College Football Top 25: 10 non-ranked teams who could crack the late-season polls

Nov 27, 2014; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns cheerleaders perform during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

The college football top 25 is where every program wants to be. That’s the starting point on your journey to a possible playoff spot, and these 10 teams could very well be in that mix of teams by the time we’re finished with our Trick-or-Treating in 2015.

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In 2014, Mississippi State set a record by going from not ranked to No. 1 in the AP poll after just eight weeks. Every season there’s at least one team — usually several — who turn out to be big surprises like that. The preseason polls are just guesswork in a white lab coat, but after week four the shape of the rankings can really begin.

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Last season it was Georgia Tech, Memphis, Louisville, Marshall, Arizona, TCU, Boise State and of course the above-mentioned Bulldogs who were left out of the preseason rankings but found their way to a top 25 spot by the end of the season.

Both TCU and Mississippi State were primed for playoff spots late in the season and just missed the cut, which is a pretty good indication of how nobody really knows what to think of many teams before the season starts. It’s also why the College Football Playoff committee doesn’t even start ranking teams until November.

Here are 10 teams who aren’t ranked this season, who we may very well see sitting in the final top 25 of the year, and possibly even playing in a national semifinal on New Year’s Eve.

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