College Football’s Top Twenty Biggest Disappointments
November 29, 2008
This year has seen some real surprises. But these twenty (in no particular order) are college football’s biggest disappointments. This is all about not meeting expectations- if a team had low expectations, then they didn’t make the list.
We expected them to win the ACC, and instead, they just couldn’t win. It’s a sad state of affairs in South Carolina.
Arizona State
What happened? Sure Rudy Carpenter was dinged up, but the Sun Devils were expected to contend for the Pac-10, and instead, are now contending for a bowl-less season at a dismal 4-6, with a loss to UNLV starting the six-game free fall.
The D is overrated, and Tuberville throwing his OC under the bus before one complete season was the low point for the Tiggers. You just knew it was going to be a bad season when TT said the 3-2 game against Mississippi State was a great defensive battle. Heads up Tommy, Ole Miss beat them 45-0.
Florida State
As usual, the Noles failed to live up to Garnet and Gold expectations. And as usual, Bowden will probably not retire because of Joe Pa’s solid season pushing him ahead in the race to the greatest number of wins by a college coach. Dadgummit, Bobby, you ain’t gonna catch him now.
Sure they upset the Nits, but that’s it. The rest of the season, the Hawkeyes spent more time with legal counsel than in the training room. 8-4 is nothing to sneeze at, but losses to Northwestern and Illinois are. And before you start jumping on Northwestern’s bandwagon, remind yourself that FIVE of the Wildcats’ nine wins were over Syracuse, Southern Illinois, Duke, Ohio (Bobcats) and Michigan.
Well, the perennial Capitol One Bowl delegate finally missed the boat after a truly dismal season. Anytime you have to stage a rally in the 4th quarter to beat Cal Poly in OT, your season stinks. Sure 7-5 isn’t bad, but the Badgers’ wins are over Akron, Marshall, Fresno State, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Cal-Poly. ‘Nuff said.
They’ve had a good season but….getting blown out twice is not impressive. Great, or even very good teams, don’t get blown out (Texas Tech being the exception to the rule). They may lose every now and then, but get blown out? NO. Barely beating Kentucky and Auburn means Georgia Tech will probably upset the Dawgs.
They’ve improved this year? When you go from No. 115 in rushing offense to No. 92, and the coach says he’s going to “pound it” this year, that’s not real improvement. Then again, pretty much everything about Notre Dame hasn’t improved - except for the schedule’s “softness” - and next year’s is as soft and cushy as the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
Tennessee
Ok, we knew there was going to be a bit of a fall off, but this bad? The good news is that the Vols are getting a bright, offensive genius as their next coach. Kiff will bring back FUN to Vols football- he’s a younger version of Norm Chow.
ESPN
Dr. Lou has made serious gaffes and Herbstreit “scooped’ everyone by saying Les Miles was going to Michigan. Then there’s this dilly (courtesy of the Chicago Tribune) of Lee Corso on the radio talking about Charlie Weis:
“The entire Catholic Church doesn’t have enough money to pay him off at .5 million for another seven years or whatever it is. So forget about it. The guy is going to be the football coach and they’re just going to have to live with what they’ve got.” Umm Lee, did you temporarily lose your mind? The Catholic Church is so big they even have their own country (sort of) called Vatican City. If I’m not mistaken, ND prints their own money. Good grief.
The NCAA
Three years and counting, still no word on Bush-gate. By the time they get around to charging USC with something, California will have dropped off into the ocean after the Big One.
Wow, from a pre-season BCS-buster favorite to a team that that lost to Hawai’i (in OT), Louisiana Tech and Nevada, the Bulldogs went from snarling to gumming in three months.
It’s not the vaunted D we are disappointed in, it’s the fundamentals. Like tackling. And discipline. They show sparks of greatness, but that usually is followed up with long bouts of mediocrity. The bright spot? Frosh QB Jordan Jefferson, a rangy, athletic Randall Cunningham-like clone who has fast wheels and great moves. If he just could lose the whining face antics…
Sure their loss to the Beavs was a loss to a ranked team, but for the first time in a long time, the Trojans can’t control their own destiny. Losing the “Little Games” has been a curse for the last two years, and next up for the Trojans? The Fighting Irish. Lose that one, and the Stanford upset will be forever forgotten.
They lost a few good players (two good OT’s and CB Talib) from last year’s Cinderella team, but the schedule got a whole lot harder this year and the Jayhawks were exposed, big time.
South Florida
What happened to the Bulls? Beating Florida International 17-9 early in the season was a huge red flag. Tanking three in a row to Louisville, Cincy and Rutgers, was the final nail in their 2-4 conference-record coffin. Except for West Virginia next week, of course.
Were you like I, ready to pencil in Mizzou as the team to beat in the Big 12? Sure Oklahoma and Texas always are the cream of the crop, but honestly, didn’t you expect a little more from Mizzou? They have no prayer of beating the Big 12 South champ, and lots of fans will be rooting for them for selfish reasons, but they will be disappointed. Again. And out of a BCS Bowl. Again.
It’s the manner in which they lost all of those games that is so disturbing. Michigan never tanks games. Their new nickname should be the Shermans, no offense to Unioto High in Chillicothe, Ohio, who are called the Shermans.
The Pac-10
It was an ugly year, and even though there are three teams ranked, one of them will drop this weekend. Losing to the Mountain West Conference over one weekend was bad enough, but having really only one team represent the conference the last seven years is pretty sad. Oregon State can break that streak, but the Pac needs to step it up.
The ACC
The ACC has permeated college football with a noxious odor that won’t go away. Honestly, does their champ really deserve a BCS Bowl bid over a team like Texas Tech? If we had a playoff system, we’re pretty sure none of these teams would make it past the first round.
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