College Football Rankings: Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 20 Worst Teams?
More than midway through the college football season, many schools are making their final push in order to go bowling this winter.
Other schools, however, are just eagerly awaiting winter break so they don't have to get embarrassed anymore.
Notre Dame fans probably shared that sentiment as they discovered starting quarterback Dayne Crist would be out for the season with a knee injury. The Irish have looked sloppy, and after two straight losses to Tulsa and Navy, one question lingers throughout college football:
How bad is Notre Dame?
Since the BCS ranks (albeit poorly) the best teams in the country, Notre Dame will now be ranked by the Anti-BCS. This system ranks the worst teams in the nation and can determine who falls below the sliding Irish.
Let's find out if it made the bottom 20.
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20. Central Michigan Chippewas (2-7, 1-5 MAC)
1 of 20
Chippewas faithful must be distraught that Dan LeFevour doesn't have another year of eligibility after the start by their team.
Oddly enough, however, that's not Central Michigan's problem, as the passing attack is 26th in the nation.
The issue is leadership. Four of the Chippewas' seven losses are by a touchdown or less, which shows an inability to close the deal. With one of the worst scoring offenses in the country, Central Michigan can't hand the ball to the offense and expect a comeback.
But then again, they aren't in Detroit. So that's an honorary third win.
19. New Mexico State Aggies (2-6, 1-3 WAC)
2 of 20
Clearly, New Mexico State hasn't been relevant in college football in sometime.
How is it so obvious? This picture is 7-years-old.
The 2010 Aggies are refusing to make any of their pictures worth a single word. In the bottom 10 in both scoring offense and defense, NMSU has allowed more than 30 points three times and never eclipsed that mark themselves.
Suggestion? Hire Cristiano Ronaldo as a coach. He may not play the same football, but at least, he can score.
18. Tennessee Volunteers (2-6, 0-5 SEC)
3 of 20
Volunteers fans can whine all they want, saying they are just having an off year in one of football's toughest conferences.
Call whine-1-1 and get a whaaaa-mbulance. The team in Rocky Top is playing dreadfully.
Tennessee's only FBS win was an overtime battle with the mighty UAB Blazers, and the blame rests with both sides of the ball. Opponent's margin of victory is more than 20 points, which is due to an extremely tired defense forced onto the field way too often.
Fortunately, their easiest games are yet to come. But to even be bowl eligible, they have to win out.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
17. Buffalo Bulls (2-6, 1-3 MAC)
4 of 20
The Bulls have circled the drain in the MAC ever since Turner Gill left, and 2010 hasn't been much better to them.
With only one victory over an FBS team, the Bulls have dropped six of their last seven. Buffalo has lost by an average of more than 25 points, including beat downs handed to them by perennial college football powerhouses Temple and Northern Illinois.
There's only one way out of this debacle:
Change their name to the Buffalo Buffaloes. That way, people will make fun of their name and not the program.
16. Duke Blue Devils (2-6, 0-4 ACC)
5 of 20
Before ripping into the ACC's repeated bottom-feeder, credit needs to be given to Duke's gunslinger, Sean Renfree.
The quarterback has the same amount of throwing touchdowns as the team has rushing scores.
Which highlights the Blue Devil's biggest woe. The 94th ranked rushing team in the country doesn't allow its defense to rest, which leads to teams averaging more than 37 points per game against Duke.
Fans in Durham probably don't care, however. Football just tides them over until Kyle Singler and the basketball team hits the floor again.
15. Marshall Thundering Herd (2-6, 1-3 C-USA)
6 of 20
The story of We Are Marshall tells of a gutty Thundering Herd that overcame the tremendous tragedy of losing 55 players in a plane crash.
The 2010 Herd probably wishes they were in a movie, because reality wouldn't suck as much.
Marshall's offense scores 17 points per game, which is good for 110th in the nation. Sadly, the defense has held their opponents to under 17 only once during the season, leading to disturbing losses to the likes of Bowling Green and UCF.
Luckily, they don't have to watch Matthew McConaughey act.
14. Kansas Jayhawks (2-6, 0-4 Big 12)
7 of 20
Hmmm...another Turner Gill sighting. Coincidence?
Well, for the city of Lawrence's sake, let's just hope not.
The 'Hawks already passed their schedule's weak spots—and failed with flying colors. Losses to North Dakota State and Southern Miss, as well as a pair of games surrendering 55 point or more are the lowest of low-lights.
But what else can the nation expect from an offense that hasn't even scored two touchdowns in the majority of its games?
13. Ball State Cardinals (2-7, 1-4 MAC)
8 of 20
Without even pulling up statistics, here's how everyone knows Ball State is a disaster of a squad:
Their last four losses were against Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo and Kent State—all of which scored at least 31 points.
The real culprit, however, is the passing attack. Yes, freshman Keith Wenning has been thrown into the fire quickly, but averaging only 138 yards in the air per game makes people in Muncie, Ind. wish the Cardinals hadn't clipped their wings.
The lone bright spot? Halfback Eric Williams, who's dropping five yards per carry.
Kudos.
12. Utah State Aggies (2-6, 0-4 WAC)
9 of 20
The nickname "Aggies" seems to be a curse, as Utah State is another team that looks completely lost on the field this season.
Maybe because it's barely a word.
USU needs a lot of help on both sides of the ball. All but one of their games have seen the opponent score more than 30 points, and quarterback Diondre Borel has fewer touchdown throws than games played.
Also, they gave up 17 points to Idaho State. That's just sad.
11. Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-8, 0-5 Big 10)
10 of 20
The Golden Gophers started the year undefeated after taking down a juggernaut from Middle Tennessee.
Then, the gold turned into pyrite. Immediately.
Minnesota has dropped eight straight, including six at home and soul-crushign defeats to South Dakota and Northern Illinois. The Gophers have only been blown out once this year, however, and quarterback Adam Weber is having an excellent season, with 17 touchdowns and more than 2,000 yards.
Sadly, it's because his team is trailing for most of every game.
10. San Jose State Spartans (1-8, 0-4 WAC)
11 of 20
Based solely on statistics, San Jose State should have negative wins.
The Spartans are last in points scored, third to last in rushing yards and 19th worst in points allowed, making a concoction for disaster. However, look a little deeper and see the team is victim of one of the nation's toughest schedules.
Alabama, Wisconsin, Utah and Nevada are all Top 25 teams and had the Spartans come to their house. Add Boise State and Fresno State to that schedule, and it's murderer's row.
Then again, losses to New Mexico State and UC Davis are just laughable.
9. Bowling Green Falcons (2-7, 1-4 MAC)
12 of 20
These two defenders seem to be working pretty hard to chase down the Michigan player, and so maybe they could give some advice to their teammates in the Falcons' backfield:
Learn how to run.
Bowling Green is dead last in rushing, putting up only 62 yards per game, a number that Denard Robinson could achieve on one leg. The ground game is likely the team's biggest hole and combining that with a bottom 20 scoring defense explains the team's two wins.
Which came against two squads that also made this list (CMU and Marshall). Yikes.
8. Memphis Tigers (1-7, 0-5 C-USA)
13 of 20
The Tigers should get credit for one thing:
When they lose, they go all out.
Memphis sports one of the nation's greatest average margin of defeat, 27.2 points, which should make its fans wish Coach Cal was on the football recruiting watch as well. With both the air and ground games in the bottom 25 of college football, it's clear the Tigers never really have a chance.
Seriously, how can a team give up 40 or more points in six of eight games and not be booed at a constant rate?
7. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (1-7, 1-3 Sun Belt)
14 of 20
Mathematically eliminated from bowl contention, Western Kentucky is just playing for fun at this point.
Sadly, with the product they put out, no one is climbing the Hill to watch.
Losing to big guys like Nebraska is acceptable, but losing at home to Louisiana-Monroe and North Texas just can't happen. Then again, when the defense suffers more than 36 points each game, it's hard to imagine many offenses keeping up.
Let alone one with the nation's 99th best passing game.
6. Eastern Michigan Eagles (1-8, 1-4 MAC)
15 of 20
Looking at the backs of opponents' jersey is a common theme for the Eagles, as any one with legs appears to be able to make plays against this team.
Eastern Michigan comes in 120th (read: last) in college football in points allowed, giving up a whopping 43.8 points per game, with embarrassments versus Virginia (48) and Toledo (42) in the last two weeks.
Unfortunately, the offense isn't much better.
Quarterback Alex Gillett leads a bottom 20 offense that averages less than 20 points each week. Even against lowly teams like the Chippewas, the Eagles were only able to eek out 14 points.
And that's supposed to be a directional school rivalry!
5. UNLV Rebels (1-7, 1-3 MWC)
16 of 20
Another statistically nightmare. Betting on the Rebels to cover the spread is about the riskiest wager in Vegas.
But just like the city, the team loves to gamble.
In all seven losses, UNLV has given up 30 or more points. Furthermore, the squad loses on average by a gigantic margin of 29 points per game. While they did pull out one blowout victory, it came against New Mexico, one of FBS' remaining winless teams.
What else can be expected from an offense that dwells in the NCAA's cellar in nearly all offensive stats?
4. Wyoming Cowboys (2-7, 0-5 MWC)
17 of 20
On paper, it's an absolute miracle this team has two victories, because it has some of the worst numbers in college football.
A bottom 15 running game, bottom five rushing attack give Cowboys' fans the pleasure of watching a team that barely musters more than two touchdowns per game. In fact, four of their losses this season saw Wyoming not even put up a fight, scoring only one TD or less.
To make it all worse, the defense is just as bad.
Giving up 32 points per outing is bad enough, but considering five of the seven defeats were by double digits, it's clear the Cowboy defenders could use a lasso on the field.
3. Washington State Cougars (1-8, 0-6 Pac-10)
18 of 20
At the beginning of the season, the Cougars were the only team in one of the Power Six conferences not in the the nation's Top 100.
Clearly, the projections were right.
Washington State's aerial attack has been solid, but the bright spots end there. All eight losses were by double digit margins, and the team's lone win was a one point comeback victory against Montana State.
Awful is the only word to describe them: They've lost 17 of their last 18, stretching back to last season.
2. New Mexico Lobos (0-8, 0-4 MWC)
19 of 20
The Lobos have been so appalling this year, they could have 24 guys on the field and still not be able to stop anyone.
People who think Oregon's 72-point smack down on New Mexico was just a fluke are dead wrong. The team loses each game by nearly 30 points, and only one defeat was under 10 points (against fellow cellar-dweller, New Mexico State).
To make matters worse, the team has had to use four different quarterbacks, none of which has thrown for more than two scores. The nations eighth worst running game has pounded it into the end zone only four times all year, which explains their 13.6 point per game average.
Sometimes, the games should just be played on paper. It would save fans from watching a murder.
1. Akron Zips (0-9, 0-5 MAC)
20 of 20
It's perfectly apt that the nation's worst team has a nickname equal to its win total.
Zip.
Akron resides in the bottom 15 in both passing and rushing yards, which must make watching C-SPAN a more exciting affair than their games. Losses at home to Gardner-Webb and Western Michigan underscore how dreadful this team truly is.
But if that doesn't do the trick, maybe the fact that the quarterbacks have doubled their combined touchdown total with interceptions will convince you. Or possibly the notion that Akron gains a meager 3.3 yards per rush, and has fewer rushing scores than losses this year (8 to 9).
Enough said.
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.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
