Bottom 25 college football rankings: Virginia Tech reenters but Hokies should be glad about Florida State loss

Virginia Tech should be glad it lost 34-14 at Florida State, even if that means it is back in the Bottom 25 this week. Had the Hokies waltzed into Doak Campbell Stadium and defeated the Seminoles, it would have dropped FSU to 4-6 and may have increased Mike Norvell's chances of getting fired before the end of the season. 

If Norvell had been fired Sunday, then Virginia Tech may have been dealing with another competitor in the James Franklin sweepstakes. But less than 48 hours after Virginia Tech's loss to the Seminoles, news broke that Franklin will be leading the Hokies.

You can expect to see Virginia Tech here for the rest of the season. At 3-9 (2-4 ACC) and with games against Miami and Virginia still remaining, the Hokies may be destined for their second three-win season of the past four years. 

James Franklin gives Virginia Tech perfect CEO figure as Hokies invest heavily in resurrecting program

Shehan Jeyarajah

But they have unequivocally upgraded at head coach by landing Franklin, a proven winner at both Vanderbilt and Penn State. In that sense, the misery of the 2025 season served a purpose. The program's quick hook on Brent Pry allowed the Hokies time to get their administrative ducks in a row to pursue, and land, quality candidate. See! Being in the Botton 25 isn't so bad after all.

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

Don't be fooled by Notre Dame

Whatever Notre Dame does over the final two weeks of the regular season, don't be tricked into thinking it's a legitimate display of power. The Fighting Irish close against Bottom 25 teams Syracuse and Stanford and should obliterate both. In fact, they will probably crush the Orange and the Cardinal with little mercy for the sake of impressing the College Football Playoff selection committee. After an 0-2 start to the season, style points matter. Notre Dame is going to hammer these poor ACC deadbeats.

25. Stanford (25)
24. Virginia Tech^
23. Florida (22)
22. Syracuse (21)
21. Colorado (20)

An expensive train wreck 

Firing a coach after just two seasons might be hasty, but it would be warranted with Jonathan Smith at Michigan State. The Spartans are 3-7 (0-7 Big Ten) after falling 28-10 at home against a bad Penn State team last week. Michigan State has dropped six of its seven league contests by double digits and is in for another rough day at Iowa this week. A hefty buyout of more than $30 million must be considered, but so should the cost of allowing a train wreck continue. There is no evidence to suggest this program is heading in the right direction.

20. Michigan State (24)
19. Tulsa (14)
18. South Alabama (13)
17. Purdue (23)
16. Bowling Green (16)

The winners tier

People think the Bottom 25 is all about negativity and dunking on the bad teams. OK, it mostly is. But we are here to celebrate with three teams in this subsection that are coming off Week 12 wins. Sam Houston won its second straight contest following an 0-8 start, and Nevada beat the snot out of San Jose State, 55-10, for its first win over an FBS team this year. Lastly, Northern Illinois crushed UMass 45-3. Unfortunately, beating one of the worst college football teams in a generation isn't going to get you a ton of credit. But it's still a feat worth celebrating for a team like NIU.

15. Sam Houston (12)
14. Nevada (5)
13. San Jose State^
12. Northern Illinois (8)
11. Louisiana-Monroe (15)

Agony in Arkansas

Arkansas continues inventing new ways to lose. In last week's 23-22 loss at LSU, that involved three scoreless trips inside the Tigers' 30-yard line, including two fruitless journeys inside the 10. Still, the Hogs led 22-16 entering he fourth quarter before the Tigers surged ahead with a 92-yard touchdown drive. Six of Arkansas' eight losses have come in one-possession games, and that doesn't even include the Razorbacks' 33-24 loss to Auburn. Arkansas led 24-16 entering the fourth quarter of that game. Any team this consistently committed to losing deserves a top-10 ranking.

10. Arkansas (18)
9. UTEP (10)
8. Boston College (7)
7. Colorado State (9)
6. Oregon State (11)

Shoutout Derek Morris

A major shoutout to Derek Morris for his 44-yard field goal with 6:13 remaining in UMass' 45-3 home loss to Northern Illinois last week. The kick kept the Minutemen from getting shut out for the first time this season. At this point, comparing 0-10 UMass to other FBS teams is nonsensical. The Minutemen weren't even good enough to beat Bryant back on Sept. 6, and Bryant is just 3-8 at the FCS level this season. Dratings.com places Bryant at No. 104 among FCS teams, which means UMass wouldn't even be one of the 100 best teams if it dropped down a level. At best, we're probably talking about an average Division II team here.

5. Middle Tennessee (6)
4. Charlotte (4)
3. Georgia State (3)
2. Oklahoma State (2)
1. UMass (1)