Entering the final month of the regular season, 11 of 67 Power Four teams are still searching for their first conference victory. Assessing the remaining schedules of those struggling squads, it appears likely that we’ll top last year’s tally of three P4 teams that finished winless in league action.
A year ago, those three teams were Purdue, Mississippi State and Oklahoma State. Those three are once again winless in league action as calendar is about to flip to November. For now, they have plenty of company.
If Penn State and Michigan State are still among the Big Ten’s crop of four winless teams in league play come Nov. 15, something will have to give since they play each other that day. But outside of those two, none of the other nine Power Four teams still in search of a league victory play one of their winless brethren.
The situation looks particularly bleak for Purdue and Wisconsin. The Boilermakers play ranked opponents in three of their final four games, and the other contest is on the road against a 6-2 Washington team. Wisconsin plays four teams with records of 5-3 or better down the stretch.
This year’s Bottom 25 formula has been tweaked to ensure fair representation from across the sport. Each of the Power Four leagues gets an automatic bid to the Bottom 25 each week, and a total of 10 Power Four schools must be represented.
Bottom 25 Rankings
^ Joined Bottom 25 this week
Bluegrass blues
On the heels of a 4-8 season, Kentucky will exit October without a victory against a Power Four opponent. Fire Mark Stoops, right? Well, it’s not that simple. As the Lexington Herald-Leader reported, Stoops would be owed nearly $38 million within 60 days if he’s fired. That’s different than many coach buyouts, which can be spread out over the life of the contract and mitigated by a coach’s future earnings. With Auburn, Florida and Tennessee Tech up next, maybe the Cats can catch fire and salvage their season. But based on what we’ve seen so far, it seems unlikely.
25. Kentucky^
24. Purdue (22)
23. Arkansas (25)
22. Louisiana-Monroe^
21. West Virginia (21)
Worthless wins
Typically speaking, a victory for any team in the Bottom 25 is regarded as such an impressive achievement that it results in a big jump. Often, a Bottom 25 team will escape the ranking altogether after a victory. But in South Alabama’s case, a 38-31 win at Georgia State barely moved the needle. Why? Because it was against Georgia State. That’s what we call a Bottom 25 Battle Royale, and you don’t get much credit for beating one of the few teams who are actually worse than you.
20. Louisiana (21)
19. South Alabama (18)
18. Florida State (20)
17. Colorado State^
16. Northern Illinois (11)
No. 1 vs. No. 11 (sort of)
The idea of Ohio State being ranked No. 1 and Penn State being ranked No. 11 for their Week 10 showdown would have made perfect sense before the season. … until you were told that Penn State is No. 11 in the Bottom 25. Even being No. 11 in the AP poll at this juncture would have been a disappointment for the Nittany Lions in what was supposed to be an “all in” year. But disappointing is an insufficient term to describe Penn State’s level of failure in 2025. Which is exactly why it would be so funny if this were the year it beat Ohio State for the first time since 2016.
15. Tulsa (19)
14. Eastern Michigan (17)
13. North Carolina (15)
12. UTEP (14)
11. Penn State (11)
Wisconsin hits a milestone
It’s too early to call it an offensive renaissance, but Wisconsin hit a major milestone in its 21-7 loss to Oregon, as the Badgers snapped a 14 quarter touchdown drought. Yes, that’s correct. Between the first quarter of October and the final quarter of October, the Badgers did not score a touchdown. But the long nightmare ended late this past Saturday with Hunter Simmons’ 2-yard touchdown pass to Lance Mason. Will Wisconsin score more than two touchdowns in November? The opponents are all 5-3 or better, so it might be close.
10. Nevada (12)
9. Wisconsin (10)
8. Oregon State (9)
7. Boston College (7)
6. Middle Tennessee (6)
Bad Charlotte
Charlotte was doing the dang thing through a quarter and a half. The 49ers led North Texas, one of the American’s top teams, by a score of 17-7. From there, they showed why they’ve become a mainstay in the seediest rungs of the Bottom 25. North Texas outscored Charlotte 47-3 over the final two and a half quarters. The 49ers gave up 27 points in the fourth quarter alone as Mean Green quarterback Drew Mestemaker tossed for a school record 608 yards. When it was all said and done, Charlotte surrendered 754 yards.
5. Charlotte (5)
4. Georgia State (4)
3. Oklahoma State (3)
2. Sam Houston (2)
1. UMass (1)
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