Eight weeks into the 2024 college football season, the outlook remains uncertain.
who will win the Heisman Trophy? Who will advance to the College Football Playoff??Both candidates have declined, but still feel as wide open as they have for a long time. This is thanks to the new 12-team CFP format keeping more teams as contenders than ever before.
While it’s not clear who will win college football’s most important trophy, it is clear about the players who were expected to be in those brackets but will fall far short. Beyond midseason, here are the 10 most disappointing programs so far.
Auburn (2-5)
In the second year of Hugh Freeze’s administration, Auburn was supposed to leap into eight- or nine-win territory. Auburn has spent heavily on top position players, believing that with the right surrounding cast, quarterback Peyton Thorne will return to the version that led Michigan State to an 11-2 record in 2021. made an investment. Instead, Auburn fell back.Television cameras continued to show Thorne and Freeze arguing on the sideline, almost guaranteeing the Tigers would miss the bowl game. Like the other teams on this list, Auburn showed an incredible ability to blow up games they should have won. It’s all because Freeze has a worse record (8-12) in 20 games than his predecessor Brian Harsin (9-11). Of course, Harsin was fired after the 21st game.
Arizona (3-4)
Preseason AP ranking: 21st
With the superduo of Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan returning after a 10-3 season, the Arizona Wildcats are favorites to win the Big 12 in their first year. It’s been a tumultuous transition to first-year head coach Brent Brennan, but last weekend’s 34-7 loss to Colorado added momentum. Brennan quickly took play-calling duties away from offensive coordinator Dino Babers, but what was supposed to be a high-powered offense still seems out of sync. Any hope and goodwill Arizona had heading into this season quickly disappeared.
Florida State (1-6)
Preseason AP ranking: 10th
If we were to pick just one of these 10 programs, the Seminoles would earn the ignominious honor of being the most disappointing team in the country. Setbacks were expected after a 13-1 2023 season, but no one could have imagined it would include losses to Boston College, Duke and Memphis. In this new era of college football, Florida State is sounding a good warning about the dangers of trying to overbuild a roster through the transfer portal. This can work wonders, as Mike Norvell proved in 2023, but it’s difficult to achieve year-to-year success when the majority of key contributors come out of the portal each year.
Kansas State (2-5)
Preseason AP ranking: 22nd
A year ago, in a pleasant surprise, Kansas came crashing down to earth in the midst of an ever-worsening season. Watching the Jayhawks’ miserable offense, it’s painfully obvious how much they miss Penn State’s exotic play-calling offensive coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki. Poor Kansas State also has an absolutely brutal schedule ahead with No. 16 Kansas State, No. 10 Iowa State, No. 11 BYU and Colorado. This could be a team that wins nine games and then loses nine in a year.
Michigan State (4-3)
Preseason AP ranking: 9th place
It was easy to see this game coming, but it was still disappointing for Wolverines fans who wanted to enjoy last season’s championship a little longer. The awkward timing of Jim Harbaugh’s departure to the NFL limited Michigan’s ability to add a much-needed transfer quarterback like my colleague Chris Hammer. It is explained in detail here. Michigan’s offense has been in shambles under first-year head coach Sherone Moore, forcing rotations between Alex Orge, Jack Tuttle and Davis Warren with limited success. . Michigan fell out of the top 25 with a loss to Illinois last weekend, and with a schedule that still includes Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan State and Indiana, there’s no guarantee the Wolverines will even go bowling this season. Michigan has no choice but to be aggressive in the upcoming transfer portal window and strengthen its offense from the QB position.
Ole Miss (5-2)
Preseason AP ranking: 6th place
Ole Miss in a year of playoffs or elimination. not alive With high expectations. The Rebels went all out this offseason, making the top transfer portal acquisitions in the country to take full advantage of the expanded 12-team playoffs. That dream isn’t over, but with losses to Kentucky and LSU already, there’s no room for failure. This loss to a 15.5-point underdog Kentucky team that has since lost to Vanderbilt and Florida is especially bad. The bad news is that No. 2 Georgia State is coming to town next month. Lane Kiffin has struggled to win big games as a head coach, but he will have to find a way to beat the Bulldogs. It would help if he could be more efficient on offense. The Rebels lead the SEC with 41.4 points per game, but have yet to score a second-half touchdown in SEC play.
Oklahoma State University (3-4)
Preseason AP ranking: 17th
Oklahoma State is undefeated (0-4) in Big 12 play after a last-minute loss to BYU last weekend. Mike Gundy’s disappointed look after the game epitomized what a year this year has been for the Cowboys. Oklahoma State was touted as a Big 12 and CFP contender in the preseason after returning Ollie Gordon, one of the nation’s top offensive players who threw for 1,732 yards and 21 touchdowns a year ago. But Gordon hasn’t been himself this season, eclipsing 100 yards in just two of seven games. He took a big hit in the BYU loss. Oklahoma State has been slumped by injuries, inconsistent play from its QB and a defense that allowed 255 rushing yards to BYU, and it needs to end this week against Baylor.
USC (3-4)
Preseason AP ranking: 23rd
Lincoln Riley is great at finding new and ridiculous ways to break up must-win games for the Trojans. The highlight of this week’s Tom Fornelli’s B1G Time is the latest Hollywood bust. Fornelli writes:
There’s a lot to blame for the slow decline of once-great college football programs, but Riley played a much smaller role than many. But for now, it’s Riley’s job to end it, and he’s not. The Trojans are 1-4 in conference play and 5-9 overall since starting 6-0 last season. how do they fix it?
USC started the year with a win over LSU in Las Vegas and quickly raised the bar for expectations. Riley was too eager to break that atmosphere, leading to late blowouts against Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, and most recently, disastrously, Maryland. It’s almost incomprehensible how USC continues to take the lead late in the game, but this is why what was supposed to be a return to national prominence instead sends the Trojans back to being an island of greatest disappointment. When USC promised to pay Riley $10 million a year, that wasn’t what was expected.
Utah
Preseason AP ranking: 11th
Utah State was picked by the media in the preseason as the favorite to win the Big 12, and rightly so. Kyle Whittingham Ranked as the 6th best coach in college football in preseason rankingsled Utah to back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances in 2021-22. Cam Rising returned for a seventh year and made the argument as the Big 12’s best quarterback. But the Rising situation is a complicated one with play-or-no play confusion, with offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigning after Sunday’s loss to TCU, and the Utes completely out of sorts. It looks like there is. Utah State felt like the best bet in the Big 12 to emerge as a playoff contender in the conference, but now there are big questions about whether they even qualify for a bowl game.
Virginia Tech (4-3)
The Hokies were the favorites to win the ACC title in the preseason playoffs, but that quickly emptied out after losing to Vanderbilt in Week 1. Virginia Tech will look at this season in a completely different light after having a controversial call reversed in a potential win against Miami. Still, there’s no way the Hokies would lose three games so soon into the season, especially considering they still have games against Clemson and Syracuse. Brent Pry is in his third year with Blacksburg, and fans understandably expected more from him this season.