FootballScoop's Year End Top 25

The Associated Press ranks the top 25 teams, as they should. Dating back to its inception in 1936, the year-end AP Top 25 is the document of record of each season, this crazy sport's singular through-line from the segregation era through the NIL era. Ranked among the 1936 AP Top 20 (as it was known in those days): Santa Clara, Penn,  Yale, Dartmouth, Duquesne, Fordham, and Marquette. 

Here at FootballScoop, we do our own Year-End Top 25, but we do it differently. Rather than rank the top 25 teams, we rank the top 25 seasons. This an avenue to view teams on somewhat equal footing: How did you perform relative to your own expectations, history and resources? Did you beat your rival and/or win your conference? 

There are no Santa Claras and Fordhams to be found here, but we still honor plenty of teams the AP ignored. 

25. Clemson: Admittedly a weird year. Dabo Swinney's team opened and closed the regular season with losses to Georgia and South Carolina -- scoring 17 points combined -- but the Tigers won the ACC and returned to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2020. The 2024 campaign was enough to spark real expectations for 2025. 

24. Syracuse: In Fran Brown's first season as a head coach, he helped turn Ohio State castoff Kyle McCord into the nation's leading passer and led the Orange to their first 10-win season since 2018. One of those 10 wins was the program's fist victory over Miami since 1998 (the Orange and 'Canes have only played twice since 2003), which happened to knock the Hurricanes out of the Playoff. Syracuse will finish the year ranked for just the third time since the turn of the century. 

23. Colorado: The Buffaloes graduated from "fun sideshow" to "real football team." CU beat rival Colorado State for the second straight year, beat rival Utah by the largest margin since 1955, and were a 3-point loss to K-State away from playing for the Big 12 Championship. Oh, and Travis Hunter won the program's second Heisman Trophy.  

22. Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin's team did not make its first trip to Atlanta or appear in its first Playoff, but the Rebels secured back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 1959-60. The 28-10 win over Georgia was the Bulldogs' first loss to a non-Alabama team since 2020, the lowest point total ever by a Kirby Smart-coached UGA team, and the program's highest-ranked victory since beat No. 1 Alabama in 2014. Lane Kiffin also moved to 4-1 in the Egg Bowl. 

21. Marshall: An unfortunate end to the season, where the Herd had to opt out of the Independence Bowl due to the mass exodus of players following a mutual parting with head coach Charles. Huff, sadly obscured a great season. Marshall won its first Sun Belt championship, and its first overall conference title since 2014. To get there, though, Marshall first had to rally from a 17-0 halftime deficit at James Madison to win in double overtime on the final day of the regular season. 

20. Tennessee: He kept an admirable poker face throughout the week, but oh how satisfying that win at Oklahoma must've been for Josh Heupel. The Vols beat Alabama for the second straight time at Neyland Stadium, the first time that's happened since 2004 and '06. UT's 24-17 win over the Tide gives Heupel more victories over Alabama than Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt combined. That win was also enough to cross Tennessee's name off the "Notable Programs With Zero Playoff Appearances" list.  

19. Georgia: The vibes never felt quite right for this Georgia team, but it's still quite a statement when an "off" year still delivers the program's seventh straight 11-plus win season (2020 excluded), wins over all four of UGA's historical rivals (Florida, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Clemson), two victories over Texas, and Kirby Smart's second SEC championship. 

18. UConn: Marooned into the ocean of FBS independence by their own university, UConn snapped a string of 12 consecutive losing seasons and enjoyed their most wins (nine) since 2007. Jim Mora's team closed the year with wins over rival UMass and a Fenway Bowl victory over North Carolina (the program's first since 2009), snapping a 6-game losing streak to ACC foes.

17. Army: Some will say this is too low. Among the dozens and dozens of programs to change conferences so far this century, Army is one of four to win their new league in their maiden voyage. Jeff Monken's team won 12 game -- 10 of them by 17 points or more, including a 35-14 drubbing of Tulane in the AAC Championship and 27-6 over Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl. Then again, Army did not beat Navy, so some, likely those affiliated with Army itself, will argue the Knights do not belong on this list at all. 

16. Navy: After a 5-7 debut season, Brian Newberry's second campaign was a smashing success. The Midshipmen reclaimed the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for the first time since 2019 in dominant fashion, beating Air Force 34-7 and Army 31-13, and then beat Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl.

15. Jacksonville State: Jacksonville State closed the Rich Rod era going 27-10 and 19-3 in conference play with two conference championships, including this past season. The Gamecocks avenged a regular-season loss to WKU by hammering the Hilltoppers the following week, 52-12, to claim their 25th conference title and first at the FBS level. 

14. Illinois: While many spent much of December whining why this 9-3 SEC team or that 9-3 SEC team did not make the Playoff, a 9-3 Illinois went out and beat 9-3 South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl. That win pushed the Fighting Illini to double-digit victories for the first time since 2001, and 2024 marked the first time Illinois has closed a season on a 4-game winning streak since 1999. 

13. SMU: The shame about the way it ended, other than the obvious, is that those losses to Clemson and Penn State obscured how well SMU played in the regular season. After winning the American in 2023, SMU joined a short list of programs to "level up" and experience immediate success. Rhett Lashlee's squad was one of two Power 4 teams to go undefeated in conference play, scored their largest win over rival TCU since 1985, and won 11 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history. 

12. Penn State: The Nittany Lions returned to the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2016, won the Fiesta Bowl -- James Franklin's third New Year's Six bowl win at Penn State -- and became the 17th program to reach the CFP Final Four since the concept was established in 2014. 

11. BYU: Of the 122 FBS teams that didn't make the Playoff, how many won 11 games and beat a Playoff team? That list of populated by BYU and BYU alone. Tiebreakers kept the Cougars out of the Big 12 Championship, but the Cougars beat Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the first time since 2006 and closed the year by thumping Colorado in the Alamo Bowl. 

10. Texas 

Remember when the SEC's annexation of Texas and Oklahoma was announced back in 2021? The consensus back then was that OU was coming to win and Texas to get paid. Feels like a long time ago, does it not? The Longhorns snapped defending national champion Michigan's 16-game winning streak and 23-game home winning streak, defeated rivals Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Arkansas -- all by double digits, all away from home -- reclaimed an AP No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2008, reached the SEC championship, and was the only 2023 CFP team to return to the Playoff in '24, where they beat the ACC and Big 12 champions. Georgia and Ohio State proved the program has further to climb still, but there's no denying the Longhorns' rapid ascent. 

9. Iowa State

The program's first conference championship since 1912 remains elusive, but Matt Campbell's squad checked every other box in 2024. The Cyclones scored a thrilling victory over Iowa -- their second straight win at Kinnick Stadium, lest you forget -- outlasted Miami in the all-important Pop Tarts Bowl, and set a school record with 11 wins. 

8. UNLV

At a program that posted all of six winning seasons since joining FBS in 1978, Barry Odom got the Rebels on this list in both of his seasons in the desert. The Rebels improved upon their 9-5 mark of 2024 by winning 11 games -- UNLV's most since 1974, when the Rebels played in D2 -- and returned to the Mountain West Championship. They appeared in the AP Top 25 for the first time ever. UNLV also went 3-1 against Power 4 teams, including a triumph over Cal in the LA Bowl under interim head coach Del Alexander. Oh, and they did it all while losing their starting quarterback mid-season due to an NIL tear. 

7. Boise State

The Broncos celebrated back-to-back Mountain West championships, finished four points shy of beating undefeated-in-the-regular-season Oregon and going 13-0 in their own right, and enjoyed the best individual season in program history through Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty. 

6. Oregon

Look, the Ducks went undefeated in 2024, okay? New Year's Day didn't go the way they wanted, but everything that came before that was perfect. Dan Lanning's team hammered rivals Washington and Oregon State, secured a monumental regular-season victory over Ohio State, beat Boise State in a game that proved to be more important than it seemed at the time, and won the Big Ten in their first year in the league. 

5. Arizona State

Sometimes the mark of a team's greatness is the effort it takes to beat them. No one exemplified more than Kenny Dillingham's Sun Devils, who turned a 24-8, deep-in-the-fourth-quarter deficit against mighty Texas into a double OT instant classic in quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff. Arizona State pulled off a worst-to-first season, winning a league they were picked to finish dead last in, and they did so in emphatic fashion: a 49-7 Territorial Cup win over Arizona, and then a 45-19 drubbing of Iowa State to claim the program's first outright conference championship and AP Top 10 finish since 1996.

4. Indiana

It's the ultimate compliment that the bulk of the conversation around Curt Cignetti's team was what they didn't do. Yes, the Indiana Hoosiers lost to the national champion and the national runner-up. Shame on them. IU beat everyone else they played, scored the program's second win over Michigan since 1987, earned its largest margin of victory over Purdue ever, set a school record for single-season wins, closed the year in the AP Top 10, and registered the program's best season since reaching the Rose Bowl in 1967. 

3. Ohio

Ohio was the only FBS team to win a conference championship and beat a conference champion in the postseason. The Bobcats won 11 games for the first time in school history, secured the first back-to-back 10-win seasons in school history, and finally ended the program's MAC championship drought (first since 1968) after losing their first five MAC title games. What's more, Ohio pummeled rival Miami (Ohio) 38-3 to win the crown. After losing head coach Tim Albin to Charlotte, interim head coach Brian Smith guided the Bobcats to a 30-27 win over C-USA champion Jacksonville State in the Cure Bowl. 

2. Notre Dame

Marcus Freeman and co. shook off that Northern Illinois loss like Jaden Greathouse sheds tacklers. The Fighting Irish won at Kyle Field and LA Coliseum, beat SEC champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and beat Penn State in a CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame ripped off a 13-game winning streak from September to Monday night, with 11 of those wins by double digits. 

1. Ohio State

Look, no one would ever choose to lose to your arch rival in excruciating fashion, but we can all admit the Michigan loss made Monday night more satisfying, right? Either way, the Ohio State season ended in the same destination that was foretold back in January, when the Buckeyes spent what was necessary to retain their draft-eligible talent, acquire Will Howard, Caleb Downs and Quinshon Judkins in the portal, and sign Jeremiah Smith. Ohio State became the first team in college football history to beat five AP top-5 teams to win the program's ninth claimed national championship and third in this century. In the year-end AP Top 25, No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Penn State -- all of them away from home.

This Ohio State team will go down in history, for more reasons than one. Time will tell in the NIL era if a program is able to stack their roster to this degree. And because of that Michigan loss, no team has had to dig deeper and travel further to win a national championship than these Buckeyes.