By Luke Brumm
Just as there are surprising teams that come out of nowhere to have great seasons, there are just as many, if not more, teams that underachieve. A few days ago, we looked at the most surprising teams. So, today, we’re going to take a look at the most disappointing teams from the 2023 season.
USC
The Trojans started off this season ranked 6th in the country. They cruised to 4-0, then had scares vs Colorado and Arizona, but still won. Then they went on the road to play Notre Dame and got smacked 48-20. This started their decline as they went on to lose four out of their last five regular-season games.
USC ended the season with a plus when they beat Louisville in the Holiday Bowl. Caleb Williams couldn’t match his stats from the previous year, and the defense was awful again. Lincoln Riley has a lot of work to do, especially with their move to the Big Ten next season.
LSU
LSU was still able to finish the season off 10-3, but that is a disappointment for a team that was a preseason top-five team with title hopes. The Tigers were blown out by Florida State in week one and then lost to Ole Miss in week five. This had them at 3-2. They would end up winning the rest of their games except for their trip to Tuscaloosa, where the Tide won 42-28.
Jayden Daniels did win the Heisman, so he wasn’t a disappointment by any means. LSU did not have a bad season, but it definitely didn’t live up to their expectations after their 2022 campaign.
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TCU
TCU was the surprise team in 2022, and now they are on the disappointment list for 2023. They beat Michigan in the Semifinals and then lost to Georgia in the National Championship, but the fact they were even there was insane.
The Horned Frogs started this season with a loss vs Deion Sanders and Colorado. They would then lose to West Virginia, Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas, and Oklahoma to finish the season 5-7. They went from a championship appearance to not even making a bowl game. I know a lot of transitions happened after players left, but their expectations were much higher than this.
Miami
The Hurricanes started out the season unranked but crept into the top 25 by week three. They were ranked as high as 17 after starting the season 4-0 and beating Texas A&M. They fell off pretty hard after that, losing six out of their last nine games. Those losses included that inexcusable fumble at the end of the Georgia Tech game, which lead to the Yellow Jackets winning, and a loss to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. Mario Cristobal has once again shown that he still needs to put in work with his team to get them prepared for a successful season. Recruiting is all well and good, but it means nothing if it doesn’t translate to the field.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin received slight preseason hype, and there were whispers that Tanner Mordecai was really impressing folks in Madison during camp. The Badgers even started the season ranked 19th in the country. They blew out Buffalo in week one but then lost to Washington State for the second year in a row. They went 6-5 the rest of the way to finish 7-6, which was probably under a lot of people’s expectations. Head Coach Luke Fickell is a great coach who will turn that program around, in my opinion. He just needs some time and support, and he thinks he has that. Even with this lackluster season, I wouldn’t worry if I was a Badger fan.
