ODESSA, Texas (December 22, 2025) – With the NCAA Division II National Championship over, D2Football.com released its End of Season Top 25 Poll and the UT Permian Basin football team ended the season as the No. 3 nationally-ranked team in the country.

D2Football.com Media Poll
UTPB's No. 3 ranking is a new program record for the highest national ranking in program history after UTPB ranked as high as No. 4 in the D2Football.com Poll following its 5-0 start to the season. It is also the highest national ranking in school history for any sport.

AFCA Poll
After ranking No. 10 entering the playoffs, UTPB ran through a couple of ranked teams before bowing out in the quarterfinals and jumped five places to No. 5 in the final poll.

Falcons' Season in Review
UTPB (11-3) was ranked behind only national champion and No. 1 Ferris State (16-0) and national runner-up Harding (15-1). UTPB fell in the 2025 NCAA Division II Football Championship Super Region 4 Final with a 34-28 loss at No. 2-ranked Harding. The UTPB offense scored the most points by any team against Harding this season, and was the only one-score game the Bisons had been in all season.

In 2025, UTPB made the NCAA Division II Playoffs for the second time in program history and for the second time in the last three seasons, and advanced to the Super Region Final (NCAA Quarterfinals) for the first time in program history. UTPB finished the season 11-3 overall, setting a program record for wins in a single season while also earning the first two playoff wins in program history, and was in a three-team tie for second in the Lone Star Conference with a 7-2 record.

The Falcons finished the year 4-2 against nationally-ranked opponents (all top-15), and were the only team in the country with three wins over teams ranked in the top-five. Those wins included a 34-14 victory over the No. 5-ranked Central Oklahoma during the Falcons' highest-ranked season opening matchup in program history, a 28-14 win at No. 5-ranked Angelo State in the ESPN NCAA Division II Game of the Week (UTPB's first game in program history where both teams were ranked in the top-10), a 37-24 victory at No. 4-ranked and No. 3-seeded Colorado State Pueblo in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs (representing the highest nationally-ranked win in program history), and a 21-15 comeback win on the road in overtime in the second round at No. 15-ranked Western Colorado.

In the end, the Falcon football team became the first UTPB athletic program to advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II era.