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5 College Football Teams That Will Disappoint in 2024
By Pete Fiutak,
1 day ago
Unlike the top 5 surprises - when we take a few home run cuts in the hopes of finding the hidden gem of the bunch - here we go with more of the obvious answers because it's a different mindset.
If a perennial also-ran like an Indiana goes 6-6, or if an Arizona State has a winning season after going 3-9, that’s a surprise. That’s an obvious improvement. But if a team is expecting to compete for the national title and doesn’t, that’s a different story.
It’s all relative here. Get ready for a theme in our Top 5 (possible!) Disappointments - they all moved conferences, they all upgraded, and a few of them are planning for something massive starting with …
Jul 10, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders speaks to the media during the Big 12 Media Days at Allegiant Stadium.
Obviously the Longhorns will be fantastic, and obviously the talent is there to be special, so go ahead and throw this in our faces if this is way, way off and they’re partying like it’s early 2006 in Atlanta in late January.
Here’s the problem. Going 10-2 or better gets Texas into the College Football Playoff, and 9-3 probably doesn’t.
Totally lost in last year’s run to the College Football Playoff was how the team needed EVERYTHING to survive Kansas State, a nasty game against TCU, and tough fight against Iowa State, and too much of a battle with a mediocre Houston. You can get away with that in the Big 12.
At Michigan, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, at Arkansas, Kentucky, at Texas A&M. Texas is way better than most of those teams, but it’ll probably lose two of those games. It can’t lose three.
Washington? No, and no - losing in Seattle and in the Pac-12 Championship. Utah? Yeah, but the Utes weren’t anywhere near their normal healthy selves. USC? It was a struggle. Liberty? Stop.
If it was so easy to go 12-2 everyone would do it, and Dan Lanning has a magnificent team returning. But again, like Texas, Oregon is thinking conference championship and a top four seed in the expanded College Football Playoff, but lose three, and it’s not happening.
Boise State (who might be in the CFP as the top Group of Five champ), at Oregon State - do NOT discount the grouchy rivalry aspect this year - at UCLA, Michigan State (an improved MSU), Ohio State, at Michigan, Maryland, at Wisconsin, Washington.
Again, like Texas, Oregon is more than good enough to make this look ridiculous, but 9-3 would be a massive disappointment, and there are two losses somewhere on this schedule.
Again, in the it’s-all-relative theme combined with the new conference aspect, this is a very good, very improved Oklahoma team that will win its share of big games.
So yeah, FINE. Technically, a team with a win total of around 7.5 wouldn’t be a disappointment if it wins eight games, but …
It’s Oklahoma. It’s expected to be better than meh.
The Sooners will beat Houston and Tulane, but those aren’t layups. Tennessee, at Auburn, Texas, at Ole Miss, at Missouri, Alabama, at LSU …
SMU won the American Athletic Conference Championship last season, and now it’s even better.
It brought back a ton of talent, added some great parts from the transfer portal, and now it’s in the ACC.
It’s not like moving to the SEC or Big Ten, but the program has to still prove it can beat teams at a Power Four level on a regular basis. Last season SMU went 11-3.
The three losses came to Oklahoma, TCU, and Boston College, and they were the only three times all season the offense failed to get to 20 points.
The schedule isn’t all THAT bad, but 1) an 8.5 win total seems WAY high, and 2) there are ten games against Power Four teams, and let’s just say the very recent history of teams going from TV to movies - Cincinnati, UCF, Houston, BYU - hasn’t gone well.
North Dakota State? The best team in the FCS is a problem.
At Nebraska? Nope. At Colorado State? Ehhhh, not really.
Baylor is better than you think, at UCF is dangerous, Kansas State might play for the Big 12 title, at Arizona is at best a fight, Cincinnati has improved, and at Texas Tech is a concern.
Utah might be a top four seed in the College Football Playoff, the neutral site game against Kansas - the Jayhawks don’t have a home this year - is at best even, and Oklahoma State close it all out.
With ALL of that said, it will be one whale of a show if and when Coach Prime - probably my favorite team of all-time - proves me wrong.
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