College football rankings: Bottom 25 welcomes Purdue, Mississippi State as newest Power Four representatives

25. State of Utah 1-3 The bye week was kind to Utah State as it gave the Aggies a break from their replacement role as FBS punching bag. It's busy again on Saturday against No. 21 Boise State and Heisman Trophy contender Ashton Jeanty. (Last week: 20) 24. South Florida 2-3 South Florida went from battling Alabama to outrunning New Orleans in a handful of quarters by Tulane. If the past few weeks have taught the Bulls anything, it's that life comes at you fast. A bye in week 6 gives them the chance to catch their breath. (NR) 23. UTSA 2-3 UTSA's steady decline continues. The Roadrunners' average point differential against FBS opponents this year is minus 21.5. That takes into account a 12-point win against Kennesaw State, if you're wondering how bad things really are. (24) 22. Mississippi State 1-4 A loss by just 22 points to No. 2 Texas might be the highlight of Jeff Lebby's tenure thus far. It's certainly better than being pushed into a locker by Toledo in your own stadium. Don't worry Bulldogs, you only have to play five ranked teams in your last seven games. (NR) 21. Western Michigan 1-3 Like most Bottom 25 teams, Western Michigan is still looking for its first FBS win. A road trip to Ball State in the Bottom 25 Game of the Week provides a perfect opportunity. (NR) 20. Ancient Reign 1-3 I'm sarcastically bidding Old Dominion the best of luck ahead of last week's game against Bowling Green, as the Falcons pushed both Penn State and Texas A&M to the brink. Well, the Monarchs took that encouragement to heart and ran with it to a big 30-27 victory. So, to keep the good vibes going, good luck against Coastal Carolina, ODU. (15) 19. Miami (OH) 1-3 Miami got its first win in Week 5, but it certainly wasn't pretty. Taking overtime to beat UMass deserves its own embarrassing shoutout. Don't expect much better this Saturday against Toledo. (13) 18. Louisiana Technology 1-3 The only reason for encouragement, or perhaps sadness, for LA Tech so far is the fact that three of the four games have come down to one possession. The other was a respectable 10-point road loss to NC State. The downside to that is the fact that Sonny Cumbie hasn't beaten an FBS team in over a year and is 0-9 in his last nine tries. (NR) 17. State of Arkansas 2-2 After back-to-back road games against ranked Power Four opponents, Arkansas State had a bye week to reset. Now a return home and South Alabama awaits. (18) 16.Purdue 1-3 It's hard to find anything Ryan Walters' Boilermakers are good at other than terrible football. A few (not) fun facts: Purdue leads the FBS with 92 penalties per game, and it is the only school in the country without forced turnovers. Buy hey, maybe firing offensive coordinator Graham Harrell after four games will fix everything! (NR) 15. Troy 1-4 I'm really starting to understand why Notre Dame wasn't concerned about losing Gerad Parker. Despite his experience as an offensive coordinator, the Trojans are averaging just 15.7 points per game against FBS competition under Parker. Troy didn't even eclipse the 10-point mark in a Week 5 loss to ULM. (19) 14. Charlotte 2-3 Big win for Charlotte last week as it was able to beat Rice on the road and start the American Athletic Conference 1-0. Before that, the 49ers had lost at least three games by 18 points and defeated FCS Gardner-Webb by one point. (12) 13. Temple 1-4 There is the Temple we all know and love. You scared us Owls with your 16 point win over an FBS team. A 42-14 Army loss is much closer to what we're used to. Temple is now 0-2 against service academies. (17) 12. Southern Miss 1-3 Southern Miss was saved from further disappointment with a bye in Week 5. The Golden Eagles are losing by an average of 31 points in FBS games this season. (14) 11. New Mexico 1-4 Bronco Mendenhall finally got his first win as New Mexico's coach, and in a rather sweet way. The Lobos defeated rival New Mexico State 50-40. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but an Oct. 12 clash against Air Force is shaping up to be the kind of game Bottom 25 dreams are made of. (9) 10. UMass 1-4 UMass took Miami (OH) to overtime, but still couldn't overcome the FBS hurdle. The Minutemen are on a six-game losing streak against their level of competition. (11) 9. Air Force 1-3 If Air Force can't beat Wyoming, I'm not sure there's any hope left for the Falcons to get on the board this season. In case you don't know by now, FCS wins rarely count as “getting on the board.” It's certainly going to be tough to right the ship this week (get it?) with a matchup against 4-0 Marine looming. (10) 8. Middle Tennessee 1-4 For a defensive head coach, Derek Mason has certainly had a hard time getting his team ready to stop opponents. The Blue Raiders rank last in C-USA in total defense, scoring defense and have allowed 40 or more points in three of their last five games. (7) 7. State of New Mexico 1-4 New Mexico State's Week 5 game against New Mexico marked only the second time this season that the Aggies passed for at least 100 yards as a team. And they still lost 50-40. Maybe it was the whole 50-point allowing thing that reeled them in. (6) 6.Wyoming 1-4 Wyoming beat Air Force by 12 points and still couldn't climb out of the bottom 10. That just goes to show how bad the Cowboys have been in every other game this year. (2) 5. UTEP 0-4 UTEP is coming off a bye, which allowed it to rise out of the bottom four. That probably won't last given how the Miners have looked this season. (4) 4. Akron 1-4 Replacing UTEP in the bottom four is Akron, which proved in Week 5 it can lose by double digits to both Power Four and Group of Five opponents by falling 30-10 to Ohio to open MAC play. That Nov. 19 game against Kent State can't happen soon enough. (8) 3. Kennesaw State 0-4 You can take the school out of the FCS, but you can't take the FCS out of the school. Kennesaw State found that out the hard way in a 24-13 loss to UT-Martin in Week 5. If relegation existed, the Owls would be in big trouble. (3) 2. Ball state 1-3 What a fall it has been for Ball State. The Cardinals went from bottom after Week 3 to No. 5 after Week 5 and are now in the bottom two after Week 6. It will be tough to take over the top spot from Kent State, but Ball State is certainly going there for. (5) 1. Kent State 0-5 The good news is that Kent State scored a season-high 33 points against Eastern Michigan. The bad news is that Kent State lost to Eastern Michigan 52-33. The Golden Flashes have a bye this week, which offers their first chance to not lose a game all year. (1)