The 11 Teams With The Longest Active Top 25 Droughts In College Football

North Texas ended up at #22 in the AP Poll after improving to 9-1 with a win over UAB, which marks the first time the Mean Green have been ranked since their last appearance in 1959. That brought the longest Top 25 drought in college football to an end, but there are some other teams that are still dealing with a lengthy one of their own.

These are the longest active Top 25 droughts in college football

The AP poll was officially introduced in 1936, and as things currently stand, there are 21 teams that currently compete at the FBS level that have never had a number next to their name.

There are other programs that managed to check that box at some point in the past but have seen that feat become a distant memory. North Texas was finally able to get over the hump after 66 years, but these schools are still waiting for the day they can say they’ve been able to do the same.

11. Southern Miss: 2011

Southern Miss has had an extended stint in the AP Poll in five different decades, and none of those runs lasted longer than the period of success the Golden Eagles had in the second half of the 1990s.

They got their first (and only) appearance in the 2010s following an 8-1 start in 2011, which was good enough to debut at #25. They dropped out after just a couple of weeks following a loss to UAB, but a win over #7 Houston in the Conference USA championship game put them at #24 heading into their showdown with Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl.

Southern Miss earned a victory to end the season at #22, which marks the last time they’ve gotten the nod.

10. Nevada: 2010

Nevada spent six weeks in the Top 25 in 1948, but they were nowhere to be found until they finally reemerged at #25 following a 4-0 start to the season in 2010. The team got as high as #19 before losing to Hawaii, but they bounced back from what ended up being their only loss of the season.

The Wolf Pack ultimately finished with a 13-1 record and ended what was easily the most successful season in the history of the program at #11. However, that momentum didn’t carry over to the preseason poll that was released before things kicked off in 2011, which was justified when you consider they ended up going 7-6.

9. UConn: 2010

The next two teams on this list landed in the Top 25 within a week of each other toward the end of the 2010 season.

We’ll start with UConn, which split the Big East title with Pitt and WVU after going 8-4. That was good enough to end up sitting at #25 when they faced off against#9 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl (they got the conference’s automatic bid thanks to wins over the Panthers and Mountaineers), but they were nowhere to be found in the final poll of the year after suffering a 48-20 defeat.

The Huskies had made the AP Poll for the first time in 2007 under Randy Edsall, and he’s still the only coach who’s managed to earn that distinction during their time in Storrs.

8. Hawaii: 2010

In 2006, Hawaii snapped a lengthy AP poll drought stretching back to 1992, and they were ranked for the entirety of the 2007 campaign before things cooled down.

The Rainbow Warriors did bounce back a few years later, as they landed at #25 in the poll that came out on November 28, 2010. They moved up to #24 the following week by improving to 10-3, which was good enough to split the WAC championship with Boise State and the Nevada squad I just mentioned.

However, they suffered a 62-35 blowout on their home turf at the hands of Tulsa in the Hawaii Bowl, and that’s the last time they’ve made an appearance.

7. Central Michigan: 2009

Central Michigan’s football team has a history stretching back to 1896, but the Chippewas had never appeared in the Top 25 until finally making their grand debut at #25 after improving to 11-1 with a win over Ohio in the MAC championship game in 2009.

A victory over Troy in the GMAC Bowl led to them finishing the season at #23, but those polls remain the only two times they’ve ended up in the Top 25.

6. UTEP: 2005

UTEP has historically been a bit of an afterthought when it comes to the college football teams that call Texas home, and the fact that the team has only been ranked for a grand total of six weeks tells most of that story.

Five of those weeks came courtesy of the 2004 season, which marked the first time the Miners had been ranked. They returned the following year after ending up at 8-1, but the celebration was short-lived after they dropped off following the first of what ended up being three straight losses to finish things out.

5. Bowling Green: 2004

Bowling Green briefly flirted with the Top 25 in 1973 and 1985 before returning with a vengeance in 2003. The Falcons peaked at #15 that season during a seven-week run that saw them end the year at #22, but they had to start over once 2004 rolled around.

It didn’t seem like they’d be heading back to the Top 25 after a 1-2 start, but Bowling Green rattled off a seven-game winning streak to head into a showdown with Toledo at #25. Unfortunately, it ended up being a one-and-done showing, as the Golden Hurricane snapped the run with a 49-41 win.

4. Miami (Ohio)

The 1970s serve as the high-water mark for college football’s other Miami, as the RedHawks were ranked for the majority of the 1973, 1974, and 1975 seasons (they peaked at #10 in the final poll of that middle year).

However, it took them close to three decades to return before finally being welcomed back into the fold in 2003. They got some help from an up-and-coming quarterback named Ben Roethlisberger, who helmed a team that lost its season opener and then won eight games in a row to get to #23.

That first loss ended up being Miami’s only one of the season, as the RedHawks finished as MAC champions with a 13-1 record that was good enough for #10 in the final poll of the year. However, Big Ben headed to the NFL, and his former squad has been unranked since his departure.

3. Wyoming: 1998

Wyoming has had sporadic periods of success over the decades, but most of the students who’ve graduated from the school over the past 10 years weren’t old enough to witness any of them as they unfolded.

The Cowboys spent 12 weeks in the Top 25 while going 10-2 in 1996, and they looked to be heading in the right direction a couple of years later after opening the season at 8-1 to get to #23. Unfortunately, that was the only taste they got, as they ended things with back-to-back losses to #23 Air Force and Tulsa.

2. Rice: 1961

There is a very big divide between all of the schools that we’ve mentioned so far and the last two on this list, both of which have not been ranked since before Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon.

Rice was the site of the famous speech where John F. Kennedy championed America’s plan to send a man there in 1962, which took place a year after the Owls ended up at #7 after beating #5 LSU to open the season.

Rice was unranked prior to that win over the Tigers, and that has remained the case since they suffered a 24-0 loss at the hands of Georgia Tech to fall back down to Earth at 1-1.

1. New Mexico State:

There’s something about New Mexico and college football that just doesn’t mix, as the University of New Mexico is one of the aforementioned 21 teams that have never been ranked and firmly the oldest when you consider the team played its first season in 1892.

New Mexico State, on the other hand, appeared in the AP Poll for five weeks in 1960; the Aggies ended up ranked for the first time ever when they landed at #18 toward the end of October, and they peaked at #14 before finishing at #17 with an 11-0 record.

However, that’s all they have to brag about 65 years later.