College football rankings: Bottom 25 welcomes Purdue, Mississippi State as newest Power Four representatives
Anyone can rank the 25 best teams in college football, but here, we rank the 25 worst after Week 5
by Will Backus · CBS SportsWelcome back to the Bottom 25, Power Four. We missed you so much after Florida State selfishly decided to go and win its first game of the season in Week 4. If recent results are any indication, though, we may need to hold a spot for the Seminoles.
In the meantime, Mississippi State and Purdue are holding their end of the bargian with some truly awful football of their own. Boasting a combined 2-7 record, the Bulldogs and Boilermakers are solid proof that playing in either the SEC or Big Ten doesn't automatically make you a competent team.
Those two wins came against FCS opponents, by the way. The closest either team came to beating an FBS opponent was on Sept. 7, when Mississippi State went on the road and lost 30-23 against an Arizona State team that won three games in 2023.
Otherwise, six of Mississippi State and Purdue's seven losses have come by at least three possessions. Truly as Bottom 25-worthy as any teams ever have been.
Bottom 25 rankings
The illustrious Tom Fornelli created the formula that we still use to generate the Bottom 25, but he has since passed on his writing duties. To be clear, the rankings are based on a series of calculations, but the quips are entirely man-made.
The Bottom 25
| Team | Rank | Record | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25. Utah State | 1-3 | The bye week was kind to Utah State, since it provided the Aggies a break from their stand-in role as an FBS punching bag. It's back to the grind Saturday against No. 21 Boise State and Heisman Trophy contender Ashton Jeanty. (Last week: 20) | |
| 24. South Florida | 2-3 | South Florida went from competing against Alabama to getting run out of New Orleans by Tulane in a handful of quarters. If the past couple weeks have taught the Bulls anything, it's that life comes at you fast. A bye in Week 6 gives them a chance to breathe. (NR) | |
| 23. UTSA | 2-3 | UTSA's steady descent continues. The Roadrunners' average point differential against FBS opponents is minus-21.5 this year. That's factoring in a 12-point win against Kennesaw State, if you were wondering how bad things truly are. (24) | |
| 22. Mississippi State | 1-4 | Losing by just 22 points on the road against No. 2 Texas might be the high point of Jeff Lebby's tenure thus far. It's certainly better than getting shoved into a locker by Toledo in your own stadium. Don't fret, Bulldogs, you only have to play five ranked teams in your last seven games. (NR) | |
| 21. Western Michigan | 1-3 | Like most Bottom 25 teams, Western Michigan is still searching for its first FBS win. A road trip to Ball State in the Bottom 25 Game of the Week provides a perfect opportunity. (NR) | |
| 20. Old Dominion | 1-3 | I sarcastically bid Old Dominion good luck ahead of its game against Bowling Green last week, given that the Falcons pushed both Penn State and Texas A&M to the brink. Well, the Monarchs took that encouragement and ran with it to a big 30-27 win. So, to keep the great vibes rolling, good luck against Coastal Carolina, ODU. (15) | |
| 19. Miami (OH) | 1-3 | Miami got its first win in Week 5, but it certainly wasn't pretty. Taking overtime to beat UMass deserves its own, shameful, shoutout. Don't expect much better this Saturday against Toledo. (13) | |
| 18. Louisiana Tech | 1-3 | The only reason for encouragement, or maybe heartbreak, for LA Tech thus far is the fact that three of its four games have come down to one possession. The other was a respectable 10-point loss on the road against NC State. The flipside of that is the fact that Sonny Cumbie hasn't beaten an FBS team in over a year and is 0-9 in his last nine efforts. (NR) | |
| 17. Arkansas State | 2-2 | After back-to-back road games against ranked Power Four opponents, Arkansas State had a bye week to reset. Now a return to home, and South Alabama, await. (18) | |
| 16. Purdue | 1-3 | It's hard to find anything that Ryan Walters' Boilermakers are good at, except terrible football. A couple (not) fun facts: Purdue leads the FBS with 92 penalty yards per game, and it's the only school in the nation without a forced turnover. Buy hey, maybe firing offensive coordinator Graham Harrell after four games will fix everything! (NR) | |
| 15. Troy | 1-4 | Starting to truly understand why Notre Dame didn't sweat the loss of Gerad Parker. Despite his experience as an offensive coordinator, the Trojans are averaging just 15.7 points per game against FBS competition under Parker. Troy didn't even eclipse the 10-point mark in a Week 5 loss to ULM. (19) | |
| 14. Charlotte | 2-3 | Big win for Charlotte last week, as it was able to beat Rice on the road and start American Athletic Conference play 1-0. Prior to that, the 49ers had lost at least three games by 18 points and beat FCS Gardner-Webb by a single point. (12) | |
| 13. Temple | 1-4 | There's the Temple we all know and love. You scared us Owls, with your 16-point win over an FBS team. A 42-14 loss to Army is much closer to what we've come to expect. Temple is now 0-2 against service academies, by the way. (17) | |
| 12. Southern Miss | 1-3 | Southern Miss was saved from further disappointment by a bye in Week 5. The Golden Eagles are losing by an average of 31 points in FBS games this season. (14) | |
| 11. New Mexico | 1-4 | Bronco Mendenhall finally got his first win as New Mexico's coach, and in rather sweet fashion. The Lobos took down in-state rival New Mexico State 50-40. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but an Oct. 12 clash against Air Force is shaping up to be the type of game Bottom 25 dreams are made of. (9) | |
| 10. UMass | 1-4 | UMass took Miami (OH) to overtime but it still couldn't clear the FBS hurdle. The Minutemen are on a six-game losing streak against competition on the same level. (11) | |
| 9. Air Force | 1-3 | If Air Force can't beat Wyoming, not sure there's hope for the Falcons getting on the board at any point this season. If you couldn't tell by now, FCS wins rarely count as "getting on the board." It's certainly going to be difficult to right the ship (get it?) this week with a matchup against 4-0 Navy looming. (10) | |
| 8. Middle Tennessee | 1-4 | For a defensive-minded head coach, Derek Mason sure has struggled getting his team ready to stop opponents. The Blue Raiders are last in C-USA in total defense, scoring defense and have allowed 40 or more points in three of their last five games. (7) | |
| 7. New Mexico State | 1-4 | New Mexico State's Week 5 game against New Mexico represented just the second time this season that the Aggies passed for at least 100 yards as a team. And they still lost 50-40. Maybe it was the whole allowing 50 points thing that did them in. (6) | |
| 6. Wyoming | 1-4 | Wyoming beat Air Force by 12 points and still couldn't climb out of the bottom 10. Guess that just goes to show how bad the Cowboys have been in every other game this year. (2) | |
| 5. UTEP | 0-4 | UTEP is coming off a bye, which allowed it to rise out of the bottom four. That probably won't last, given how the Miners have looked this season. (4) | |
| 4. Akron | 1-4 | Replacing UTEP in the bottom four is Akron, which proved in Week 5 that it can lose by double digits to both Power Four and Group of Five opponents alike by falling against Ohio 30-10 to open MAC play. That Nov. 19 matchup against Kent State can't get here soon enough. (8) | |
| 3. Kennesaw State | 0-4 | You can took the school out of the FCS, but you can't take the FCS out of the school. Kennesaw State found that out the hard way in a 24-13 loss to UT-Martin in Week 5. If relegation existed, the Owls would be in big trouble. (3) | |
| 2. Ball State | 1-3 | What a fall it's been for Ball State. The Cardinals went from unranked after Week 3, to No. 5 after Week 5 and now bottom two after Week 6. It's going to be hard to take the top spot from Kent State, but Ball State is certainly gunning for it. (5) | |
| 1. Kent State | 0-5 | The good news is that Kent State scored a season-high 33 points against Eastern Michigan. The bad news is that Kent State lost 52-33 to Eastern Michigan. The Golden Flashes have a bye this week, which presents their first opportunity to not lose a game all year. (1) |