College Football Power Rankings | 101-115
Which schools fail to penetrate the top 100 of our power rankings?
115) USF
The Bulls had a brutal schedule last season. As a result, they went 1-8 in Jeff Scott’s first season as a head coach. This year’s schedule isn’t much easier, with road trips to BYU, SMU, UCF, and NC State in the season opener.
The defense struggled to stop anyone last season, but the unit is more experienced this year. The Bulls will have a former ACC quarterback under center, with Jarren Williams and Cade Fortin set to fight it out through fall camp. They’ll need to instantly improve an offense that ranked 102nd in the nation last year.
114) Louisiana-Monroe
When you go 0-10 and have the 123rd-ranked offense and 125th-ranked defense, it’s hard to make a case for Louisiana-Monroe to be any higher than 114th in our College Football Power Rankings. When you’ve lost your best pass catcher and rusher, it’s even harder.
However, the coaching staff has been overhauled with Terry Bowden and Rich Rodriguez coming in — they’ve attracted several players from the transfer portal. It’s difficult to see where wins might come from, but an FCS matchup with Jackson State should ensure they at least get one this fall.
113) Duke
The Blue Devils averaged 24 points per game last season but allowed 38 points per game. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Duke’s 2-9 record wasn’t a close-run thing.
Hopefully for the Blue Devils, Chase Brice takes the ball security issues with him to Appalachian State that saw them rank last in turnover differential in 2020. Gunnar Holmberg has to be a step up in that respect. Despite their defensive woes last season, they’ve lost their best players on that side of the ball. It stands to be another tough time in Durham this fall.
112) Southern Miss
Even in one of the most disrupted college football seasons in recent memory, Southern Miss found a way to add another layer of chaos into their campaign. No other program had the same coaching turnover as the Golden Eagles, with three head coaches in a short time. As a result, Southern Miss had their first losing season since 2020.
Jack Abraham, Tim Jones, and Jacques Turner are big losses for a team looking for a bounce-back year. The season opener at South Alabama will go a long way to defining how they recover and if they can compete.
111) Eastern Michigan
Returning production is usually a positive metric to help gauge future performance. Unfortunately for Eastern Michigan, the Eagles are returning 10 starters from a defense that couldn’t get it done last year. The D ranked 106th in the nation, ensuring that the 33rd-ranked offense went to waste on a 2-4 team.
QB Preston Hutchinson contributed 20 of the team’s touchdowns and has competition in Cincinnati transfer Ben Bryant. There are winnable games on the schedule. However, the defense is a limiting factor in our college football power rankings.
110) Central Michigan
Jim McElwain took over a 1-11 Chippewas team and transformed them into a contender in the MAC in 2019. However, a subpar defense saw them revert to .500 last season, and those defensive starters return for the upcoming season. Adding another former Power Five player in QB Jacob Sirmon to an offense that boasts former Virginia Tech pass catcher Khalil Pimpleton should give the offense some pop.
Their MAC schedule could thwart Central Michigan’s attempts to climb up the College Football Power Rankings.
109) Texas State
The Bobcats comfortably beat Louisiana-Monroe and played Boston College close, but that was all she wrote for the 2-10 team in 2020. Although the offense put up 30+ points in five games, they were let down by a defensive unit that ranked 117th in the nation, despite the efforts of star cornerback Jarron Morris.
Texas State has added plenty of players from the transfer portal and JUCO but will it be enough for them to overcome a tough schedule? They have to travel to both Coastal Carolina and Louisiana in conference play.
108) Troy
Turnovers and getting trampled over were the trademarks of the 2020 Troy Trojans team. Despite this, they somehow salvaged a 5-6 record, including a shutout of South Alabama. They’ve got some talented players, including offensive tackle Austin Stidham and under-the-radar NFL Draft prospect Colton Martial. However, there are too many question marks at key positions — including quarterback — for them to breach the top 100 of our College Football Power Rankings.
Their schedule includes Coastal Carolina and Liberty, two potential top-25 teams.
107) Ohio
Ohio has put together a winning season every year since 2008. However, they’ve somehow failed to bag a conference title since 1968. The Bobcats were strong last season, albeit in limited action that included games against Akron and Bowling Green. As we’ve already established in these College Football Power Rankings, that isn’t much of an achievement.
The Rourke family name lives on in quarterback Kurtis, while De’Montre Tuggle has been outstanding. Their toughest opposition has to travel to Athens — can they compete in the MAC?
106) Arizona
After a disastrous 2020 season, the Wildcats are the third lowest Power Five team in our College Football Power Rankings. A 70-7 shellacking at the hands of Arizona State cost coach Kevin Sumlin his job. Starting quarterback Grant Gunnell has transferred away from the program.
Despite being an interim head coach for UCLA in 2017, the Arizona job is the first full-time head coach position for Jedd Fisch. They also hired former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown. Yet, both coaches have their work cut out transforming the fortunes of the program.
105) Miami (OH)
“If you’ve got two quarterbacks, you have none” — said John Madden when discussing the 2021 Miami RedHawks. While that may not be strictly speaking true, Brett Gabbert and A.J. Mayer split reps in limited action last season, and there appears to be no certainty as to the starter for the upcoming season. The RedHawks have also lost key pieces on the offensive line.
In Sterling Weatherford, they have a legitimate NFL Draft prospect on their defense. However, road trips to Ball State and Kent State could stunt their bid to snag another MAC title.
104) Middle Tennessee
On the plus side, the Blue Raiders return a true defensive playmaker in Reed Blankenship. However, they suffer a huge loss with quarterback Asha O’Hara transferring to Sacramento State. O’Hara provided dual-threat playmaking that will be difficult to replace, although they did land Bailey Hockman from NC State. He may provide them with their best aerial offense since Brent Stocksill was under center.
But a conference schedule that starts with a road trip to the hotly fancied UTSA may see a final record that is closer to the .333 record of the last two seasons.
103) Louisiana Tech
Amongst the disruption of the 2020 college football season, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs suffered the worst campaign since Skip Holtz took over the program in 2013. They also saw a bowl-winning streak dating back to 2014 come to an end. They’ll need to see massive improvement from a defense that ranked 96th in the nation last year.
Meanwhile, there is uncertainty under center with a three-way battle for the starting quarterback job. Their conference schedule features road trips to three teams below them in the College Football Power Rankings, but they must also travel to UAB.
102) Temple
After five consecutive seasons with a winning record, the Temple Owls lost their wings and crashed to a 1-6 record. The offense ranked 114th in the nation, and the defense fared only slightly better at 111th.
Although a strong offensive line that returns four of five starters seems like a good base to bounce back, question marks are abound all over the roster. There’s turnover on the defensive line and in the secondary, while former Georgia quarterback D’Wan Mathis coming in doesn’t really inspire much confidence in an offensive transformation.
101) FAU
If recent trends are anything to go by, FAU is due an 11-win season and should be higher up our College Football Power Rankings. However, we all know that’s not how football works. The defense was stellar in the first year of the Willie Taggart regime, and they return a good number of starters from last season’s 10th-ranked unit.
Offense was the problem last season, ranking just 116th in the nation. They bring in former Miami QB N’Kosi Perry, but their biggest success may come on the ground with USF’s Johnny Ford arriving in Boca Raton.