RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Winning big games has always separated contenders from pretenders, but the 12-team College Football Playoff has eliminated nearly every hiding place. More access comes with greater scrutiny, and coaches who consistently stumble against ranked competition do not last long in the championship conversation.
That is what makes career records against AP Top 25 opponents such a revealing measuring stick entering the 2026 season. Some coaches have built reputations as giant-killers, thriving when the lights brighten and the margin for error disappears. Others have piled up wins against manageable schedules only to hit a wall when facing elite rosters and high-level quarterback play.
Context matters, of course -- resources, conference strength and rebuilding jobs all shape the numbers. Still, winning against quality teams consistently is the price of admission now. These records show which Power Four coaches have delivered when it matters most -- and which ones still have something to prove.
Career records against ranked opponents were determined by each opponent's position in the AP Top 25 at the time of the game and include every stop during a coach's career. These numbers do not account for postseason rankings or where teams finished in a given season. Vacated wins over ranked opponents are also included since those games were won on the field.
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, Freeman went 2-2 last season and is 16-8 overall (.500) against the nation's best, several of those victories coming in 2024 during the Fighting Irish's run to the national title game.
That said, not all schedules -- or ranked wins -- are created equal. Consider the level of competition each coach has faced, along with the conference and program behind those victories, before judging the résumé. Recent results matter, too, in a sport driven by a "what have you done for me lately?" mentality.
Given the wealth of SEC teams slotted in the preseason Coaches Poll, several programs this season could play five or more games against nationally-ranked competition. No other conference delivers that level of weekly grind, comparatively speaking.
Kalen DeBoer took his share of criticism after Alabama 's fall from grace during his first season, but the Crimson Tide did its homework when choosing Nick Saban's successor. No coach owns a better career winning percentage against ranked competition than DeBoer, an essential trait in the nation's toughest conference. Prior to his time with the Crimson Tide, DeBoer went 10-1 against AP Top 25 opponents across two seasons at Washington , with the lone loss coming against Michigan in the national championship game.
Kirby Smart's 42 total wins over ranked competition since the start of the 2016 season are the most in college football over that stretch. Last season, Georgia went 5-2 against ranked opponents, including wins over Ole Miss , Alabama, Tennessee , Texas and Georgia Tech.
After a bevy of coaching changes this cycle, there's a handful of first-year SEC coaches who will have to endure brutal slates this fall, including Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas . Ole Miss coach Pete Golding beat Tulane and Georgia in the CFP last season and enters his first campaign with the Rebels, bubbling with confidence.
At Texas, Steve Sarkisian is 14-7 against the top 25 teams the last three seasons after posting just two victories over ranked competition during his first two years with the Longhorns. Three of those victories came against top-10 teams last fall. He hasn't beaten Smart, however.
Vanderbilt's Clark Lea has six career wins over ranked teams, four of them coming last fall during the Commodores' 10-victory outburst. Beating then-No. 1 Alabama for the first time in program history two years ago remains his signature win in Nashville.
Ryan Day, Dan Lanning, Lincoln Riley, and now Curt Cignetti 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 wins over ranked opponents during Ohio State 's run to a national championship in 2024.
Before winning that title with the Buckeyes, Day heard every criticism imaginable at Ohio State, but his record against AP Top 25 competition reflects a coach who wins far more big games than he loses. The standard in Columbus is ruthless, where one setback against Michigan can overshadow an otherwise championship-caliber season.
Still, Day's consistency against ranked opponents remains one of his strongest résumé points. He has recruited at an elite level, developed NFL-ready quarterbacks and kept the Buckeyes firmly in the national title hunt. His breakthrough national championship further strengthened the argument: Few coaches are better equipped for college football's biggest stages right now.
Cignetti's rise is legendary. His 16-0 triumph at Indiana in 2025 featured six wins over ranked teams -- the only half-dozen of such in his coaching career -- highlighted by a couple victories over Lanning's Ducks and a 35-point beatdown of DeBoer and Alabama in the CFP.
Matt Campbell raised the ceiling at Iowa State after winning 35 games over four successful seasons at Toledo , but faces a different animal entirely in the Big Ten at Penn State .
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule's last win over a ranked team came in his final game at Temple in 2016. Since then, Rhule is winless in 20 tries at Baylor and with the Huskers against the nation's best. Kirk Ferentz has the most all-time wins against top 25 opponents in the Big Ten with 31, much of that due to being the league's longest-tenured coach.
After winning a jaw-dropping seven games last fall against ranked opponents, Miami's coach continues to ascend. He's now 15-19 overall in his career against top teams, which includes his st...
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