With a close-fought battle for the conference title and an elevated national presence due to their midweek scheduling, Conference USA was one of the most compelling to watch last fall. It should be again this fall, with the Liberty Flames looking for a bounce-back year, two new programs joining the ranks, and plenty of changes across the returning 10 schools.
Our 2025 CUSA Power Rankings stack the teams from worst to first.
12) Kennesaw State Owls
Jerry Mack returns to the head coaching arena in 2025 after replacing Brian Bohannon at the helm of the Kennesaw State Owls. Mack will be charged with transforming the fortunes of a program that had some exciting moments (like beating the Liberty Flames) in 2024, but ultimately struggled in Year 1 at the FBS level.
Mack has a 31-15 overall record and three MEAC titles under his belt, but hasn’t led a program since 2017. He inherits a roster that returns star linebacker Garland Benyard. Still, for a head coach whose recent coaching gigs have seen him develop running backs, there isn’t much to be excited about from an offensive perspective. We’ve seen Year 2 turnarounds in CUSA, but that might be a stretch for the Owls.
11) Delaware Blue Hens
The Delaware Blue Hens finished their final FCS campaign before moving to CUSA with an unblemished home record amid a 9-2 overall campaign. Both quarterbacks who saw significant snaps (Nick Minicucci and Zach Marker) make the leap with the program. While leading rusher Marcus Yarns departed, Jo’Nathan Silver is a talented running back who could be a star for the program.
That said, Ryan Carty’s team faces a baptism of fire in their first FBS season, with trips to the previous two CUSA champions on their conference schedule and the consistently strong Western Kentucky Hilltoppers making the journey to Newark. The program has added very little FBS experience to the roster this offseason, which could come back to haunt the Blue Hens in their debut campaign.
10) Missouri State Bears
Last season, the Missouri State Bears were predicted to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, but finished the year fifth with an 8-4 record. It’s a cautionary tale about ruling out Ryan Beard’s side ahead of the transition to the FBS in CUSA, especially after they proved they could mix in with Group of Five programs during a close game with the Ball State Cardinals last fall.
Quarterback Jacob Clark is a 6’5″, 220-pound difference-maker who shone in his first full season under center. The return of the former Minnesota Golden Gopher should give the Bears a better shot at early success than the other FCS convert. However, they’ll need to run a gauntlet that includes the USC Trojans in Week 1 and the SMU Mustangs in Week 3.
9) Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
The good news for Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders fans is that the program returns 67.6% of its 2024 production for the upcoming campaign. The bad news is that production resulted in a 3-9 record in Derek Mason’s first year, with the team declining in several metrics and featuring near the bottom of the FBS across a raft of basic and more advanced measurements last fall.
Nonetheless, there is some positive news with the return of quarterback Nicholas Vattiato, a gunslinger who has tallied over 3,000 passing yards in successive seasons despite changing coaching staffs. He led CUSA in completions, attempts, and passing yards per game a year ago and has game-changing potential. However, he also led the conference in interceptions and guided the offense to just 18.1 points per game a year ago.
8) New Mexico State Aggies
After the highs of a run to the CUSA Championship Game in 2023, the New Mexico State Aggies came crashing back to earth last fall with a 3-9 campaign that lacked the swashbuckling excitement of Diego Pavia’s influence. Running back Seth McGowan did provide an offensive spark, and it looked like Tony Sanchez would have his standout weapon at his disposal when he was on the spring roster.
However, McGowan entered the portal in the spring window and found a new home with the Kentucky Wildcats. With several starting offensive linemen also no longer on campus, the Aggies’ offense has plenty of question marks hanging over it as they attempt to navigate a schedule that features road trips to Liberty and Western Kentucky.
7) UTEP Miners
When Scotty Walden took over ahead of last season, there were high hopes for exciting football in El Paso. However, the result was a 3-9 record, an offense that struggled to put points on the board due to QB injuries and inconsistency, and a defense that hemorrhaged 32.3 ppg on average despite facing a schedule with an opponent win percentage below .500.
There’s an element of similar excitement heading into the 2025 season, too, following the capture of former five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson from the transfer portal. That should be tempered, with the former USC and Boise State passer yet to establish himself at the college level. The Miners lack the hard-nosed rushing attack that has often been successful, and also lost Kyran Duhon to the portal.
6) FIU Golden Panthers
After three successive four-win seasons under Mike MacIntyre, the FIU Golden Panthers opted for a change of direction for the 2025 season, bringing in Willie Simmons from the Florida A&M Rattlers. Although he had some offseason wins, Simmons has his work cut out to establish a team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2018 as a legitimate contender in a growing Conference USA.
Look up in the sky, it’s a bird? It’s a plane? Nah it’s just Keyone Jenkins through the air, ain’t a dang thing changed 🤷
📺 – @ESPNPlus #NoLimitsonUs | @FIUFootball pic.twitter.com/tlJEPP54S6
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) September 7, 2024
Retaining the services of quarterback Keyone Jenkins after a dalliance with the transfer portal is a definite win, as is Simmons’ ability to attract some Power Four talent to the roster. However, they lost electric wide receiver Eric Rivers to Georgia Tech, and the best parts of a defense that could create difficulties at times last fall are no longer there. The CUSA schedule is suboptimal, too.
5) Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
It felt like Louisiana Tech Bulldogs HC Sonny Cumbie was on the college football hot seat. However, his team eased the pressure on the third-year leader by pulling off wins over Western Kentucky and Kennesaw State, securing the program’s best overall and CUSA records since 2020.
Can they push on and compete in a conference that saw a lot of offseason change?
Potentially. Louisiana Tech wasn’t immune to the lure of the transfer portal and also lost some players due to exhausted eligibility, while Cumbie didn’t bring in much the other way. However, in Evan Bullock, the Bulldogs have a talented option under center who has at least some of his offensive line back in front of him. Louisiana Tech’s most challenging CUSA games are at home, helping pave a path to six wins.
4) Jacksonville State Gamecocks
The Jacksonville State Gamecocks were one of the most entertaining teams to watch last fall, combining a high-octane ground game with some of the most ferocious defensive play we saw at any level of the game. That 2024 team would have been much higher on our power rankings, but there have been many changes at the CUSA champions this offseason, muddying their outlook.
You can’t lose dynamic playmakers like Tyler Huff (3,887 offensive yards) or star running back Tre Stewart (1,872 yards, 26 touchdowns) and not see a drop-off in play, especially when combined with the departure of a head coach in Rich Rodriguez, whose hurry-up offense bamboozled teams all year long. Cam Cook is a fun addition, but this simply isn’t the same outfit as last year.
3) Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
The CUSA runner-up Hilltoppers’ roster was absolutely ravaged by the forces of eligibility and transfer portal this offseason, with just 21.6% of the total snaps from last season returning to the program for 2025. The loss of Veltkamp to Florida Atlantic is a particularly difficult pill to swallow as Tyson Helton’s team attempts to capture a CUSA crown.
That said, the Hilltoppers made some eye-opening moves of their own over the winter. Rick Bowie arrives as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, a role he executed to a high standard with Abilene Christian a year ago. Bowie brings quarterback Maverick McIvor with him, and if the two can replicate the fruits of their relationship in the FBS, Western Kentucky will be tough to beat.
2) Sam Houston Bearkats
As the Sam Houston Bearkats prepare for life after Keeler, they turned to a familiar face as their new head coach. Phil Longo was responsible for one of the most prolific offenses in program history as offensive coordinator, and the school will hope to rekindle that romance in the 2025 season.
Longo currently holds a 7-14 overall record from a two-year stint at La Salle and was most recently fired as OC at Wisconsin. His transition back into a head coaching role is helped significantly by the return of quarterback Hunter Watson, one of the most exciting dual-threats in the Group of Five.
However, they lost two talented running backs in Jevyon Ducker and DJ McKinney, and the defense hemorrhaged even more talent. A Week 0 CUSA clash with Western Kentucky shortens Sam Houston’s offseason of acclimatization.
1) Liberty Flames
Ignore a Jamey Chadwell-led team at your peril. The Liberty Flames had a target on their back last fall after an exceptional 2023 season, and it showed.
Somewhat free from the shackles of elevated expectation, and with some dissenting voices removed from the locker room, we should see a Liberty team that is once again a contender for the CUSA crown behind Chadwell’s innovative offense.
MORE: 2025 College Football Power Rankings
With a multitude of portal defections, most notably quarterback Kaidon Salter and several key offensive linemen, Liberty will look much different in 2025. The Flames added several players with Power Four experience to replace the departures headed the opposite way.
Although Ethan Vasko wasn’t at Coastal Carolina with Chadwell, he has enough ground game capability to help run Liberty’s offense against a schedule that importantly avoids Western Kentucky and Sam Houston.
College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in college football, men’s college basketball, women’s college basketball, and college baseball!
