College Football Worst-to-First: The Biggest One-Year Turnarounds in History

There's something patently American about rooting for the underdog.

After all, our nation was founded by history's greatest underdog story—a group of rag-tag militias and a poorly equipped “army” taking on the greatest world power of the day.

Ever since the British surrender at Yorktown on Oct. 19, 1781, Americans have loved underdogs.

Today, there is no place that is more evident than in sport, and college football in particular. Why else is the entire nation caught up in the story of little Boise State or TCU crashing to BCS party and sending home mighty teams like Oklahoma and Wisconsin with losses?

Every so often, there's a team that seems to spring up from nowhere to break into the national conversation. It's particularly impressive when that team does so after an abysmal season, and isn't expected to be competitive.

Here are some examples of those underdog teams defying expectations, and turning around their fortunes in just one season.

Georgia Tech, 1951

After the Ramblin' Wreck stumbled through the 1950 season, finishing 5-6, hopes weren't set too high for the Yellow Jackets in 1951.

Head coach Bobby Dodd had different ideas, and by the end of 1951, his Georgia Tech team was 11-0-1, and had embarked on a 31-game unbeaten streak, which eventually led to a national championship claim in 1952.

Incidentally, Tech also beat rival Georgia 48-6 in 1951 while capturing the first of two consecutive SEC championships.

Oklahoma, 2000

While not the biggest turnaround ever, the 2000 Oklahoma team is important in a couple of respects.

First, the Sooners finished 7-5 in 1999, and followed that up with a 13-0, BCS championship season.

Second, it was just Bob Stoops's second season as head coach at Oklahoma, and Stoops began a seismic shift in expectations in Norman. The 1990's was quite frankly an abysmal decade for the Sooners.

The decade saw the first time since the 1920's that the Sooners had three consecutive losing seasons.

It also saw seasons in which Oklahoma set program records for most losses in a season, and worse season win percentages since the 1890's.

Since the turnaround season in 2000, Oklahoma is 122-26. So while the 1999-to-2000 turnaround is important, it's mostly because its effect on Oklahoma can still be seen today.

South Carolina, 2000

When legendary coach Lou Holtz took over at South Carolina, many fans believed that the days of SEC irrelevance were behind them.

After all, the man had 100 wins and a national championship at Notre Dame, right?

Well, the fans were half right. South Carolina would again become relevant under Lou Holtz, but it wasn't in his first season, 1999. That year, the Gamecocks went 0-11.

But it wasn't long before Lou Holtz used some of the magic gleaned from his days at Notre Dame, and South Carolina was winning more games than anyone expected.

In the 2000 season, not only did South Carolina win eight games, but they beat one of the top teams in the nation—Ohio State—in the Outback Bowl.

Hawai'i, 1999

In 1998, the Rainbow Warriors finished 0-12 for the first time in program history, and Hawai'i fired coach Fred von Appen as the season's conclusion.

The Rainbow Warriors then made of the greatest moves in their history by hiring June Jones as the new head coach for the 1999 season.

Jones guided Hawai'i to a 9-4 record in his first season, capturing a share of the WAC championship, and topping Oregon State in the O'ahu Bowl.

Going from zero wins to a conference championship and bowl victory easily places Hawai'i on the list.

Florida, 1980

Charley Pell will be remembered for many things because of his time at Florida.

While the finding by the NCAA that Pell and his staff at Florida were responsible for a whopping 107 major violations of NCAA rules, and Pell's subsequent firing, battle with depression and suicide attempt looms large in any summary of Pell and his relationship with the University of Florida, Pell should also be remembered for taking over a Florida program in disarray and transforming it into a program of which Gator fans could be proud.

Pell's first season at Florida, 1979, still ranks as the worst season in Gators history. Florida posted a 0-10-1 record, and was outscored 265-106.

With batting an eye, Pell set about putting the pieces in place to build a successful program, and by the time next season had finished, Florida was 8-4—a very respectable finish after 0-10-1.

Within a few years, Pell had the Gators as high as No. 6 in the nation—at the time, the highest ranking in school history.

Although the end of Pell's career was marred by scandal, Pell should also be remembered for the fund-raising efforts at Florida, as well has his recovery from depression, after which he because an outspoken advocate of awareness of the disease, and removing the stigma from those afflicted with clinical depression.

Purdue, 1943

In the midst of World War II, many traditional football powers across the country were having trouble finding wins. After all, most of the able-bodied men of the day were off fighting for the country in Europe and the Pacific.

Purdue was no exception, and the Boilermakers suffered through a 1-8 record in 1942. Purdue was so bad, that in the entire 1942 season, the Boilers only managed to score 27 total points—an average of three points per game.

Head coach Elmer Burnham didn't use 1942 as an excuse, and in 1943, his Boilermaker squad scored on average 20 more points per game than they had the previous season. That resulted in a perfect 9-0 record, and a shared Big Ten championship.

Clemson, 1948

Saying Clemson had a rough 1947 season would be putting it lightly. The Tigers began the season 1-5, before winning their last three contests to finish 4-5. Clemson wasn't a particularly bad team—they did actually outscore their combined opponents in 1947—but they were certainly nothing special.

In 1948, the Clemson Tigers were definitely special.

The team allowed half as many points over the course of the season in which they played two more games than they had the previous year.

Additionally, the Tigers now found themselves taking on one of the top teams in the nation, Missouri, in the Gator Bowl.

Clemson won that game, and every other game in the 1948 season, finishing 11-0, and claiming the Southern Conference championship.

Miami (Ohio) University, 2010

When you're a MAC team, and you go 1-11, the wheels have definitely come off of the wagon. That's exactly the situation Miami was in after the 2009 season.

Under the leadership of head coach Mike Haywood, the Redhawks had a near-miraculous turnaround in 2010, and went on to win 10 games, a MAC championship, and the GoDaddy.com Bowl over Middle Tennessee State.

In the long history of college football, the 2010 Miami Redhawks are the only team ever to follow a season of double-digit losses with a season of double-digit wins.

USC, 1962

When you think of USC, many people typically think of a program that has always been at or near the top of the national conversation.

While Trojan fans like to cling to that fantasy, it is simply that: a fantasy.

After the 1934 season, when USC posted a 10-1-1 record, the Trojans were pretty average (or worse) over the next 30 or so seasons, averaging just 5.6 wins per season over the next 28 years.

In 1960, USC hired John McKay as the new head coach to get past the troubles of the past, which included a pay-for-play scandal and the dissolving of the Pacific Coast Conference in 1959.

McKay immediately went about the task of restoring the former glory to USC, and within just a few seasons, he was successful. His 1961 squad finished just barely better than his 1960 4-6-0 team with a 4-5-1 record.

By the time 1962 rolled around, McKay's recruits were taking center stage at USC, and the Trojans shocked many with their 1962 national championship performance of 11-0.

Stanford, 1940

After the glory years at Stanford under legendary coach Glenn “Pop” Warner, Stanford fell into a period of mediocrity under Claude “Tiny” Thornhill. Tiny pretty much described the amount of accomplishments under Thornhill for the Indians.

After riding “Pop” Warner's coat tails his first three seasons, Stanford's stock began falling precipitously over the next four seasons.

After posting a 1-7-1 record in 1939, Thornhill was replaced by Clark Shaughnessy.

Shaughnessy instituted instant changes, including the use of a “T” formation, that was viewed as obsolete, and hadn't been widely used in college football since the turn of the century.

But Stanford's skilled use of the formation and Shaughnessy's keen leadership led the Indians to a 10-0 record in 1940, won the Rose Bowl, and finished No. 2 in the nation, behind AP national champion Minnesota.