FootballScoop's Year End Top 25

On Monday night, Miami and Indiana will play for the national championship. The following morning, the Associated Press will release their year-end Top 25, which will then become the defining document of record determining who mattered in the 2025 college football season. 

Here are FootballScoop, we have our own year-end top 25. But instead of ranking teams by comparing them against one another, we rank seasons by comparing a team against itself. 

Did you win your conference? Did you beat your rival? Set a school record for wins? That's what we count here.

25. Texas: The preseason No. 1 team and Heisman winner did not capture either trophy, but as far as down seasons go, 10-3 with double-digit wins over Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Arkansas for the second year in a row, plus a bowl win over Michigan, is a pretty good bad season. 

24. Arizona: After a 4-8 debut, Brent Brennan's Wildcats clawed their way to a 9-4 mark in 2025, beating Arizona State for the third time in four seasons. 

23. Hawaii: In Timmy Chang's fourth season, his alma mater jumped to 9-4 -- their best season since 2019 -- in a year that began and ended with wins over Pac... err, ACC teams. The Rainbow Warriors opened the year with a win over Stanford, then did the same to Cal in the Hawaii Bowl. Hawaii entered the year on a 9-game losing streak against Power 4 opponents. 

22. Houston: Willie Fritz always delivers, just give him time. After averaging a 2.8-win jump from Year 1 to Year 2 at his five previous stops, Fritz saw Houston grow from four wins to 10 in his second season. The Coogs reached 10 wins for the first time since 2021, and like in 2021, they defeated an SEC team to end the season. 

21. Oklahoma: It seems insane now, but Brent Venables's team entered the year with a 6.5 over/under win total. That ticket cashed on Nov. 1. OU lost to Texas for the third time in four years and became the first team in the CFP's (short) history to lose a home game, but they returned to the Big Dance for the first time since 2019 and, more importantly, put the program on level footing after three up-and-down seasons. The back-to-back road wins at Neyland and Bryant-Denny stadiums will join the montage of great Sooner moments over the years. 

20. Alabama: It started ugly and ended uglier. In between? Pretty darn good. The Crimson Tide maintained dominance over their rivals -- 10-2 vs. UGA since 2008; 13-2 vs. LSU since 2012; 17-2 vs. Tennessee since 2007; six in a row over Auburn -- and returned to the SEC Championship and the CFP for the first time since 2023. 

19. Boise State: The Broncos took a step back as expected without the best player in school history and a perpetual get-out-of-jail-free card at running back, but Spencer Danielson's team won their second straight Mountain West championship and its 17th conference title since 1999. 

18. Duke: Before this season, Duke's last ACC title came in 1989. They split it with Virginia, who beat them head-to-head that September. It took 36 years, but the Blue Devils finally went full circle when they upset the Cavaliers to win the conference and knock UVA out of the Playoff in the process. Manny Diaz's team went "just" 9-5, but among those nine: their first win at Clemson since 1980, their first win in Chapel Hill since 2017, and a Blue Devils win over the Sun Devils of Arizona State in the Sun Bowl.

17. Texas A&M: The ending was a bummer, but the start was, well, perfect. The victory in Notre Dame -- and, particularly, the way that game was won -- instantly vaulted into the top five of the living memory of every Aggie fan, and ending the Brian Kelly era at LSU in real time in an ABC prime time game was a pinch me moment. Two years in, Mike Elko is doing exactly what he was hired to do. 

16. Oregon: It was kind of a "break even" season for Oregon, which is an incredible statement when you're talking about a CFP semifinalist. Dan Lanning's team put the nail in the coffin of the James Franklin era at Penn State, beat USC for the fourth time in a row and eighth in their last 10, ran the program's record vs. Washington to 17-5 since 2004 and 15-3 vs. Oregon State since 2008, and returned to the Final Four for the first time since 2014. The Ducks began the year as college football's most consistent winner yet to win a national title, and they're still college football's most consistent winner yet to win a national title. 

15. Georgia: It's quite a feat to feel like you've hit your head on a ceiling when you're winning the SEC for a second year in a row. The Bulldogs' season ended in a Sugar Bowl quarterfinal for the second straight year, but at 12-2 UGA beat every single team they played and along the way became the first back-to-back SEC champ since Alabama in 2020-21. 

14. Vanderbilt: Clark Lea's team successfully built upon last season's breakthrough with its best season in its modern history. Behind Heisman runner-up Diego Pavia, secured the first 10-win season in program history and narrowly missed the College Football Playoff. Within those 10 wins: the first win over LSU since 1990; improvement to 4-2 vs. Auburn over the last six meetings; the ending of a 16-game losing skid to South Carolina (by 24, on the road, at night); the largest win in Knoxville since 1954; and the most SEC wins (six) in school history.

13. New Mexico: Tiebreaker bad luck kept Jason Eck's Lobos out of the Mountain West title game, but the double OT win over San Diego State in front of a sellout crowd to close the regular season and put UNM in position to compete for their first conference title since 1964 was still the greatest moment the program has had since... 1964, probably. A program that averaged an even three wins per season from 2017-24 went out and won nine in Year 1 under Eck.

12. Virginia: What a difference a quarterback makes. Virginia snapped its string of five consecutive non-losing seasons with a school-record 11 wins. The ride began with an impressive (at the time) Friday night 2OT win over No. 8 Florida State -- the first win over a top-10 opponent at home in 20 years, also vs. Florida State. The Wahoos followed that with an overtime win at Louisville, beat Washington State by two, and then beat North Carolina by one point in overtime -- all in a span of four consecutive games. The Duke loss in the ACC Championship denied the program its first outright ACC title and a CFP berth, but a week prior UVA clinched a title game berth with a 20-point home win over Virginia Tech -- their largest since 1994, and just their sixth overall in 32 seasons. Tony Elliott's team concluded the year with a Gator Bowl win over Missouri, their first "traditional" bowl win since beating Georgia in the 1995 Peach Bowl. 

11. BYU: It was an absolutely perfect season whenever the Cougars didn't have to play Texas Tech. BYU went 4-0 in 1-score games, including a 24-21 win over Utah in one of the biggest Holy War games ever -- their third in a row -- and came back to beat Georgia Tech in a thrilling and widely-viewed Pop-Tarts Bowl. Of course, the program's biggest win came off the field, when the Cougars fended off Penn State to keep Kalani Sitake in their shade of blue and white. Sitake has led BYU to four 10-win seasons in the last six years, but this year's 12-win campaign is the program's most since 2001 and could result in the program's first AP top-10 finish since 1996. 

10. Navy

For starters, Brian Newberry's team scored its first back-to-back victory over Army since winning 14 straight from 2002-15, and also took the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for the second straight year. The Midshipmen got off to their first 7-0 start since 1978, beat a Power 4 team in a bowl game for the second straight year, and set a program record with 11 wins. 

For the record, I almost chose a photo of Army singing first for the Navy selection but decided that would be too mean. 

9. Kennesaw State

Two years ago, Kennesaw State was still in FCS. A year ago, they went 2-10. And in Year 1 under Jerry Mack, the Owls called themselves Conference USA champions. To win it, Kennesaw State had to go back to Jacksonville State and avenge a November loss. At 10-4, the Owls lost to MAC champion Western Michigan, to a Jax State they later beat, to Indiana, and to Wake Forest by one point. 

8. James Madison

The Dukes did what the Dukes do: they won. Under four head coaches in the past 11 season, JMU has won at least a share of a conference and/or division championship nine times. This run includes an FCS national championship in 2016 and, now, a College Football Playoff berth. Bob Chesney's team beat Liberty in the first Battle of the Blue Ridge rivalry game since 2014, which kicked off an 11-game winning streak and will almost certainly put the Dukes in the final AP Top 25 for the first time in their four years of FBS membership. 

7. Ole Miss

Ole Miss did not win its first SEC championship since 1963, but the Rebels did beat the SEC champion in the Sugar Bowl, pushing the program closer than it's ever been to its first consensus national championship. Oh, and along the way they had to overcome their own head coach, who left after the Egg Bowl to coach a team the Rebels beat in September. The end result of Ole Miss's wild season is that the only SEC coaches with more College Football Playoff victories than Pete Golding are Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. 

6. North Texas

The Mean Green scored 631 points and gained 7,174 yards -- shattering school records -- and broke plenty of others along the way. An 11-1 regular season vaulted North Texas into the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1959 and second time ever, while quarterback Drew Mestemaker won the Burlsworth Trophy as the nation's best former walk-on, as well as the Offensive Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference and from Dave Campbell's Texas Football. The loss in New Orleans prevented UNT from winning its first conference title since 2004 and reaching its first CFP, but a 49-47 win over San Diego State in the New Mexico Bowl was an appropriate swan song for Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins (the national leader with 25 rushing touchdowns) and company, ending the program's 10-game postseason losing streak, delivering the first bowl win since 2013, and the highest year-end AP finish ever. 

5. Texas Tech

The best team in school history... for now. A proof-of-concept season that saw the Red Raiders dominate through their defensive front. The Red Raiders won 12 games en route to their first Big 12 championship (their first outright conference title since winning the Border Conference in 1955) and first CFP appearance, and won 12 games by more than 21 points. Joey McGuire's team peaked at No. 4 in the AP poll, exceeded only by a No. 2 ranking in 2008, but will finish in the AP top-10 for the first time in school history. 

4. Western Michigan

Three teams in FBS won their conference and their bowl game: Indiana, Duke and Western Michigan. Only one beat another conference champion in their bowl game: Lance Taylor's Broncos, who hammered C-USA champion Kennesaw State in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. In addition to claiming the MAC championship for just the fourth time ever, WMU also hoisted the Michigan MAC Trophy for the third straight season. After an 0-3 start, WMU won 10 of their final 11, a 4-win bump from last season and the program's first double-digit win season since 2016. 

3. Tulane 

Tulane has fully supplanted Boise State as the premier Group of 6 program in college football. The Green Wave played for the American championship for the fourth straight season, won it for the second time, and improved to 43-12 (31-5 vs. the AAC) since 2022. Oh, and they watched quarterback Darian Mensah take a bag from Duke, then beat him -- and the eventual ACC champions -- on the field in September. The Wave played in the College Football Playoff for the first time, and along the way set the gold standard in the new, and almost always awkward, dance of playing for the head coach who's taken another job. 

2. Miami

The Hurricanes beat their three biggest rivals -- Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State -- in the regular season, and then went on an epic playoff run only they could see coming. The Canes went on a 7-game winning streak that saw them rise from No. 18 in the CFP poll to 35 yards shy of a national championship. In between, Miami beat Texas A&M at Texas A&M, beat prohibitive favorite Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, and then won a thriller over Ole Miss to play in their first national title game in a quarter century. 

1. Indiana

A season that defies description, one that transcends college football into one of the most memorable title runs in the history of American sports. In becoming the first 16-0 team since Yale in 1894, Indiana not only won the program's first national championship -- it proved Curt Cignetti's model is durable, and all indications are that the good times in Bloomington are here to stay.