The 15 worst college football teams of 2024

Most of us look forward to the upcoming college football season to see who the best teams are. Who are the schools fighting for the playoffs? Can this team contend for a conference championship? Where are the sleepers?

While the expectations are high for many teams nationwide, some places are bracing for a cold fall and winter. Programs that will be on the wrong side of those 30+ point drubbings. Schools with way more questions than answers are staring down what may be yet another bad season. They are the worst teams in the nation.

Some of these schools are just continuing on the path of futility they've been pacing for years or decades. Some are spiraling down the drain or caught in a bit of chaos. In the age of the transfer portal, even bad teams have some bright stars, and those bright stars tend to bolt for a better situation and leave the pain behind.

So, while you've likely read plenty about who the best teams in the nation are for 2024, here are the candidates for the worst teams you'll see this season.

Akron Zips (1 of 15)

Let me start by saying you'll see a few MAC schools on this list. We start in Akron, which went 2-10 a year ago (their two wins were against FCS Morgan State and MAC foe Kent State, who we will talk about later). This offense is terrible -- they scored 14 points or less seven times last season and returned just two starters from that squad. Akron has one of the worst rushing attacks in the country, and their top three receivers from last year are no longer with the program. The Zips are 7-47 over the last five seasons and don't seem to be leaving the MAC's basement any time soon. First up on their schedule: Ohio State.

Ball State Cardinals (2 of 15)

Mike Neu is entering his ninth season at Ball State in a bit of a tough spot. After winning the MAC title in 2020, the Cardinals have had three straight losing seasons. The offense has been middling (six games where they scored 15 points or less), but they have to replace their top two quarterbacks from 2023. Well, that's considering that "athlete/star" Kiael Kelly will be the starting corner back and not quarter- back. Defensively Ball State had an awful first half of the 2023 and then stormed back in the final six weeks. The problem is that pretty much everyone is gone from that improvement, including defensive coordinator Tyler Stockton (to Boise State).

Charlotte 49ers (3 of 15)

The 49ers program has struggled to find success since its creation in 2013. Charlotte has just one winning season and their first season under Biff Poggi was a 3-9 clunker. This was an undisciplined team that committed a ton of penalties and turned the ball over way too much. They were also inconsistent week-to-week in both offensive and defensive production. Poggi and his staff must find a way to create an identity for this team. It may be as a defensive-minded team that plays ball-control offense behind Iowa State transfer running back Cartevious Norton.

East Carolina Pirates (4 of 15)

This is a rather sad state for a program that at one time was one of the better Group of 5 programs. Since joining the AAC in 2014 the Pirates have had just three winning seasons while having four seasons of nine or more losses. That includes the ugly 2-10 record of last season where the ECU offense was among the worst in the country. They had three games where they failed to score double-digit points and five total games where they failed to score at least 14 points. Head coach Mike Houston is on the hot seat and has replaced quarterback Alex Flynn (6 TDs, 12 INTs) with former Miami and Missouri QB Jake Garcia and Michigan State transfer Katin Houser.

Kennesaw State Owls (5 of 15)

The Owls are new to FBS so there will be a bit of a learning curve here. Now, this was a very good FCS program, going 57-13 from 2016 to 2021 and earning four playoff berths -- which is quite remarkable since the program didn't begin play until 2015. But the program has fallen somewhat of late, going 5-6 in 2022 and 3-6 last season. Kennesaw State was prepping for their move to a FBS program during that time and saw a lot of redshirts used last year, plus they understand the style of play that worked in the past may not fly in a bigger pond. This is a running team that uses their quarterback heavily in rushing plays. The Owls should become a solid program, but they will spend 2024 getting their feet wet.

Kent State Golden Flashes (6 of 15)

Head coach Kenni Burns' first season at Kent State was a disaster, finishing 1-11 (the worst record in the FBS) with the lone win coming against Central Connecticut. It wasn't just that they kept losing ... it was that they were getting smoked every week and fans stopped attending games late in the season. When Burns replaced Sean Lewis (who left to become Colorado's offensive coordinator and is now the head coach at San Diego State) the program watched most of talent leave and struggled to replace them. This is a bad team that's having to rebuild the entire program from scratch. At least they'll earn some money by getting spanked at Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Penn State.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (7 of 15)

The pressure is on down in Ruston, Louisiana as Sonny Crumbie is coming off consecutive 3-9 campaigns (and third straight overall). There's a new athletic director at La Tech who has found success at other stops and may want to move things in a different direction. The Bulldogs do feel like they have a QB in Jack Turner, though he will be throwing to a new receiving corps. If running back Marquis Crosby is healthy after missing much of last year then Tech's fortunes could turn around. There's a lot of newness to this program that Crumbie must get to click quickly or this could turn south quickly.

Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (8 of 15)

It's been a long time since ULM has found success. They've had just one ... one ... winning season since 1993. Now they've got a new head coach (former New Mexico OC Bryant Vincent) who will be tasked with reviving a dead offense and rebuilding one of the nation's worst defenses. That's all. The Warhawks are truly a rebuild from the Terry Bowden era and hope that running back Hunter Smith can carry this team on his back.

Nevada Wolf Pack (9 of 15)

Jeff Choate takes over as head coach in Reno after Ken Wilson's reign of terrible ended this offseason. Choate did a fantastic job turning around the Texas Longhorns' defense and has a past in Mountain West country so he understands the challenges at Nevada. This roster is bad and this is a clear rebuilding job for him with expectations low for '24. Obviously, Choate will begin to shore up his defense and has brought in some nice transfers (notably Cal's Henry Ikahihifo and Wisconsin's Kaden Johnson) to beef up the talent.

New Mexico State Aggies (10 of 15)

The Aggies could have the biggest crash of anyone in the country. The Aggies went 10-5 last season, played in the CUSA championship game and a bowl (they lost both). So how could they get on this list of bad teams? Well, that team is all gone. What former head coach Jerry Kill did there was nothing short of a miracle. He took a program that was one of the worst in the nation and got it to two bowl games in his two seasons (they had been to just one bowl game the previous 61 seasons). Kill, who has a history of heath issues, stepped down after the season and Tony Sanchez ... who went 20-40 over five seasons at UNLV ... is taking over. That began an exodus of talent from the program that Sanchez has struggled to replace. Quarterback Diego Pavia (you'll hear that name again in a bit) transferred out and left a major void for this offense. The offensive line is intact and if they can find anyone to take the quarterback spot they will at least be playing behind an experienced unit. Everything else is up in the air.

Temple Owls (11 of 15)

Like most on this list, Temple has been ravaged by the transfer portal. Most of their best players from 2023 have found better places to play, so the Owls will have the build back up again. Their quarterback, E.J. Warner, most notably, departed for Rice in the offseason and still don't have a clear replacement. The defense struggled to stop teams from running all over them and they return just two starters. Head coach Stan Drayton is a solid coach, but this is such a difficult job.

UConn Huskies (12 of 15)

As great as UConn's basketball programs are, the football side of things is pretty sad. The Huskies started last season losing 9 of their first 10 games before beating Sacred Heart and fellow worst-list-contender UMass to end the year. UConn is replacing their quarterback and several other offensive players who left via the portal (which has angered head coach Jim Mora). The defensive front is solid, and they have a new defensive coordinator, Matt Brock, running the show. UConn also has one of the weirdest schedules in the nation: they have a six-game homestand in the middle of the season. That could help Mora squeak out some extra wins.

UMass Minutemen (13 of 15)

This is just a really tough gig. Since joining the FBS in 2012, the Minutemen have gone 24-112 and haven't finished with a record better than 4-8. Don Brown, who coached UMass during their FCS heyday in the mid-2000s, has yet to find footing for a program that will be leaving their independent status for the MAC in 2025. They'll have five MAC games this season and will head to Georgia to get stomped in late November. There is some promise in QB Taisun Phommachanh but the defense is absolutely dreadful.

UTEP Miners (14 of 15)

While many of these teams are just mired in program hell ... and UTEP has certainly been one of those schools ... I'm a little more bullish on this team's future. Just not this season. UTEP has put up a 20-61 record since 2017, which includes a three-year stretch where they went a combined 2-35. While it looked like Dana Dimel was starting to turn things around in El Paso, last year's 3-9 mark was an apparent setback that prompted a program reset. Enter Scotty Walden, whose energy and success at FCS Austin Peay bring renewed enthusiasm to West Texas. There's been a roster overhaul, including Walden bringing in nearly a dozen transfers from his Austin Peay team and a faster style of play that doesn't work with the players he inherited. This will be a bit messy at first, but when he gets a full cycle of recruiting and his culture planted at UTEP than this could be a program on the rise in Conference USA. This year is where they will take their lumps.

Vanderbilt Commodores (15 of 15)

Technically, Vanderbilt may not be one of the 15 worst teams in college football in 2024, but they are the worst power program. After going 2-10 last season (ending the season on a 10-game losing streak), head coach Clark Lea replaced much of his coaching staff. That's typically a precursor to a change at the top the following year if things don't get significantly better. How can it? The Commodores are an SEC team that have a sizable disadvantage in recruiting in the transfer portal era. They did score a decent haul in New Mexico State QB Diego Pavia, who will try to employ an option-style offense to a program that stunk running the ball last year. And how effective will that be facing off against SEC talent every week? Vandy faces Virginia Tech, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, Auburn, LSU and Tennessee this season. Ugh.