The final chapter of the 2025 college football season was written Monday night when the Indiana Hoosiers completed their unfathomable rise to a power, cementing themselves in the annals of history with a 27-21 win over Miami (FL) in the National Championship.
Once Indiana lifted the trophy, the only thing to be determined was the final rankings. The final AP Poll of the 2025 season was released Tuesday morning. As usual, no Mid-American Conference teams landed in the Top 25. You’ll have to go back
to the 2020 pandemic-shortened season to find No. 23 Ball State and No. 25 Buffalo in the final rankings. For a full season, you’ll have to turn the page back nine years to see 2016 Western Michigan’s year-ending ranking of No. 16 for MAC representation.
While the MAC was snubbed entirely from the 2025 final AP Poll, there was still an ounce of representation. Western Michigan received two votes in the rankings, essentially making the Broncos tied with Wake Forest for the 36th-ranked team in the country. Two different voters — Alex Taylor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and David Jablonski of the Dayton Daily News — positioned Western Michigan at No. 25 in their final ballots.
Western Michigan (10-4, 7-1 MAC) wrapped up a memorable year, complete with a MAC championship and a Myrtle Beach Bowl victory. The Broncos started 0-3 and appeared to be on the verge of 0-4, before surmounting a 13-0 comeback to upset preseason MAC favorite Toledo in Week 4. Once Western Michigan saw one shot go in, it gained the confidence needed to prevail the remainder of the season. The Broncos won 10 of their final 11 games and currently ride a 6-game win streak, which only trails Indiana (16) and Notre Dame (10) for longest in the FBS.
Western Michigan qualified for the MAC Championship Game for the first time since 2016 and handled Miami (OH) 23-13 on the conference’s grandest stage in Detroit. In a masterful follow-up act, the Broncos decimated Conference USA champion Kennesaw State 41-6 in the Myrtle Beach Bowl to secure their first bowl win since 2021. It marked the first time in program history Western Michigan won both a conference title and bowl game, and the 10 wins are the second-most the team has ever attained.
The Broncos swept the MAC’s major awards, claiming the Offensive Player of the Year in quarterback Broc Lowry (who finished 10-1 as a starter), the Defensive Player of the Year and Vern Smith Leadership Award winner in defensive end Nadame Tucker (who earned All-American honors), and the Coach of the Year in Lance Taylor. Running back Jalen Buckley was also a focal point of Western Michigan’s run to a 10-win season, securing MVP honors of both postseason victories with 193 and 174 yards in the MAC title game and Myrtle Beach Bowl, respectively.
Western Michigan is the second-straight MAC champion to garner AP votes in the final poll, after Ohio received eight to conclude the 2024 campaign. The MAC still awaits its first ranked team since the 2020 campaign and Western Michigan hopes to take a step further and achieve that in 2026, and the Broncos retain Coach Taylor and a bulk of their star talent for the coming year.
