20 College Football Programs That Just Aren't Going to Get Better

These programs are pretty bad.

For most of them, losing seasons are pretty much the rule rather than the exception.

Unfortunately for them, things are not looking up heading into the future.

By virtue of recruiting ineptitude, stringent academic standards or just plain ineptitude on the field, these programs have earned a spot on this list as teams that are not getting any better any time soon.

Army Black Knights

It's Army, so we should probably cut them some slack.

It's tough to pick up athletes that can compete given the recruiting process for Army is significantly more difficult than any other program.

Earlier in the century, Army had some pretty solid units, and actually competed on a very high level.

Recently, it has been rough going.

Just look at it this way: Army's best season in 15 years was last season when they won seven games.

FAU Owls

FAU has been the bottom of the barrel in FBS football for some time.

Now that head coach Howard Schnellenberger is gone, it will take something just short of a miracle for the Owls to become winners.

They are one of the newest programs in the FBS, so the culture of losing has not been solidly entrenched, but a few more awful seasons and it will be.

Eastern Michigan Eagles

Eastern Michigan has not won more than four games since 1995.

For some reason, this team cannot win games in the MAC or anywhere else.

That is not going to change any time in the near future, unless the Eagles somehow move their program or come up with a magic formula to help them win games.

Boston College Eagles

Boston College had a tackling machine roaming the field for the past few seasons in Luke Kuechly.

He epitomizes this team—getting the job done when he is supposed to, but can't quite keep up with the speedy guys he sometimes has to cover.

The Eagles have been firmly entrenched in the middle of the ACC for several seasons, and are going to remain there for some time.

New Mexico Schools

That's right, it's so bad at times that even the players wear masks on the sideline, hoping they are not identified by anyone.

Of course, the names on the back of the jerseys give it away.

When one discusses ineptitude in the college football universe, the schools from New Mexico have to be considered two of the teams that have cornered that market.

New coaches come and go, but these two stink every year, as surely as Dick Clark somehow continues hosting his New Year's Eve party.

Buffalo Bulls

Buffalo had some great seasons earlier in the decade under Turner Gill.

However, with his departure for Kansas, the team is back in the rut from which they emerged in his time there.

One-win and two-win seasons are going to be fairly standard, and likely for several seasons.

Duke Blue Devils

Duke football has long been joke among college football fans.

David Cutcliffe has done what he can to try and turn this thing around, but the Blue Devils are not going to get better, simply because the talent pool is small.

The school's stringent academic standards make it difficult to recruit the level of talented players they need to compete in the ACC.

UConn Huskies

The Huskies won the Big East in 2010.

It's going to be a while before that happens again.

Paul Pasqualoni has his work cut out for him.

The Huskies seem to have a hard time recruiting, especially since the state of Connecticut is not exactly a recruiting hotbed on a regular basis.

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Jerry Kill was a good hire, but the Gophers are not making any progress, as yet.

Kill has only had one season to figure things out, and it was a tough one for the Gophers.

If the Minnesota administration has some patience with Kill, he will turn this program around, but it will take at least four to five seasons.

It's tough to recruit elite-level athletes to go to school in a place where it's below zero on a consistent basis in the winter, and your program does not seem capable of winning games.

Memphis Tigers

The Tigers had a few solid seasons in '07 and '08.

At least they had winning seasons, but seven wins is not exactly something to write home about.

The future does not look particularly bright for the Tigers, as they have some key departing seniors and cannot seem to get over the hump.

Idaho Vandals

Did you even know there were two teams in the state of Idaho?

Boise State has dominated the football scene in the state for the past decade, and the Vandals have done themselves no favors.

After a couple years in a row with winning records, the Vandals have slipped back into relative obscurity and are looking set to stay there.

With all the conference realignment upheaval, the Vandals could end up gaining a little bit as some of the better teams in the WAC have left the conference, but it's unlikely.

Illinois Fighting Illini

Illinois looked like they might be a contender this season, jumping out to a 6-0 record.

A six-game losing streak later, they managed a victory in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and emerged squarely in the middle of the Big Ten pack.

This is pretty standard for the Illini.

Other than a forgettable Rose Bowl appearance, the Illini can't seem to gain traction in the Big Ten, even with the traditional powers "down."

All of the change taking place within the program at the coaching position is not going to help stabilize the situation in future seasons.

Ole Miss Rebels

Hugh Freeze has done a great job with Arkansas State in his time there.

That said, Ole Miss, even with his level of familiarity with the program, is a whole new ballgame.

The SEC schedule is brutal, and the Rebs are the cellar-dwellers of the West.

Auburn is on the way up, LSU and Alabama are BCS title-caliber nearly every season and even in-state rival Mississippi State is making strides.

Even if the Rebs have a better team next year or the year after, they will be hard pressed to make any progress in the conference.

Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado discovered two things this season.

1) Moving to a new conference is no easy task.

2) Scheduling 13 games without a week off might be the dumbest scheduling move in history.

The Buffaloes found out that the Pac-12 is a tough conference in which to compete in 2011, and as the program is in the middle of some transition, they are in for a few tough years.

Colorado State Rams

The MWC is depleted, and the future of the conference is in jeopardy.

The Rams had an incredible star this season in defensive lineman Nordly Capi, and not much else.

This is not exactly out of the ordinary, as they have averaged just over four wins per season since 2002.

With the conference future in question, and the landscape of college football changing so dramatically, it's tough to say how Colorado State is going to fare.

My money says they continue to be just sub-mediocre.

Tulane Green Wave

When is the last time you heard "Tulane" and thought about how relevant they are in college football?

Never—exactly.

The Green Wave were a power in the early part of the last century, but have not done much in the past 85 years or so.

Without some sort of miracle, there is no chance they get better any time soon.

Syracuse Orange

Syracuse struggled in the Big East to be successful.

The ACC is a little bit of a tougher conference.

Not a good recipe for the Orange.

This season, they had the experience to make some noise in the Big East, but failed to follow through on that potential.

Against ACC competition, this team is going to flounder for a few more seasons.

Akron Zips

All that has to be taken in for one to understand how tough it is to win at Akron is to check out the mascot.

A kangaroo is not exactly a thing that inspires fear in most hearts.

If the cycle the Zips have been on remains true, they are on pace to have another winning season or two by about 2014/2015.

Indiana Hoosiers

New head coach, Kevin Wilson is hoping to turn things around at Indiana, but it's not going to be easy.

The Hoosiers have always been known as a basketball program, and the football program has not had enough solid wins recently to help lure recruits.

Even when the Hoosiers were "good" in 2007, they only managed seven wins.

With new teams emerging as powers to beat in the Big Ten, it will be even more difficult for the Hoosiers to progress to the top of the conference heap.

Kansas Jayhawks

Other than that one season where Todd Reesing tore up the Big 12, Kansas has been the doormat of the conference for years.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, Kansas fans, but Charlie Weis is not the guy to turn this around.

Weis couldn't lead Notre Dame to any sort of great win in his time there, and he took a miserable Florida offense this season, and made them even more miserable than they already were.

Over/under on his years at Kansas: four.