We’re less than two months from kicking off college football’s 2025 season with Kansas State and Iowa State battling in Ireland for a Week 0 showdown. The precursor to a loaded Week 1 slate featuring several games highlighted by nationally ranked teams, including Texas-Ohio State, LSU-Clemson and Miami-Notre Dame, strong scheduling early will provide an early glimpse of the nation’s best squads.
The results of those contests will add to the career marks of participating coaches against Top 25 competition with a few of those records being considerably more impressive than others.
Who’s ready to rip the Band-Aid off and look under the hood at the nation’s top coaches against quality opponents?
Ranking the top 25 Power Four college football coaches entering the 2025 season
Tom Fornelli
We’re taking a deep dive to determine every Power Four head coach’s career record against Top 25 opponents, a barometer on coaching acumen and who’s getting the most out of their respective talent — which varies to a significant degree.
Data collection, sorting numbers
Career coaching records against ranked opponents for this exercise were determined by the opponent’s placement in the AP Top 25 poll at the time of game. Every head-coaching stop is included within a career. However, this does not reflect postseason rankings or how respective teams finished in a given year. And for a few coaches whose wins over ranked competition may have been vacated later, we’ve counted those victories anyway in the win column — since they were won on the field.
Six head coaches within the Power Four ranks haven’t yet beaten a nationally ranked opponent — Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State, Northwestern’s David Braun, Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry, UCLA’s Deshaun Foster, Oregon State’s Trent Bray and Curt Cignetti at Indiana. Two others — North Carolina’s Bill Belichick and Stanford’s Frank Reich — will coach against their first ranked teams this season as first-year college head coaches.
Only 10 Power Four coaches currently hold a .500 or better career winning percentage against ranked teams. We’ll include Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman in that bunch. At the elite independent program, Freeman has the fourth-best winning percentage among college football’s active coaches at 14-6 overall (.700) and several of those victories came last season during the Fighting Irish’s run to the national title game.
That said, not all schedules and quality victories are created equal. Take into consideration which teams these coaches have played and the teams they’ve beaten in certain conferences before passing judgment on resume. The “what have you done for me lately” mantra matters, too.
SEC loaded with quality winners
While Kalen DeBoer deserves his share of ribbing after Alabama’s fall from grace during his first season, the Crimson Tide managed to do its homework on the program’s hire post-Nick Saban. No coach has a better winning percentage against top competition than DeBoer, which is what it takes to win big in the nation’s most competitive league. DeBoer went 10-1 against ranked teams over two seasons at Washington, the lone loss coming to Michigan in the national championship game.
Kirby Smart’s 37 total wins over ranked competition since the start of the 2016 season is the most in college football over that stretch, topping Dabo Swinney’s 28 at Clemson. In fact, two of those wins from Smart have come against Swinney (2021, 2024).
There are some SEC coaches trending in the opposite direction entering the 2025 season at their programs. Hugh Freeze is 1-8 against ranked teams at Auburn over his first two years while four of Shane Beamer’s seven wins over ranked teams at South Carolina came down the stretch in 2024.
Steve Sarkisian at Texas is the only coach in America to lead his program to consecutive playoff semifinal appearances. The Longhorns are 10-5 against the top 25 the last two seasons, after posting just two victories over ranked teams during Sarkisian’s first two years on campus.
Prior to wins over LSU and Ole Miss last November, Billy Napier had struggled against top 25 competition over his early tenure at Florida and previously with Louisiana.
Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea has two career wins over ranked teams after beating then-No. 1 Alabama for the first time in program history last fall and upsetting 24th-ranked Kentucky during the 2022 campaign.
SEC coaches vs. Top 25 (career)
|
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama |
15-3 (.833) |
|
Kirby Smart, Georgia |
37-15 (.711) |
|
Josh Heupel, Tennessee |
12-12 (.500) |
|
Brian Kelly, LSU |
35-37 (.486) |
|
Steve Sarkisian, Texas |
21-33 (.388) |
|
Brent Venables, Oklahoma |
4-7 (.363) |
|
Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri |
7-14 (.333) |
|
Mike Elko, Texas A&M |
3-6 (.333) |
|
Shane Beamer, South Carolina |
7-15 (.318) |
|
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss |
11-24 (.314) |
|
Mark Stoops, Kentucky |
14-31 (.311) |
|
Sam Pittman, Arkansas |
7-22 (.241) |
|
Hugh Freeze, Auburn |
10-32 (.238) |
|
Billy Napier, Florida |
5-18 (.217) |
|
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt |
2-15 (.117) |
|
Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State |
0-6 |
Ryan Day, Dan Lanning lead Big Ten
Day, Lanning and Lincoln Riley are the only league coaches with winning records in their respective careers against top 25 competition. Riley acquired most of his during his stint at Oklahoma while Day captured six ranked wins last season in directing the Buckeyes to a national championship. Lanning beat three ranked teams last fall before losing to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal.
Sherrone Moore’s first season at Michigan didn’t go as planned, but the Wolverines did become the only team this decade to beat USC, Ohio State and Alabama during the same campaign.
James Franklin posted a career-best 13 victories in 2024, pushing the Nittany Lions to the playoff semifinal against Notre Dame. Penn State beat three ranked teams along the way and also lost to three (Ohio State, Oregon and the Fighting Irish). Franklin has lost eight straight to the Buckeyes.
Indiana only lost twice last fall during Cignetti’s first campaign, but each of those came against ranked competition.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule’s last win over a ranked team came in his final game at Temple in 2016. Since, Rhule is winless in 17 tries at Baylor and with the Huskers against the nation’s best.
Kirk Ferentz has the most wins versus top 25 opponents in the Big Ten with 30, much of that due to being the league’s longest-tenured coach.
Big Ten coaches vs. Top 25 (career)
|
Ryan Day, Ohio State |
24-9 (.727) |
|
Dan Lanning, Oregon |
10-6 (.625) |
|
Lincoln Riley, USC |
18-15 (.545) |
|
Sherrone Moore, Michigan |
3-4 (.428) |
|
Jedd Fisch, Washington |
7-10 (.411) |
|
James Franklin, Penn State |
17-26 (.395) |
|
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa |
30-56 (.348) |
|
Bret Bielema, Illinois |
23-45 (.338) |
|
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin |
8-20 (.285) |
|
P.J. Fleck, Minnesota |
7-20 (.259) |
|
Jonathan Smith, Michigan State |
4-13 (.235) |
|
Greg Schiano, Rutgers |
4-32 (.111) |
|
Matt Rhule, Nebraska |
2-22 (.083) |
|
Barry Odom, Purdue |
1-12 (.076) |
|
Mike Locksley, Maryland |
2-28 (.066) |
|
Curt Cignetti, Indiana |
0-2 |
|
DeShaun Foster, UCLA |
0-3 |
|
David Braun, Northwestern |
0-6 |
Dabo Swinney carries ACC’s torch
One of only three active coaches with at least one national championship to his credit, Swinney is dependable against elite competition. Many of his top victories have come in the College Football Playoff during his illustrious Clemson career, which includes numerous ACC championships and two playoff titles. The Tigers went 1-3 last season against ranked teams, the lone win coming against SMU in the ACC title game to clinch a CFP berth.
Brent Key has accomplished more with less at Georgia Tech, including nationally ranked wins over Florida State and Miami in 2024. The Seminoles flatlined after getting punched in the mouth by the Yellow Jackets in the opener while the Hurricanes’ stubbed their toe in Atlanta.
Three of the highlights during Syracuse’s 10-win season last fall under first-year coach Fran Brown were the Orange’s ranked wins over Georgia Tech, UNLV and Miami. That final victory over the Hurricanes crushed Miami’s playoff aspirations.
Despite being the ACC’s second-longest tenured coach and holding the program record for wins, Dave Doeren has struggled to beat the good teams on the schedule with the Wolfpack. Over the last two seasons, NC State is 0-5 against ranked competition.
Pry hasn’t beaten a top 25 opponent yet (0-5) and could face as many as four this season, including South Carolina in the opener.
Three of Mike Norvell’s eight career victories against ranked competition came during Florida State’s 13-1 campaign in 2023. The Seminoles became the first and only unbeaten power conference champion to be excluded from the playoff during the four-team era.
ACC coaches vs. Top 25 (career)
|
Fran Brown, Syracuse |
3-1 (.750) |
|
Dabo Swinney, Clemson |
40-27 (.597) |
|
Brent Key, Georgia Tech |
6-6 (.500) |
|
Bill O’Brien, Boston College |
4-5 (.444) |
|
Jeff Brohm, Louisville |
11-16 (.407) |
|
Rhett Lashlee, SMU |
3-5 (.375) |
|
Manny Diaz, Duke |
4-8 (.333) |
|
Mario Cristobal, Miami |
8-18 (.307) |
|
Mike Norvell, Florida State |
8-19 (.296) |
|
Pat Narduzzi, Pitt |
9-22 (.290) |
|
Jake Dickert, Wake Forest |
3-9 (.250) |
|
Tony Elliott, Virginia |
2-6 (.250) |
|
Dave Doeren, NC State |
8-29 (.216) |
|
Justin Wilcox, Cal |
4-20 (.166) |
|
Brent Pry, Virginia Tech |
0-5 |
|
Frank Reich, Stanford |
N/A |
|
Bill Belichick, North Carolina |
N/A |
No elite dominance in Big 12
Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy was over .500 for his career against ranked teams prior to last season’s demise in Stillwater when the Cowboys went winless in four tries against ranked teams. Still, 47 career victories over top 25 competition dwarfs the next closest coach in the conference.
Sonny Dykes beat six ranked teams at TCU in 2022 during the Horned Frogs’ spirited run to the national title game, eclipsing his previous career total (five) of top 25 wins in one season.
Since winning the Big 12 Championship in 2021 with a 12-2 record and fifth-place finish in the final AP poll, Dave Aranda has lost 10 straight against ranked competition at Baylor. That’s part of the reason his 2025 season is so pivotal with quarterback Sawyer Robertson and the Bears.
Rodriguez registered 10 wins in 24 tries against ranked teams during his first stint at West Virginia from 2001-07 when he enjoyed three consecutive top-10 finishes with high-powered offenses leading the way. The quality wins have lacked since over stints at Michigan and Arizona, which preceded success with Jacksonville State.
Willie Fritz lost his first 12 games against ranked teams at Tulane before winning three straight — including a victory over USC in the Cotton Bowl — to cap the best campaign in program history in 2022. He went 1-3 against top 25 competition in his first season at Houston last fall.
Deion Sanders has one win in eight tries at Colorado against top 25 opponents. A couple nationally ranked losses last fall — despite being led by Heisman winner Travis Hunter and all-league quarterback Shedeur Sanders — cost the Buffaloes a spot in the playoff.
Scott Frost returns this season to UCF, where his three career wins over ranked teams all came during that memorable unbeaten 2017 season with the Knights. Over five failed years at Nebraska, however, Frost was winless against top 25 opponents, leading to his ousting.
Big 12 coaches vs. Top 25 (career)
|
Chris Klieman, Kansas State |
10-10 (.500) |
|
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State |
47-48 (.489) |
|
Kalani Sitake, BYU |
9-13 (.409) |
|
Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State |
4-6 (.400) |
|
Kyle Whittingham, Utah |
22-37 (.372) |
|
Matt Campbell, Iowa State |
16-27 (.372) |
|
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech |
4-7 (.363) |
|
Lance Leipold, Kansas |
5-10 (.333) |
|
Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia |
20-45 (.307) |
|
Sonny Dykes, TCU |
11-25 (.305) |
|
Dave Aranda, Baylor |
5-15 (.250) |
|
Willie Fritz, Houston |
4-16 (.200) |
|
Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati |
3-13 (.187) |
|
Scott Frost, UCF |
3-16 (.157) |
|
Deion Sanders, Colorado |
1-7 (.125) |
|
Brent Brennan, Arizona |
1-10 (.090) |
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