5 college football teams that won’t be as good as you think in 2023
By John Buhler
Spring practice will begin soon, but not every college football team will have great seasons.
The college football season may have just ended, but spring practice will be here soon enough.
The 2023 campaign will be the last featuring a four-team College Football Playoff. It will also be a season full of realignment with most notably BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF going Power Five by joining the Big 12. Overall, this should be an exciting season nonetheless. Georgia enters next year as back-to-back national champions, but to date, no program has ever three-peated before.
Though Georgia may pull back some, here are five teams who are poised to underachieve this fall.
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Losing his coordinator may hurt this Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback.
- Page 2: Their quarterback is outstanding, but their defense is terrible in a divisionless ACC.
- Page 3: This really comes down to how well the two coordinator hires go for them, aight.
- Page 4: A new quarterback and a trip to the Big House may be bad news for this head coach.
- Page 5: This Group of Five power could be in for a rude awakening in joining its new league.
College football: 5 big programs poised to pull back during next college season
Bo Nix will have to navigate huge expectations without Kenny Dillingham at Oregon
The Pac-12 is in the midst of a coaching renaissance. While some were skeptical about what Dan Lanning could do in his first year at Oregon, the former Georgia defensive coordinator set a very strong foundation right away. Of course, losing The Strife Aquatic to in-state rival Oregon State over Thanksgiving Weekend was absolutely brutal. Plus, he lost Kenny Dillingham to Arizona State.
That is a bigger deal than most people even realize. Dillingham was a huge reason why Auburn legacy quarterback Bo Nix transferred across the country. Although Dillingham could be in for a rough go of it in Tempe, this is his alma mater. Regardless, Oregon may not be able to sustain such a key loss this soon off its coaching staff. Nix should be just fine, but he faces great expectations.
Overall, Oregon still has a great chance to be a top-two team in the league and get to Las Vegas. However, the top half of the Pac-12 is loaded. USC and Utah are College Football Playoff contenders. Washington is right there as well. Jonathan Smith is building something special in Corvallis. UCLA has it going under Chip Kelly. Just wait until Coach Prime has it rolling in Boulder…
Simply put, Oregon is more likely to go 9-3 again during the regular season than win the Pac-12.