With The Indiana Hoosiers Ranked #3, Most Surprising College Football Teams to Crack The Top 10(ish) Since The 1990's
Seeing the Indiana Hoosiers ranked #3 on college football's AP Poll is nothing short of shocking. Imagine telling a Hoosiers fan 2 years ago that this would be their reality. That college basketball would become second billing in the state of Indiana. Imagine telling any college football fan on earth that the Indiana Hoosiers would be a true National Championship contender in less than 2 years. They'd have slapped you right in the dick.
Curt Cignetti might be the biggest villain in college football coaching circles history. Not because he's the most feared to go up against. But for a man who was relatively unheard of a few years ago to rise the coaching ranks so fast, get hired by one of the most hopeless power conference programs in college football, then take them to the playoffs in Year 1... beat the #3 Oregon Ducks on the road in Year 2... and seemingly overnight have the Indiana Hoosiers looking as competent/talented as ANY team in the country... I mean, if I'm trying to build up Purdue right now... fuck that guy.
If you're Matt Rhule at Nebraska, or Mike Norvell at Florida State, or quite literally any coach of any Big 10, SEC, ACC, or Big 12 school in the nation who's underperforming, then what excuse do you have? Imagine Billy Napier sitting down with Florida's administration and having to sell them on the idea that he's "shown improvement", and just needs another year to really get the program back on track. How can he even do that with a straight face? "It can't happen overnight" is no longer a viable thing to say now that Curt Cignetti exists.
Seeing Indiana ranked #3 on the AP Poll is a strange sight. It inspired me to go back into the college football Ap Poll archives to find any past year's in which we had weird/random/bizarre schools crack the top 10. Not all of these teams were necessarily a huge surprise in the moment. Some we could see coming more than others. But I went through just about every week's AP Poll dating back to the mid-1990's, and these were the schools that stuck out the most.
2021 Cincinnati Bearcats (highest rank #2)
It seems like a lifetime ago when the Cincinnati Bearcats were going undefeated in the American Conference and earning a trip to the college football playoff. The college football world has changed drastically since then. Luke Fickell was still considered a good great football coach at that point. In the end, Cincinnati went out with such a whimper in the semi-finals vs Alabama that you almost forget it even happened. Teams like Cincinnati ending up in the 4-team playoff is exactly what led to the 12-team expansion. So thank you for that Cincinnati. But there was a point midway through the 2021 season, a couple weeks after they beat #9 Notre Dame, when Desmond Ridder, Alec Pierce, Tre Tucker, Sauce Gardner and the rest of the Bearcats held onto the #2 spot for 4-consecutive weeks.
2014 Mississippi State Bulldogs (highest rank #1)
People who have never heard Brandon Walker speak before may have forgotten that Mississippi State was the first ever #1 ranked football team in the inaugural College Football Playoff Rankings. In one of the most anticipated college football seasons in college football history… in the year we were FINALLY getting a playoff (even if it was only 4 teams)… the Mississippi State Bulldogs rose to #1 in the country
Mississippi State went from unranked to #1 in three weeks after rattling off consecutive wins vs #8 LSU, #6 Texas A&M, and #2 Auburn. Upon watching back those highlights, I was borderline shocked at how great of a runner Dak Prescott was back then. I forgot just how much of the entire Mississippi State offense he was responsible for. In the Auburn game, he threw the ball 34 times, and led the team with 21 carries. For a stretch of time there, he was basically Cam Newton 2.0.
Unfortunately, Mississippi State fell apart in the final weeks of their season (lost to #4 Alabama & #18 Ole Miss). Then proceeded to lose in the Orange Bowl to #10 Georgia Tech. Mississippi State has a significantly better football history than Indiana. But as far as surprising college football teams who came out of nowhere and ascend to become legitimate national title contenders, the 2014 Mississippi State Bulldogs are about the closest thing we have to 2025 Indiana in recent-ish memory.
The Entire 2007 College Football Season
If you're interested in seeing some serious "What the fuck?!" Top 10's, take a week-by-week scroll through the AP Poll's of the 2007 college football season. It started out with a relatively normal mid-2000's Top 10. It was big year for the Big East, but nothing aside from maybe West Virginia being ranked pre-season #3 could really take you by surprise.
But by mid-October, the college football world was in disarray. Every single team in the pre-season AP Top 10 had a loss, making the South Florida Bulls and the Boston College Eagles the #2 & #3 ranked teams in the nation.
South Florida started the season unranked, but a trio a wins over #17 Auburn, North Carolina, and a #5 West Virginia team that featured Rich Rodriguez, Pat White, and Steve Slaton.
Combined with every undefeated team ahead of them refusing to not lose a game, the AP had no choice but to slot USF in the #2 spot. They didn't hold on to that ranking. Not even for a week. As soon as they hit #2, they proceeded to drop their next three games to unranked opponents. But for a short stretch of time early in the season, the South Florida Bulls were thinking National Championship.
Meanwhile, in the ACC, Boston College was doing the same thing. Matt Ryan was playing close to Heisman Trophy level. They caught a couple ranked wins over #15 Georgia Tech & #8 Virginia Tech. And when South Florida lost their first game, Boston College took their place at #2.
Of course, they didn't hold onto it either. They quickly lost two games in a row to equally unranked opponents. Which eventually brought us to our third "What the fuck?!" #2 ranked team of the season… the Kansas Jayhawks.
You might remember fondly the head coaching stylings of Mark Mangino.
Right behind Kansas, their arch rival Missouri had climbed to #3. Which isn't especially rare, except for as luck would have it, the same week Kansas & Missouri moved to #2 & #3 in the country, the two teams squared-off in 'The Boarder War' at Arrowhead Stadium. A game Missouri won 36-28 to move to #1 in the country.
Naturally, Missouri instantly lost their next game (Big 12 Championship) to Oklahoma. And after all the craziness that was the 2007 college football season, it was 2-loss LSU vs 1-loss Ohio State for the BCS National Championship. About as normal and expected of a National Championship matchup as you can get. But it was a hell of a ride to get there. Beyond the already mentioned teams, Arizona State climbed all the way to #6. Kentucky made it to #8. And heading into the Sugar Bowl, Colt Brennan's (RIP) Hawaii Rainbow Warriors cracked the top 10, and even earned 1 single vote first place vote. It was one of the strangest (and most fun) college football seasons you'll ever come across.
Boise State (ranked as high as #2 in 2010)
I'm not even sure what year to attach to Boise State. They've been good for so long it almost seems disrespectful to include them on this list at all. They had such an incredible run in the 2000's and beyond, but they hit the ground running from the year they turned FBS in 1996 (Division 1-A back then). It took them a few years to find their footing, but since 1999, they've barely even been close to finishing a season below .500. They've been a remarkably solid football team for as long as I can remember, but the late 2000's is really when they started to turn heads.
2004 Utah Utes (highest rank #4)
Urban Meyer, with Alex Smith at QB, led Utah to an undefeated 12-0 record in the Mountain West and finished the season ranked #4 in the nation. Urban Meyer was gone for Florida before Utah's bowl game (Fiesta Bowl). But it's a shame Utah was given #19 Pittsburgh in that game. Utah won that game 35-7. They deserved to have a crack at someone better after going undefeated (i.e. Auburn, Texas, Georgia, etc)
2003 The Year of #MACtion (Miami-OH, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green)
Aside from Miami-OH, the other two teams mentored don't quite meet the qualifications of "cracking the top 10". But 2003 was the peak of MAC football. Early in the season, following ranked wins over Maryland & Alabama, the Northern Illinois Huskies, led by running back Michael Turner (and leading receiver/current Minnesota Gophers HC P.J. Fleck), climbed as high #12 in the country.
It lasted until late October, when they visited the #23 ranked Bowling Green Falcons, who had previously knocked off #16 Purdue, and played #5 Ohio State within a touchdown. The MAC was so hot at the time that College Gameday came to town. Corso took the Falcons.
And Corso was right. Bowling Green won the game with relative ease. It propelled the Falcons to #15 in the nation. But like every other mid-major school who ever gets to the point of being ranked higher than expected, they immediately lost their next game. On a Tuesday night in northwest Ohio, Bowling Green ran into the buzzsaw that was Ben Roethlisberger and the Miami (OH) Redhawks. Miami won that game 33-10. The two teams met again in the MAC Championship. Miami won the rematch 49-27. When it was all said and done, after Miami defeated Louisville 49-28 in the GMAC Bowl, the Redhawks finished the 2003 season as the 10th ranked team in the nation.
Hell of a year for MAC Football. The way things are going with conference realignment and the NIL… with Northern Illinois set to leave for the Mountain West… we might not see anything like it again.
2001 Fresno State Bulldogs (highest rank #8)
A young me thought Fresno State was the coolest school ever. I'm not really sure why. I knew nothing about what the city of Fresno was actually like. I simply knew it was in California, they had helmets featuring a large green V on the back for some reason, and they were underdogs fighting above their weight-class. I was also a big admirer of Pat Hill's mustache.
Fresno State had a handful of exceptional mid-major teams under Pat Hill. But stars aligned for the 2001 Fresno State Bulldogs to start the season. They had David Carr at QB. Three weeks in, Fresno had three wins over power conference opponents. Two of whom were ranked in the top 25.
They peaked as high as #8 in the AP Poll before they too lost back-to-back games (Boise State & Hawaii). Which sadly, continues to be a theme among these schools who make magical runs into the top 10.
1999 Marshall Thundering Herd (highest rank #10)
Sadly this was a couple years after Randy Moss had moved onto the NFL. Had Randy Moss been 2 years younger, and still went down whatever troubled path led him to Marshall, who knows how high the 1999 Thundering Herd would have peaked. But Chad Pennington was still at Marshall slinging the rock (with Byron Leftwich as his backup). And even with Randy Moss, it would have been hard for that year's Marshall team to perform much better than 13-0, with a grand total of two 1-score games.
1993-1995 Kansas State Wildcats (highest rank #7)
I'm too young to remember this, but there was a time when Kansas State was a horrific football program. A reliable bottom dweller in the Big 8 conference year-in and year-out. But in 1993, everything changed. For the first time since 1970, the Wildcats were a ranked football team again. And after SO MANY years of not even being a blip on the radar of college football, thanks to Head Coach Bill Snyder, by 1995 they were a Top 10 program (and proceeded to crack the Top 10 for eight out of the next nine seasons).
I might end up having to take back what I said about 2014 Mississippi State being the closest thing to 2025 Indiana. If Indiana is a flash in the pan, then Mississippi State is probably their closest comparison (although still miles different if we're being honest, it can't be overstated just how atrocious Indiana football has historically been). But if Indiana can maintain any level of success, they could end up being the Kansas State of the 21st century.
Honorable Mentions (some of these teams really weren't that strange to be ranked highly for the time, but they would be today, so fuck it I'm including them)
2020 (Covid Year) - On December 13th, Coastal Carolina, one of the only teams to play 12 games that year, was 11-0 and ranked #9
2018 - UCF finished the regular season ranked #7. They were on the cusp of being a Top 10 team all year long. They probably deserve more than an honorable mention, but they were so annoying about claiming a National Championship (and lost to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl), that I'm sticking them in the HM's.
2011 - On November 20th, the Top 10 had #3 Arkansas, #4 Stanford, #5 Oklahoma State, #6 Virginia Tech, #7 Boise State, #8 Houston
2009 - On November 11th, we had #4 TCU, #5 Cincinnati, #6 Boise State, #7 Georgia Tech, #8 Pittsburgh
2006 - Rutgers ranked as high as #6, Boise State finished the season undefeated and ranked #5 (with 1 first place vote).
2004 - On October 10th, we had #5 Purdue, #6 Virginia, and #8 Cal
2001 - Maryland Terrapins were ranked as high as #6 in early December
1998 - Arizona finished the year ranked #4 in the AP Poll, Tulane finished #7
Apologies to any teams I left out. It's either because I didn't think it was that much of a surprise for the time, or because I didn't go back that far in the history books.