College Football Teams Who Can't Wait for the Season to End
Are we done yet?
You're not going to hear that question from most college football fans, not with how exciting and crazy the 2014 season has been to this point. One of the wildest and most unpredictable years in recent memory is only about half-over, with plenty of surprises surely left to come.
That's how most of us feel, unless you're a fan of—or a part of—some of the teams whose 2014 campaigns haven't gone so well. For those teams, well, it's more a matter of staring at the calendar and wishing things would hurry up and be done.
At this point and time, every team that began the season eligible for postseason play remains as such, as none of them are guaranteed to have a losing record.
It's a foregone conclusion for many, however, while others can see the writing on the wall and probably can't wait for 2014 to end.
Ball State Cardinals
1 of 10
Current record: 1-5, 0-2 Mid-American
Projected final record: 4-8, 3-5
Ball State won 10 games last season, a fifth straight year of improvement since going 2-10 in 2009. However, it now appears the Cardinals are headed back to the bottom after graduating 10 starters and finding little success with their replacements.
The Cardinals have lost five straight, including to FCS Indiana State, and rank 96th in total offense. In 2013 they had little trouble moving the ball with veteran quarterback Keith Wenning under center, as the four-year starter threw for 4,148 yards and 35 touchdowns and finished his career with more than 11,000 yards.
This season Ball State has used two quarterbacks who are averaging a combined 212.2 passing yards per game with 10 TDs.
Pete Lembo has had only one losing season in his 14 years as a head coach, which came in the first season of his previous stint at FCS Elon. After being pursued for openings at Connecticut and Wake Forest, according to Doug Zaleski of the Muncie Star Press, Lembo signed an extension that raised his salary to $475,000 and added the title of associate athletic director.
Lembo would have probably made much more than that if he'd left, so he deserves credit for sticking around. It just looks like that loyalty is going to come with some down times.
Idaho Vandals
2 of 10
Current record: 0-6, 0-4 Sun Belt
Projected final record: 1-10, 1-7
The intro slide mentioned that all FBS teams that began the season eligible for bowl games and postseason play remained so, yet that didn't apply to Idaho. That's because the Vandals knew before playing their first game that their season would end on Nov. 29, as the school was declared ineligible by the NCAA due to low academic progress rates.
Idaho hasn't been bowl-eligible since 2010 and over the past three seasons had won just four games, but having the current year rendered moot even before it began had to be a hard pill to swallow. The Vandals have thus played like a team with, well, nothing to play for.
Now members of the Sun Belt, joining the league along with New Mexico State after the two vagabond schools spent 2013 as independents following the dissolution of the Western Athletic Conference, this year has been all about long road trips and disappointing performances. Idaho even made a 2,700-mile trek to Florida to play all of one snap before heavy rain and lightning canceled the game.
At least the Vandals got to keep the $975,000 payout.
Idaho has also played games in Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas, with only two games so far at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. It still has trips to North Carolina and San Diego, so the team's frequent-flier rewards are probably pretty sweet.
Illinois Fighting Illini
3 of 10
Current record: 3-4, 0-3 Big Ten
Projected final record: 3-9, 0-8
Illinois seems headed for a third straight losing record in as many years under Tim Beckman, yet the Fighting Illini coach remains eternally optimistic in his own weird way.
Beckman, who is 9-22 since taking the job before the 2012 season, has just one Big Ten win in his tenure. That came last year at Purdue, and this season the Illini lost at home to that same Boilermakers team, their best shot at a conference victory in 2014.
Yet not long after that game, which at the time dropped Illinois to 3-3, Beckman told reporters, "If we run the table, we end up with nine wins." That was one of his many glass-is-half-full statements this season, yet the Illini have mostly come up empty.
Illinois has featured a decent offense for most of the year, but the loss of quarterback Wes Lunt to a broken leg took away its best weapon. Reilly O'Toole and Aaron Bailey have combined for just 514 yards on 40-of-86 passing with three touchdowns and five interceptions in three games, while Illinois' run game has been pathetic and ranks 115th nationally.
Its defense has been bad all year, giving up at least 34 points in each of the past six games.
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Kansas Jayhawks
4 of 10
Current record: 2-4, 0-3 Big 12
Projected final record: 3-9, 1-8
Kansas didn't come into this season with very big expectations lumped on it—the Jayhawks were picked dead last in the Big 12 by the conference's media back in July—but there was at least hope that some progress would finally be made in Charlie Weis' third season.
Nope.
Weis was fired Sept. 28 after a 2-2 start, his last game being a 23-0 home loss to Texas. He went 6-22 in Lawrence and will now earn $5.625 million not to coach (on top of what he's still getting after being fired by Notre Dame).
Meanwhile, his former team has dropped both games since his firing. The Jayhawks lost at West Virginia to extend the school's road losing streak to 26 games and then rallied to tie Oklahoma State in the fourth quarter at home last week, only to immediately fall behind by giving up a kickoff return touchdown.
Kansas is tied for 115th in total offense. Injuries depleted its rushing game before the season began, while Weis' decision to go with Montell Cozart at quarterback prompted Jake Heaps to transfer. Cozart threw for 693 yards with five TDs and seven interceptions in five starts before being replaced by Michael Cummings.
Michigan Wolverines
5 of 10
Current record: 3-4, 1-2 Big Ten
Projected final record: 5-7, 3-5
The saga of Michigan in 2014 has been well-chronicled, from the hope brought forth by new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier and the hype surrounded highly touted recruit Leonard Fournette to the many
shortcomings as the season has progressed. This has included losing twice at home, in back-to-back weeks to Utah and Minnesota, getting shut out (by Notre Dame) for the first time in 30 years and starting 0-2 for the first time since 1967.
And we haven't even discussed the controversy surrounding the treatment of sophomore quarterback Shane Morris, who suffered a blow to the head during the loss to Minnesota yet was inserted back into the game not long after.
Michigan has regressed each season under coach Brady Hoke, going 11-2 and playing in the Sugar Bowl in 2011 but then going 8-5 the next year and 7-6 last season. This year, the Wolverines rank 112th in total offense and have scored six offensive touchdowns in their four games against power-conference opponents.
Neither Morris nor Devin Gardner has been able to move the offense, and with leading rusher Derrick Green out for the year with a broken clavicle the production issues are likely to continue.
North Carolina Tar Heels
6 of 10
Current record: 2-4, 0-2 ACC
Projected final record: 5-7, 3-5
Boy, were we fooled.
North Carolina isn't the only team that began the season ranked and yet is nowhere near the top 25 anymore, but none have fallen as far as the Tar Heels.
There's one main reason for this rapid descent: one of the worst defenses in the country.
Carolina is giving up 43.3 points per game, second-worst in FBS and only better than winless SMU. It's allowed 51 points per game during a four-game win streak, including 70 at East Carolina and 50 each to Clemson and Notre Dame. The Heels dropped 43 on the Fighting Irish last week in South Bend, leading 14-0 and 36-35, yet even as those leads were achieved it felt like a foregone conclusion they were going to cough up more points.
Coach Larry Fedora remains hopeful, telling reporters during Wednesday's ACC teleconference, "I believe we're going to continue to grow and get better on defense, we're going to play better defense as the year goes on."
UNC may or may not have been scored on during that teleconference—we're still confirming.
The inability to stop teams has masked some relatively solid offensive numbers, particularly by quarterback Marquise Williams. The junior has thrown for 1,386 yards and 11 touchdowns and run for 375 with three scores, and last week he had 435 yards of total offense against Notre Dame. But much of his and his teammates' production has come out of desperation, with Carolina playing from behind so much.
SMU Mustangs
7 of 10
Current record: 0-5, 0-1 American
Projected final record: 1-11, 1-7
SMU is coming off its best performance of the season two weeks ago, and that resulted in a 21-point loss. The 24 points the Mustangs scored represent two-thirds of their points for the entire year.
June Jones resigned after only two games, losses to Baylor and North Texas in which SMU was outscored 88-6 and amassed only 341 total yards with minus-16 rushing yards. The numbers haven't gotten much better, as for the year SMU is averaging 243.4 yards per game (which is second-worst in FBS) and just 45.2 on the ground.
The Mustangs have used four quarterbacks already, with opening day starter Neal Burcham done for the year with an elbow injury. That quartet has been sacked 31 times.
It's pretty much a play-out-the-string scenario for this team despite a remaining schedule that features two games against 1-5 teams and only one opponent with a winning record. Most of the attention on this program is focused on seeing how low the on-field futility can reach and who the team's next coach will be.
Athletic director Rick Hart has said he plans to use October to complete "preliminary work" on a search for the next coach.
South Carolina Gamecocks
8 of 10
Current record: 3-3, 2-3 SEC
Projected final (regular-season) record: 6-6, 3-5
South Carolina began this season ranked ninth in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, having come off its third consecutive 11-2 campaign. It had a veteran quarterback, a mostly dependable running back and a savvy Head Ball Coach who had turned the Gamecocks' program into one of the most consistently good in the country.
Then came a 24-point home loss to Texas A&M on the very first night of the 2014 season, and it's been pretty much all downhill from there.
We discounted that loss for a bit after Carolina responded by winning its next three, including a back-and-forth victory over Georgia and the only win anyone has logged against group-of-five power East Carolina. But it struggled to win at woeful Vanderbilt, blew a lead to lose at home to Missouri and followed that with a late collapse at Kentucky.
We're not used to seeing this kind of dysfunction from a Steve Spurrier-coached team, at least not in college. Yet what's been most troubling, according to Brett Weisband of Saturday Down South, is the approach the Gamecocks have taken offensively:
"One of the most disappointing parts of the Gamecocks' spiral has been their refusal to play to their strength on offense: the running game. They have two guys who look like they can be workhorses, Mike Davis and Brandon Wilds, and a talented, veteran offensive line that is built to pound opponents. Yet Dylan Thompson is second in the conference in passing attempts, and Spurrier keeps going to the air.
"
South Carolina ranks 63rd in rushing offense, compared to 31st a year ago.
The Gamecocks should make a bowl game thanks to a remaining schedule that includes an FCS team this week, another game against a Sun Belt team and Tennessee at home, but six wins is far below expectations in Columbia.
Instead of finishing up with another bowl game in Florida, it's looking more like a trip to Shreveport or Birmingham.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
9 of 10
Current record: 1-5, 1-1 American
Projected final record: 3-9, 3-5
Tulsa won the Conference USA title in 2012 then beat Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl to cap an 11-3 season, its fourth year of 10 or more wins in a six-season span. A few months later the school accepted an invitation to join the Big East, now known as the American Athletic Conference, in 2014.
But the Golden Hurricane have won only four of 18 games since making that move and this year take a five-game losing streak into Saturday's home game against South Florida.
Last year's 3-9 record seemed like an anomaly for the Tulsa program, but many of the same issues have surfaced this season. It has moved the ball decently, with quarterback Dane Evans and receiver Keevan Lucas forming a strong pass-catching duo, but the Hurricane rank 100th in scoring at 23.5 points per game.
Tulsa's defense is 121st, allowing 508.7 yards per game, and has only forced six turnovers compared to 13 giveaways.
Vanderbilt Commodores
10 of 10
Current record: 2-5, 0-4 SEC
Projected final record: 4-8, 1-7
Some decline was expected this season for Vanderbilt after coach James Franklin left for Penn State following three straight bowl years. The program's unprecedented success was due for a bit of backslide under new coach Derek Mason, but the amount it's fallen has been very surprising.
The Commodores had one one of the worst debuts of any power-conference team this season, losing by 30 at home—to Temple, which was 2-10 a year ago. That game was delayed because of lightning, an ominous sign that should have been heeded as a harbinger of things to come.
Vandy scored 34 points in back-to-back games in mid-September (a comeback win over FBS doormat Massachusetts and a loss to South Carolina) and 55 points in the other five games. Last week it managed only 295 yards in a 21-20 win over FCS Charleston Southern, nearly blowing an 18-3 lead.
Mason, a defensive coach at Stanford, has seen his team's offense perform horribly all year. It ranks 125th in total offense, with four different quarterbacks combining to complete 49.5 percent of his passes with four touchdowns against 11 interceptions.
All statistical information courtesy of CFBStats.com.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
