College Football Playoff Rankings
IRVING, Texas – Appalachian State's historic football season added another milestone as the Mountaineers became the first Sun Belt Conference program to earn a College Football Playoff Top 25 in-season ranking, coming in at No. 25 in the Nov. 12 release.
Appalachian State, also ranked 24th in this week's Amway Coaches powered by
USA Today Sports Top 25 Poll, is the first team in conference history to achieve two wins against Autonomy Five conference schools in the same season. The Mountaineers' wins over North Carolina and South Carolina with Georgia State's victory at Tennessee and Coastal Carolina's victory at Kansas give the Sun Belt a conference-record four wins against Autonomy Five schools in the same season.
Appalachian State's win at South Carolina marked the conference’s 12th win over an Autonomy Five opponent in the last 10 seasons (2011-19). Ten of the league’s 12 Autonomy Five wins during that span have been on the road. The Mountaineers are the first team since 1999 to win on the road against an Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference team in the same season.
At the end of the season, the CFP Top 25's highest-ranked conference champion from Group of Five conferences earns a berth to the New Year's Six and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. Appalachian State joined fellow Group of Five schools No. 17 Cincinnati, No. 18 Memphis, No. 21 Boise State and No. 23 Navy in this week's rankings.
Appalachian State travels to fellow Sun Belt East member Georgia State this Saturday for a showdown of bowl-eligible teams, slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPNU. Since moving up to the FBS level in 2014, App State is 23-11 on the road, putting the program in a tie for fourth place nationally with Ohio State for the most road wins in that span. Clemson has 25, followed by Oklahoma and Boise State with 24 apiece. App State is 18-4 in Sun Belt road games.
Winner of three-straight league titles and four-straight bowl games, Appalachian State has a football program known for firsts. Listed chronologically, it is the:
• First FCS team to defeat a nationally ranked FBS team (34-32 vs. No. 5 Michigan in 2007)
• First FCS team to receive votes in the AP Top 25 poll (2007)
• First team to win three straight NCAA Division I-AA (FCS) national titles (2005-07)
• First team to win a bowl game in each of its first two years of FBS bowl eligibility (2015-16)
• First team to win a bowl game in each of its first three years of FBS bowl eligibility (2015-17)
• First team to win a bowl game in each of its first four years of FBS bowl eligibility (2015-18)
• First team to host and win a Sun Belt Championship Game (2018)
• First Sun Belt team to be ranked in the Top 25 on multiple occasions (2018, 2019)
• First Sun Belt team to win as a Top 25 team (2019)
• First Sun Belt team to be ranked in the Top 25 in consecutive weeks (2019)
• First Sun Belt team to be ranked in the Top 20 in the AP poll (2019)
• First Sun Belt team to start a season 7-0 (2019)
• First Sun Belt team to defeat two Power Five teams in one season (2019)
• First Sun Belt team to receive a College Football Playoff in-season ranking (2019)