New Mexico has had its moments. Dennis Franchione’s 1997 squad, which included sophomore linebacker Brian Urlacher, won nine regular-season games before losing to Colorado State in the WAC championship and to Arizona in the Insight Bowl.
Bob Davie’s team in 2016 won seven of its last eight to finish 9-4. Jerry Eck’s first season in Albuquerque a year ago also resulted in nine wins. An overtime loss to Minnesota in the Rate Bowl prevented a 10-win season, something only Joe Morrison’s 1982 squad accomplished.
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While Eck’s second season running the show might result in the program’s second double-digit win season, it has accomplished something Morrison’s squad, or any other at UNM, did not: an AP ranking. The first such ranking in program history went into the books Sunday when New Mexico checked in at No. 22. (The Lobos are No. 25 in the coaches poll, which ranked them in 1997.)
The AP poll was introduced in 1936 and New Mexico went 90 seasons and more than 1,000 weeks without a taste. Heck, the Lobos (7-1/4-0 MWC), whose only loss was 14-6 at Oklahoma on September 19, could very well continue to climb as they traverse the Mountain West schedule, though there are tough games ahead. A trip to Nevada (3-5/2-2) is on tap this Saturday, followed by a visit from UNLV (5-3/3-1), a trip to Wyoming (5-2/4-1) and the regular-season finale at home against Air Force (6-2/3-2).
A College Football Playoff bid? It would seem No. 20 Boise State holds the cards, though there is month of games remaining. (The Broncos are No. 25 in the first CFP ranking.)
With New Mexico ranked for the first time, there remain 21 teams that have not been ranked. Thirteen of those teams have been FBS members for 15 seasons or less with a handful having come on board that past few years, including newbies North Dakota State, which has received AP votes this season, and Sacramento State. The others are Charlotte (2015 first FBS season), Delaware (2025), Georgia Southern (2014), Georgia State (2013), Jacksonville State (2023), Kennesaw State (2024), Massachusetts (2012), Missouri State (2025), Sam Houston State (2023), South Alabama (2012) and Texas State (2012).
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Eight of the 21 teams have been playing at college football’s highest level for at least 20 years and have yet to be ranked. Here is an alphabetical look at those programs.
Akron | Joined FBS in 1987
Including this year, which at 1-7 heading into the first Saturday of November and guaranteed to be below .500, the Zips have had one winning season in the last 20. Seven, and possibly an eighth, double-digit loss seasons are included. Akron actually had a stretch of five winning seasons out of seven (1999-2005) since joining the FBS, though none with more than seven wins. The program record for wins in a season, at least at the FBS level, is eight under Terry Bowden in 2015.
Arkansas State | Joined FBS in 1974
The program’s coaching history does not lack for SEC ties when considering Butch Jones, now in his sixth season in Jonesboro, Gus Malzahn, Hugh Freeze and Ray Perkins have managed the sideline over the years. Alas, not even an 11-0 showing and a Southland Conference title in 1975 — three years before the I-A/I-AA, or FBS/FCS split – under Bill Davidson sufficiently attracted AP pollsters.
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Eastern Michigan | Joined FBS in 1975
The Eagles have one 10-win season since playing at the highest level. That was 1987 (10-2) under Jim Harkema, which concluded with the program’s first (of two) bowl wins, though no AP ranking and certainly none since.
FAU & FIU | Both joined FBS in 2004
The two teams are lumped together, and not just because the campuses of Florida Atlantic (Boca Raton) and Florida International (Miami) are about 60 miles apart. Rather, the schools launched programs the same year (2001) and joined the FBS the same year (2004) as members of the Sun Belt. Neither has been in the AP top 25.
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Lane Kiffin led the Owls to their only double-digit win seasons in 2017 and 2019. Both teams went 11-3 and received AP votes multiple weeks. The 2017 Owls won their final 10 games and the 2019 squad got on a roll after losing non-conference games to what would be No. 3 Ohio State and No. 24 UCF. The Owls received 46 votes in the final poll, good for 27th overall and 23 behind No. 25 Texas. The 2017 team picked up 32 votes in the final poll, good for 30th.
FIU has had only five winning seasons since elevating to the FBS. The high-water mark for wins was nine under Butch Davis in 2018.
Louisiana-Monroe | Joined FBS in 1975
ULM went 8-5 with a bowl appearance (loss) under Todd Berry in 2012. That is the program’s lone winning season since returning to the FBS level in 1994. The first stint (1975-81) at the FBS/I-A level produced a couple of winning seasons under John David Crow, though nothing that shook the pollsters.
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Middle Tennessee State | Joined FBS in 1999
The Blue Raiders joined the FBS in 1999 and have since won more than eight games only once. That was 2009 when Rick Stockstill, now the interim head coach at Florida State, led his team to a 10-3 mark that included a New Orleans Bowl win. It was the program’s first bowl victory, and resulted in four votes in the final AP poll.
UAB | Joined FBS in 1996
The Blazers received 32 votes to place 30th in the final AP poll of 2018. That is good as it has been in Birmingham. That was a season, only the second one back on the gridiron after the program was shut down for two years on account of financial concerns, in which Bill Clark led UAB to an 11-3 mark, a CUSA title and a bowl win.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
