By Luke Brumm
Just as there are teams that come out of nowhere and have good seasons, there are numerous programs that tale the opposite route. These teams started out ranked, or at least with some hope for the season, just to have it all crash around them. Let’s take a look at the teams that fall in this category so far this season.
The most disappointing college football teams in 2024
Honorable Mentions: North Carolina State, Kansas, Utah, & Virginia Tech
Utah, Kansas, and NC State all began the season in the top 25, and none of them are still there. Utah started 12th and now sit at just 4-6. They have been hurt by the injury to QB Cam Rising. Kansas was 22nd and started the season off abysmally. They started 1-5 before winning three of their last four games with that one loss coming late by two points on the road vs rival Kansas State. They beat Iowa State and BYU in their last two games and have a chance to take down Colorado this Saturday.
NC State started ranked 24 and are now at an even 5-5 on the season. They too lost their starting quarterback in Coastal Carolina transfer Grayson McCall. Virginia Tech was a lot of people’s sleeper team in the ACC. They were never ranked, but did start the season rocky when they lost to Vanderbilt in overtime. They are also 5-5 and have Duke and Virginia left on their schedule.
5. Michigan
The defending national champions are 5-5 after starting out ranked eighth to start the year. They have yet to find much offense, and even their defense has been underwhelming. Losing CB Will Johnson hurts them a lot. They have tried out three quarterbacks and none have stood out to me. The Wolverines have stuck with Davis Warren and he has a five to six touchdown to interception ratio. Things are not looking great as they will be losing their two best running backs and some more other key pieces after this year, and I’m not sure they are primed to reload next season either.
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Michigan has a home game vs Northwestern before making the trip to Columbus to take on Ohio State. Michigan will need to win one of those games if they want to even see a bowl game this year.
4. Oklahoma State
The Cowboys came into the season ranked 17th and were seen as one of the favorites in the Big 12. They also had a Heisman front-running candidate at running back in Ollie Gordon. We haven’t heard anything from him or this team in weeks. They are 3-7 and have been playing horrific football. Oklahoma State has lost five of their seven games by double digits and hasn’t won since September 14th. This team started 3-0 and has lost seven straight.
Ollie Gordon only has 714 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns so far, compared to the almost 2,000 yards and 21 touchdowns he finished 2023 with. The offensive line returned key pieces and was supposed to be a strength of that team, but that has not happened. Oklahoma State has Texas Tech and Colorado left on their schedule and most likely won’t be favored in either of those.
3. USC
USC has had a rough start to their life in the Big Ten conference. Not only do they have to travel across the country for road games, but they have been traveling just to lose. In their three trips to the central/eastern time zones, they are 0-3 with losses to Michigan, Minnesota, and Maryland. None of those teams are ranked, and you could only make the argument that Michigan should have beat USC. They also have losses at home to Penn State and on the road to Washington, bringing their record to 5-5.
Miller Moss was supposed to be their answer at quarterback, but he has since been benched for UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava. The defense is still very shaky and not up to Big Ten standards. The Trojans have two rivalry games left as they play at UCLA and at home vs Notre Dame.
2. Oklahoma
OU is another program having a tough start in their new conference. The Sooners began SEC play with a double-digit loss at home to Tennessee and haven’t looked good at all since. They also have losses in conference to Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Missouri and three out of four of those came by double digits.
Oklahoma started the season with Jackson Arnold at quarterback before he got benched vs Tennessee for Michael Hawkins Jr. They ended up going back to Arnold and he has been their QB ever since. Oklahoma is 5-5 and has two ranked games left in Alabama and LSU. They will have to win one of those games if they want to avoid missing a bowl game for the first time since 1998.
1. Florida State
This had to be the obvious number one on this list. They have had an embarrassing season by all standards. Last season, they believed they got screwed by the committee and they could have done one of two things. One, gear up for Georgia and go prove why they belonged in the CFP, or two, cry and complain and sit out and sulk. They did the latter and it seems to have trickled down into this season.
After losing in week zero to Georgia Tech in Ireland, you could see this team wasn’t the same. DJ Uiagalelei looked like Clemson DJ and the defensive front was a shell of itself. All of that has continued and FSU is now 1-9. Yes, 1-9. The team that went “undefeated” all of last season is 1-9 just a year later. I really don’t know what else to say besides dang.
Mike Norvell deserves more time and no I don’t think he should be fired, but he has his work cut out for him that’s for sure. The Noles take on Charleston Southern and Florida in their last two games.
