The 20 worst college football teams for the 2025 season

Akron has been a bad program for a long, long time. Over the last 19 years, the Zips have had exactly one winning season (2015) while having seven seasons where they lost at least 10 games. Four of those seasons have happened over the last six years, meaning Joe Moorhead has quite a project on his hands. Akron's 4-8 record must have felt like the 1972 Dolphins around Akron after going 7-47 over the last six years. The problem is turnover -- 30 players transferred out, including several key players needed to keep consistency in the program as they rebuild. One that stayed was former NC State and Cal QB Ben Finley, who should be able to run Moorhead's system enough to keep up with the shootouts the Zips will find themselves in. 

Mike Neu was fired after a decade in Muncie, with only one winning season (an impressive 7-1 record during the 2020 season) and failing to reach a bowl game for the third straight year. Mike Uremovich moved over from Butler to head the Cardinals job, and he has a near-roster overhaul to manage. He will be using do-everything Kiael Kelly to be his quarterback, so look for a lot of QB runs in this offense. He also brought in Kennesaw State running back Qua Ashley, who was All-Conference USA last season. There is a lot of turnover here (you'll hear that a lot with all these new coaches taking over bad programs), which is good, but it may take a year or two to get this program where Uremovich wants it to be. 

Charlotte thought outside the box when they made hedge fund manager Bill Poggi their head coach in 2023. Sometimes innovative ideas don't work, and Poggi's hiring certainly didn't. In ten seasons as a program, 2019's 7-6 record is the 49ers lone winning season and lone bowl appearance (Bahamas Bowl). Charlotte made a nice swing on its new hire, luring Ohio's Tim Albin to the Queen City. Albin took the Bobcats to 10-win seasons in each of the last three years, including a MAC championship last year. But Albin inherits nothing here. This is a complete rebuild and Albin is prepared to take his lumps this year. 

It's hard to know how a program will perform when it makes the leap from FCS to FBS, like Delaware is doing. The Blue Hens are a solid program that returns a lot from a 9-2 team last year, but they've lost a lot on the receiving corps and have some holes they need to fix. The Hens pride themselves on being balanced offensively and defensively, but it may take some time to find that. The passing game needs work, so if they get into some shootouts, then they may not be able to hang with better offenses. Delaware has the kind of stability that will make their move to the FBS a successful one soon, just not this year. 

New head coach Willie Simmons has a bunch of new faces on a team that went 4-8 a year ago. One of the old faces is quarterback Keyone Jenkins, who is in his third season as the Panthers' starter and will be relied on heavily to implement what Simmons wants. FIU hasn't had a winning season since 2018, and Jenkins' top two targets are now at Georgia Tech. The defense needs some retooling, especially in the front seven.

Kennesaw State is in Year 3 of its move to the FBS and is trying to regroup after a dismal 2-10 season that saw them make a coaching change. Brian Bohannon was the only coach the program had ever known, as he was hired to start the Owls football team in 2015. After a successful run in the FCS, he struggled to find his footing in Conference USA. The entire offense is overhauled, with former Indiana and Georgia Southern Dexter Williams II likely taking over at quarterback. They are switching from a triple-option attack to a more pass-friendly offense, meaning this may take some time to take hold. The defense should be the strength of this team. 

Kent State finished 0-12 last season, making the Golden Flashes the only winless FBS team in 2025. They allowed an FBS-worst 529 points last season, while scoring an FBS-worst 167 points. That is one of the most unbelievable statistics you'll find anywhere. To make matters worse (or better) head coach Kenni Burns was fired this past April after violating his contract by taking loans from boosters. Burns lost 23 of the 24 games he coached at Kent State and squashed any of the promise his predecessor, Sean Lewis, had left behind. Interim head coach Mark Carney has one of the most difficult jobs in the country. 

Is Mississippi State actually one of the 20 worst teams in the country? Well ... no ... but they are bad when it comes to SEC expectations. The Bulldogs were a lousy 2-10 last season in Jeff Lebby's first year at the helm, their most losses since 2003. Their only two wins were over Eastern Kentucky and UMass. The defense was absolutely awful, as they gave up 41 points at home to Toledo. They weren't just SEC bad last year. This year, we may see a lot of the same things, even though Lebby went out and try to piece together a good transfer haul. The defense has to get better -- they couldn't stop the run or pressure the quarterback -- but may take time to get on the same page. Mississippi State starts out on the road against in-state (and fellow worst team) Southern Miss before welcoming Arizona State to Starksville. After winnable first four games, the schedule turns brutal: Tennessee, at Texas A&M, at Florida, Texas, at Arkansas, Georgia, at Missouri and then the Egg Bowl against Ole Miss. 

Welcome to the FBS, Missouri State Bears! FCS schools moving up to the FBS level has been a mixed bag of late. The Bears only reached the FCS playoffs just twice in its history, and that was in 2020 and 2021 -- though last year they may have made the postseason but were deemed ineligible due to their impending FBS move. While the step up to Conference USA will be tough, their old conference ... the Missouri Valley ... was one of the toughest in the FCS. Sadly, safety Todric McGee passed away this past April due to a possible accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. McGee was an all-conference defender whose absence will be a difficult one. The defense has been revamped, so there will be an extra learning curve for the Bears. They open the season at USC, at Marshall and then hosting SMU. Ugh.

This is how bad Nevada has been recently: Their 3-10 record last year showed a lot of improvement and potential in Jeff Choate's program. Yet, the Wolf Pack went winless in Mountain West play and lost their final six games of the season. Nevada has lost 23 of their 30 games over the last three seasons, and the apathy in the program has left attendance dwindling and hope scarce. Choate brings some hope, and five of their losses last year were by five points or less. The defense needs to improve -- the Wolf Pack were dead last in stopping third downs. Hopefully, quarterback Chubby Purdy (that name is so awesome) can show the talent that had gotten him scholarships to Florida State and Nebraska. This bunch is very inexperienced and will need time to gel. 

Another new coach as Jason Eck takes over at New Mexico. The Lobos looked like they were finally turning around a dead-end program (they went just 19-60 from 2017 to 2023) when Bronco Mendenhall got back into coaching and took New Mexico to a 5-7 record last year. Mendenhall left after one season for Utah State, meaning Eck has to re-rebuild the program. He has filled the roster with FCS transfers, most importantly QB Jack Layne, who followed Eck from Idaho and has been dealing with injuries. The Lobos' schedule does them no favors, with the first half of their season, with trips to Michigan, UCLA, and Boise State with Mendenhall's Utah State coming to Albuquerque before Halloween. 

New Mexico State has been bad for a long, long time, but Jerry Kill magically resurrected the program to a 7-6 record in his first season and 10-5 mark in 2023 ... the Aggies first winning seasons since 2017 and most wins in a season since 1960. But Kill abruptly left after the 2023 season and his replacement, Tony Sanchez, couldn't keep it going. The Aggies sunk back down, going 3-9, and getting blown out on a weekly basis. The defense was so bad that they gave up 50 points to New Mexico, 54 to Jacksonville State, and lost 48-0 to Fresno State. Sanchez had a disastrous run at UNLV several years ago and it seems that New Mexico State is headed down the same path. If Montana transfer Logan Fife can electrify a horrible pass offense this season, maybe the Aggies can make a slight improvement. 

It got really bad for the Boilermakers last year. After punching FCS Indiana State in the mouth 49-0 in the opener, Purdue lost the next 11 games and most were in embarrassing fashion. They were shut out three times last season by scores of 66-0, 45-0 and 35-0. The Boilermakers also lost games 66-7, 52-6 and 49-10. Ryan Walters was dismissed and Barry Odom, who did wonders at UNLV last year, comes in. But this is a massive rebuild that won't happen overnight. The schedule is interesting ... and tough. USC, Illinois, Ohio State and Indiana head to West Lafayette while the Boilermakers head to Notre Dame, Michigan and Washington. Progress is relative and there will be progress made this year. It just won't show up in the win-loss record. 

Here's something: Rice hasn't had a winning season since 2014 ... but they've been to two bowls since then. That's the rub about Rice, one of the more difficult jobs in the country. Scott Abell takes over after working magic with Dayton. One good thing about this team is their return game -- punt returner Tyson Thompson and kick returner Quinton Jackson are two of the best in the AAC, with Jackson statistically one of the best in the nation a year ago. The problem is that the roster doesn't really match what the coaching staff wants to do. Abell wants to run the ball a lot, but the Owls most experienced quarterback doesn't really run and their top back transferred to Houston. Jackson may need to get a bulk of the carries for the offense to be successful. 

Southern Miss' fortunes from last year's ugly 1-11 season got a kick start with the hiring of Marshall's Charles Huff. Just hours after Huff led Marshall to the Sun Belt championship, he bolted for last-place Southern Miss, a move that confused some in the coaching community. Huff didn't come empty-handed as he will be bringing nearly two dozen of his former Thundering Herd players with him to Hattiesburg. He will lean on them since the cupboard in his new home is bare -- the defense couldn't stop anyone, they turned the ball over too much (7 TD passes and 17 INTs last year), and their offensive line was extremely leaky. While Huff and his "Transferring Herd" will make a difference, this is a complete build. 

Stanford was a solid program in the Pac-12 during the 2010s, but it has completely fallen off in recent years. The Cardinal have had four straight 3-9 seasons and are at a crossroads as a program that doesn't seem likely to change soon ... at least not in 2025. Former standout quarterback Andrew Luck is the new General Manager of the football team and has already had to deal with a coaching upheaval, as Troy Taylor was fired during the spring and replaced with Luck's former NFL coach, Frank Reich. Reich is only doing this for one year, so this doesn't have the look of a program rebuilding as much as trying to hit the reset button. Stanford finished 16th out of the 17-team ACC and, other than a shocking win over Louisville in mid-November, struggled to close out games. The defense will still be a challenge and the schedule is daunting.  

New head coach KC Keeler feels like he will turn this Temple program around. It just won't be this season. The offense has too many holes, especially up front, to truly realize Keeler's and new offensive coordinator Tyler Walker's passing attack. QB Evan Simon will have a better offense to work with, but the line could be his downfall. The defense isn't good enough to create big plays, but good enough to prevent the offense from making them. Still, if there was a boom or bust team on the list, it may be the Owls. 

Tulsa's defense was absolutely awful last season, ranking third worst in FBS in total defense (they allowed 498 yards per game). New head coach Tre Lamb will be tasked with fixing that defense, and their lackluster run offense, Both are strengths of Lamb but it shouldn't be too much improved this season as it will take time to install his culture at Tulsa and build the defense and offensive line to where he wants it. They'll take their lumps in 2025.

The Trent Dilfer era in Birmingham is at a breaking point. The Blazers are 7-17 over the last two years with last year's 3-9 mark being an embarrassment. UAB's defense was horrible -- giving up 71 points to Tulane, 53 to Memphis, 44 to Army and 41 to Navy. The offense was inconsistent, mainly due to the fact that turnovers (25 last season) killed great drives. Like any program would, UAB took to the portal to try to overhaul ... well ... everything, so we will see if QB Jalen Kitna (son of NFL quarterback Jon Kitna) can cut down on the interceptions and get the Blazers back on track. I'm not so sure it will happen. 

The Minutemen ditch the independent life to move into the MAC this year. When they were last in the MAC in the mid-2010s, they were just 8-40 and won just 7 conference games in four years before being booted out of the league. Since then, UMass has been one of the worst programs in the nation, going 18-82, and not having a winning season since they were in the FCS Colonial Athletic Association in 2010. Don Brown was hired in 2023 to try to bring back the good ol' days on Minutemen football when he took UMass to two playoffs, including the 2006 FCS national championship game, but he was fired after 10 games last year. New head coach Joe Harasymiak  will attempt to be the next guy to turn things around in Amherst. He'll have to replace his two best offensive players: QB Ahmad Haston and running back Jalen John.