 1940s, and they started as an FCS team before heading up a level in 2014.

They’ve made it to a handful of bowl games since then, with their win in the Bahamas Bowl in 2016 serving as the high-water mark for a Monarchs squad that finished 10-3 that year. However, a Top 25 bid still hasn’t come their way.

Georgia State

Georgia State got off to a rough start as an FBS team by finishing at 1-10 during its first season at that level in 2012, going 0-12 the following year, and ending up at 1-11 in 2014. The Panthers did manage to improve from there (Shawn Elliott led them to a bowl five times during his seven years in Atlanta), but they’ve never really been close to Top 25 consideration.

South Alabama

South Alabama endured around a decade of mediocrity after joining the FBS club in 2012 while eking into a couple of bowls with six wins before losing both of those contests. They did finish at 10-3 during Kane Wommack’s second season in 2022 but headed into 2025 riding two consecutive 7-6 showings and no real reason to think the Top 25 is on the near horizon.

Texas State

The football program at Texas State has a history stretching back to the start of the 1950s, but the Bobcats didn’t head to the FBS until 2012. They didn’t have much to write home about until making it to the First Responders Bowl in 2023 (their first-ever bowl), and while G. J. Kinne has led the team to back-to-back wins in that contest, they’re still waiting to check the Top 25 box.

UMass

UMass decided to make the leap to the FBS level in 2012, and that ended up being a questionable decision for a program that has been one of the biggest afterthoughts in college football since then. The Minutemen kicked things off with consecutive 1-11 seasons and have not even sniffed a winning record while peaking at just four victories (a mark they reached in 2017 and 2018).

FAU

2006 was a big year for schools based in Florida with a three-letter acronym starting with “F” and ending with “U,” as two of them made their FBS debut that season.

The first was Florida Atlantic, which has largely fallen victim to the curse of being a college football team known as the Owls (as evidenced by the success—or lack thereof—of FAU, Temple, Rice, and Kennesaw State). They have won the first four of the five bowl games they’ve appeared in, and while they had two 11-3 seasons during the Lane Kiffin Era, neither was enough for the Top 25.

FIU

Florida International also headed to the FBS in 2006, and the Panthers have been a very hit-or-miss team over the past couple of decades. FIU peaked when Butch Davis led them to three straight bowl games starting in 2017 (they finished at 9-4 in 2018), but it’s been all downhill from there.

Middle Tennessee

We’ve got our first team that can say it played an FBS game in the 20th century courtesy of Middle Tennessee, which qualifies by virtue of playing its first season at that level in 1999.

The Blue Raiders have made a bowl game more often than not since 2006, which includes the 10-3 campaign in 2009 that serves as the mark to top. They got a handful of votes in the final AP poll that season, but they weren’t even close to making the cut.

UAB

UAB debuted at the FBS level in 1996 and never made the Top 25 before the school terminated the football program following the conclusion of the 2014 campaign. The Blazers rose from the ashes in 2017, and while they made six straight bowl games prior to the start of the Trent Dilfer Era, a Top 25 nod has never been in the cards.

Akron

Akron has been an FBS team since 1987, but the Zips have had a very hard time getting their act together over the course of the past four decades. They’ve only played in a bowl game on three occasions, and their 8-5 record in 2015 marks their highest win total over that span.

Eastern Michigan

The next three teams on this list all come with an asterisk, as each of them fell victim to the NCAA-mandated reorganization that led to the creation of the subdivisions now known as “FBS” and “FCS”—one that forced a number of schools with low attendance numbers to move to what was initially Division I-AA.

Eastern Michigan, which joined the top level in 1976, was in the midst of a brutal 27-game losing streak when it was downgraded, although the Eagles (along with most of the other teams in the MAC) were reinstated in 1982.  They hadn’t earned a spot in the Top 25 prior to the reshuffle, and that remains the case more than 40 years later.

Arkansas State

Arkansas State started playing with the big boys in 1975 before being exiled to the lower tier, and the Red Wolves didn’t return to the top until 1992.

They didn’t have much success to speak of until a string of eventually notable names—Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, and Bryan Harson—had one-and-done coaching stints that ended with bowl games starting in 2010 before Blake Anderson extended the streak to nine during his decidedly more stable tenure.

However, they’ve never been worthy of a Top 25 appearance.

Louisiana-Monroe

Louisiana-Monroe followed the same pattern as Arkansas State, although its FBS return transpired two years later in 1994. Their 8-5 season in 2012 marked the first (and, to date, only) time they’ve made it to a bowl game, and the Top 25 has been a bit of a pipe dream as a result.

New Mexico

New Mexico played its first game all the way back in 1982, and the Lobos have been eligible for the AP Poll since its inception. However, they have not managed to make it into the Top 25 a single time.

They haven’t posted a winning record since 2016, and it doesn’t seem like they’re going to bring that firmly unparalleled drought to an end in 2025.