College football powerless rankings: Misery loves company in the Big Ten

Michigan hits rock bottom but at least they have a win while Penn State still seeks their first.

It’s mid-November and Penn State still is in search of their first win. Penn State couldn’t get a win against winless Nebraska as James Franklin’s team fell to 0-4 and yet, the Nittany Lions didn’t have the worst weekend in the Big Ten.

Heck, as bad as Michigan State has played, they are lucky that the Michigan Wolverines have been even worse to mask their stench because Jim Harbaugh’s team is a full-on embarrassment after what they put on the field in the worst loss of the Harbaugh era on Saturday against Wisconsin.

Misery loves company in the Big Ten

5. Louisville Cardinals (2-6, 1-6 ACC)

The Cardinals string of bad luck continued this week against the Virginia Cavaliers. This game’s irony is that Virginia is starting to get past COVID and injury issues while Louisville is beginning to have COVID and injury issues of their own. Louisville had seven players out, including receiver Chitarius Atwell and running back Javian Hawkins. Quarterback Malik Cunningham did all he could with 358 total yards and two rushing touchdowns — including a career-high 197 yards — but the Cardinal had no counter punch when Virginia keyed in on him. The Cardinals look to end their losing streak against 1-7 Syracuse in their next game.

4. TCU Horned Frogs (3-4, 3-4 Big 12)

Hopefully, TCU fans love roller coasters. The Horned Frogs 24-6 loss continues the roller coaster ride that has been the ‘Frogs season. Their season began losing three of four, then winning two in a row; TCU followed those wins with Saturday’s loss against West Virginia. The TCU offense had issues putting drives together all game. This game exposed TCU’s lack of playmakers on the perimeter. Quarterback Max Duggan has no one to pitch on the zone read and no one to throw outside that is a difference-maker. Not only that, this is not how TCU traditionally plays defense. At least they play Kansas next week.

3. Michigan State Spartans (1-3)

This was supposed to be a zero year for the Michigan State Spartans. Head coach Mel Tucker and his staff were hired after signing day and very late in the process. Then COVID hit. Coach Tucker and his staff did not have an in-person meeting with the players until late July. Who knows what gathering restrictions affected their practices.

On the field, it is clear Rocky Lombardi is not the guy at quarterback. Lombardi is inaccurate and throws it to the wrong jersey far too often. It does not help when there are not enough explosive complementary players around him and the offensive line is suspect. They had no answers for the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday that had fans anxiously awaiting the start of the Michigan State basketball season. Tucker needs to get the coaches together and treat the rest of the season as a series of scrimmages to evaluate talent since they did not get the chance because of the pandemic. The Spartans look to right the ship against Maryland.

2. Penn State Nittnay Lions (0-4)

Coming into the season, many prognosticators were on the Penn State bandwagon. It seemed as if many writers and fans believed in Sean Clifford. Then the pandemic hit and Micah Parsons opted out. Running backs Journey Brown and Noah Cain were lost to medical reasons and an injury and Clifford’s favorite target, KJ Hamler, is in the NFL. Penn State lost to a winless Nebraska and made them look like the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Ohio native, Clifford, is not the type of quarterback who can cover for a myriad of shortcomings offensively. Couple that with Clifford being inefficient and turnover-prone. This confluence of issues has this season a disaster. Hopefully, for Penn State football fans, the Nittany Lions can notch their first win against Iowa this weekend.

1. Michigan Wolverines (1-3)

The Wolverines take the top spot once again after an abysmal effort against Wisconsin. There were times against the Badgers where the Wolverines did not want to be on the field and it was reflected in the play from quarterback Joe Milton, the offensive line and a defense that looked allergic to tackling. This was the issue the Wolverines had last season against Wisconsin. When you get run at 51 times, you get tired of getting blocked and trying to tackle. This was the worst game of the Jim Harbaugh era, which looks like it’ll be coming to an end at the end of the year, which won’t be soon enough for many Michigan football fans.

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