One day after beating Rutgers to improve to 2-0, Indiana earned the 13th ranking in the AP Top 25, their first top-15 ranking since 1988. If the Hoosiers continue winning, they’ll undoubtedly reach the top 10 for the first time in more than 50 years. They would also crack the College Football Playoff Rankings for the first time ever and leave behind a shrinking group of Power Five teams who’ve never appeared in the playoff rankings.
Entering the 2019 college football season, nearly half of all FBS teams (63) had zero appearances in the first five years of the College Football Playoff Rankings. Only three teams made their first-ever appearance last year (App State, SMU, and Wake Forest), leaving behind 60 teams without an appearance.
Unsurprisingly, the heavy majority of those teams are in Group of Five conferences: Fifty. The other 10 reside in Power Five conferences, including Indiana, who’s one of five Big Ten teams without an appearance. (Illinois, Maryland, Purdue, and Rutgers also have zero appearances.) With five of their 14 teams carrying a goose egg into 2020, the Big Ten has the highest percentage of non-appearance teams of all Power Five conferences.
Two weeks before the playoff committee reveals the first rankings of 2020, here are the 60 teams with zero all-time appearances:
Air Force
Akron
Arkansas State
Army
Ball State
Bowling Green
Buffalo
BYU
California
Central Michigan
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
Colorado State
Eastern Michigan
FIU
FAU
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kent State
Liberty
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech
UL Monroe
Maryland
Miami (OH)
Middle Tennessee
Nevada
New Mexico
New Mexico State
North Texas
Northern Illinois
Ohio
Old Dominion
Oregon State
Purdue
Rice
Rutgers
San Diego State
San Jose State
South Alabama
South Florida
Southern Miss
Texas State
Texas Tech
Troy
Tulane
Tulsa
UAB
UConn
UMass
UNLV
UTEP
UTSA
Vanderbilt
Western Kentucky
Wyoming
