The Bottom 25 is going to look a lot different this season. Whereas the rankings will still be based on the 25 lowest-ranked teams in my rating system, that means something different in 2020. There are only 76 of the 130 FBS teams currently playing this fall. That's 41.5% of our usual field that's no longer available. It also means that 32.9% of the 76 teams remaining will be ranked here every week.
The most significant impact is who isn't playing, though. While 41.5% of the 130 teams disappeared in 2020, that 41.5% includes 12 of the teams who finished last year in The Bottom 25. That's nearly half the rankings! Creating even more drama is that seven of those 12 teams finished in the Bottom 10. The Bottom 25 is losing teams at an alarming rate!
The race for the Bottom 25 Championship in 2020 is more wide open than ever before, and we're going to be seeing teams we aren't accustomed to here -- there's no avoiding it.
Also, there's another minor change for the first few weeks of the season. My rating system starts fresh every year. Nothing that happened in previous seasons matters. That's not the case for now. With staggered starts across the country -- we're still 11 days away from the SEC starting -- only 42 of the 76 teams have begun their seasons. So, for any team that hasn't played a game yet, I'm using a ranking based on the last three seasons. That is why you're going to see a few teams who haven't played yet this season at the top of this week's poll. Once any team plays a game, I wipe the slate clean and start from there.
Now that you're filled in on the situation, let's rank the first Bottom 25 of the 2020 season.
The Bottom 25
| Team | Rank | Record | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 25. East Carolina | 0-0 | The Pirates' original season-opener against Marshall was postponed, and now we must wait until Sept. 26 for the Pirates to play UCF. |
 | 24. NC State | 0-0 | The Wolfpack are coming off a 4-8 season and are on a six-game losing streak. They're hoping to end it this weekend at home against No. 9 Wake Forest. |
 | 23. Rice | 0-0 | Rice is not new to The Bottom 25, and it's going to be a while before we find out what the Owls look like in 2020. Rice has already had to postpone three games, and is not currently scheduled to play until Oct. 24. |
 | 22. Vanderbilt | 0-0 | Vanderbilt is a Bottom 25 championship contender in 2020. With the SEC playing a 10-game conference schedule, there's a real chance the Commodores are staring an 0-10 season in the face. |
 | 21. Arkansas | 0-0 | It's the same story with Arkansas as it is with Vandy. Winless SEC seasons aren't a new phenomenon with the Hogs, and it could be the case again this year. |
 | 20. Iowa State | 0-1 | Finally! A team with a loss! You know, living in Chicago, I know a lot more Iowa State and Iowa alums than you might realize. And, let me tell you, the Iowa State folks were talking a lot of crap to Iowa fans when the Big Ten postponed its season. After losing the home-opener to Louisiana, things got a bit quieter on the Cyclones' end. Iowa State gets a week off to think about it before resuming against TCU on Sept. 26. |
 | 19. Duke | 0-1 | Duke didn't look all that bad in its 27-13 loss to Notre Dame. While the team isn't on Notre Dame's level, you could see reasons to be optimistic that this team is improving last year's version. The Blue Devils get Boston College at home this week. |
 | 18. Kansas State | 0-1 | The Big 12 should no longer schedule the Sun Belt. The Wildcats were one of three Big 12 teams to lose to the Sun Belt on Saturday, joining Iowa State and Kansas. What's incredible is that the team Kansas State lost to is also in this week's Bottom 25. I told you it's going to be a strange year. |
 | 17. Florida State | 0-1 | I had been reasonable about my expectations for the Seminoles the entire offseason until the last few weeks. Then, with the excitement of the season approaching, I talked myself into "yanno, this team might be better than you think! A new coach and a lot of talent!" Well, they do have a new coach, and they do have a lot of talent, but they're still the Same Ol' Noles. |
 | 16. Kansas | 0-1 | It was smart of Kansas to take advantage of the situation and move its season-opener against Coastal Carolina to a 9 p.m. local kickoff so it'd be the only game going in the late window. It would've been a lot smarter had they not lost the game, though. |
 | 15. South Alabama | 1-1 | Our first -- but not last -- team to be ranked with a win. This is where I remind you that things can get wonky early in the season with small sample sizes. South Alabama opened the season with a win over Southern Miss, but a lot of that good was wiped out with a loss to Tulane. And when there are only 18 teams with a loss and 25 spots, well, just wait til we get to the 1-0 teams! |
 | 14. Arkansas State | 1-1 | I told you things are wonky! Arkansas State just went to Manhattan and beat Kansas State, and it's ranked lower than Kansas State! But we have to remember Kansas State's rating at the start of the year is no different than our defending champion Akron's would've been, so it doesn't carry as much weight as it will later in the season. |
 | 13. Southern Miss | 0-1 | Here I thought that we might see less coaching turnover in 2020 given the circumstances, and then Southern Miss is making a coaching change after one game. Not that I don't blame them. The Eagles looked wholly unprepared and uninterested during their season-opening loss to South Alabama. We'll see how they look this week against Louisiana Tech. |
 | 12. Charlotte | 0-1 | The 49ers opened their season with a 35-20 loss at Appalachian State, and things aren't going to get any easier this week on the road against North Carolina. |
 | 11. Western Kentucky | 0-1 | On the surface, you see that Western Kentucky only lost to Louisville by 14. But then you dig deeper and see Louisville outgained the Hilltoppers by 239 yards, and two of their touchdown "drives" covered only five yards total. The third was only a 37-yard drive. |
 | 10. Texas Tech | 1-0 | Well, this is a first. A 1-0 team in The Bottom 25. That's what happens in 2020 when your lone win is a 35-33 victory over a Houston Baptist team that put up 600 yards of offense on you -- a week after North Texas beat it by 26. Why did Tech look so bad? Well, I'd bet having 75 players test positive for COVID-19 since returning to campus in June has played a significant role. |
 | 9. Wake Forest | 0-1 | Listen, Wake, just about everybody in the ACC will have to play the role of sacrificial lamb to Clemson at some point this year. You were lucky enough to get it out of the way early. Let's see how you do against No. 24 NC State this week. |
 | 8. Georgia Southern | 1-0 | Southern is our other 1-0 Bottom 25 team. The Eagles managed to squeak by Campbell (Go Fighting Camels!) 27-26. Why such a struggle? Well, Southern announced not long before kick that it would be without 33 players for REASONS. |
 | 7. Texas State | 0-2 | The Bobcats have the honor of being the only two-loss team in the country right now, but those losses weren't bad enough to get any higher than No. 7 this week. Also, if you didn't watch their 51-48 loss to UTSA on Saturday, that sucks for you. It was the most entertaining game of the day by far. |
 | 6. UAB | 1-1 | Wins against FCS teams don't carry a whole lot of weight in my ratings, so UAB's 45-35 win over Central Arkansas doesn't mean much. The 31-14 loss to Miami is doing all the work here. The Blazers are off this week before taking on No. 15 South Alabama on Sept. 24. |
 | 5. ULM | 0-1 | The Warhawks are one of two teams in this week's Bottom Five to have been steamrolled by Army. They'll get a chance to make amends this week when they face No. 7 Texas State in The Bottom 25 Game of the Century of the Week! |
 | 4. Syracuse | 0-1 | Syracuse never looked like it would beat North Carolina on Saturday, but the Orange trailed only 10-6 after three quarters. Then things fell apart in a hurry, and the final score was 31-6. This week the Orange are on the road again facing Pitt. |
 | 3. Middle Tennessee | 0-1 | Let's all make a note to not schedule Army as our first game of the year in the middle of a pandemic. The Blue Raiders were off this weekend, and they needed every second of that rest to recover from the 42-0 beatdown Army put on them. This week they get Troy at home, and Troy doesn't run the option, so things are already looking better. |
 | 2. UTEP | 1-1 | I was so happy when our two-time Bottom 25 champion Miners opened the season with a 24-14 win over Stephen F. Austin. It's nice to get that first win out of the way early. Unfortunately, a 59-3 loss to Texas wiped out all the good stuff that came with the win, and the Miners find themselves in very familiar territory here. |
 | 1. Navy | 0-1 | You might remember Navy losing to BYU 55-3 on Labor Day. The Mids are doing their best to forget it. They can start the process of getting out of the hole they've dug themselves this week against Tulane. |
