The college football season was insane. Nobody had Indiana and Miami in the National Championship. Miami was on the verge of a disappointing season, but they made the College Football Playoff by the skin of their teeth. Now, Carson Beck is once again playing for a championship.
However, to have two teams make such surprise runs to a title, that means we have to have plenty of disappointments. And, boy, did we have disappointments in college football this year. From disappointments that started Week 1 and only got worse, to a team with just one win on the entire season, here are the 10 teams that turned excitement into apathy for their fans.
10. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Final Record: 10-2
Disappointment can come in many forms, especially in sports. Notre Dame didn’t completely fail this season, but they started off the season so bad, that they turned into the biggest snub since the College Football Playoff moved to 12 teams (so, two seasons). They lost their opening game against Miami, a team now playing for the National Championship. Then, they lost to Texas A&M. It was a very disappointing start for a team that started the season ranked sixth in the NCAA.
It seemed like Notre Dame’s championship hopes were dashed. However, the rest of their schedule was quite easy. Their hardest remaining games were against USC (which had a down year overall) and Pitt (which lost to West Virginia, so, how good were they?). Still, winning 10 games in a row with a 12-team playoff probably makes you deserving.
The decision came down to Alabama, Notre Dame, and Miami. Most thought the Irish should get in over Miami, which was ranked 12th going into the conference championship games. Nobody is making that argument now, as the Hurricanes are playing for another title. Notre Dame, of course, would have gotten in if they played in a conference championship game themselves, but that’s an argument for another day. Refusing to play in any bowl game was pretty weak by the Irish, though.
9. Kansas State Wildcats
Final Record: 6-6
Nobody knew what to do with the Big 12 this season, and that bore out with Texas Tech representing the conference in the College Football Playoff. The Red Raiders have had some great seasons in the past, but this was their best since Michael Crabtree and Graham Harrell were connecting on big passes. The preseason Coaches’ Poll picked Utah over Kansas State to win the Big 12. Both teams failed in that mission.
KSU lost to Iowa State, Army, Arizona, and Baylor in its first six games. Their only wins came against UCF and North Dakota. Calling it a rough start doesn’t do it justice. The Wildcats were terrible, and the offense was extremely mediocre. Avery Johnson was fine, but he wasn’t making the big play to get them back in games. Joe Jackson was fine, but he failed to get to 1,000 yards, and that’s with his insane game against Utah at the end of the season (293 yards, three touchdowns).
We saw glimpses of the team all season, but they needed a win against Colorado just to become bowl-eligible. Then they didn’t even play in a bowl! They refused the bowl invite because Chris Klieman retired from coaching. Some might say it was a valid excuse, but it still cost the university $500,000. That seems like a big mistake.
8. Oklahoma State Cowboys
Final Record: 1-11
In 1991, the Oklahoma State Cowboys went 0-10-1. Somehow, head coach Pat Jones survived that season to stay on staff for two more. That was the last time things were as bad as they are in Stillwater. Mike Gundy was not given the same grace as Pat Jones. He was fired this season after leading his team to what would eventually be a 1-11 record. They were one of four major college football teams with one win or fewer. There are 136 such teams. Oklahoma State had one of the four worst records.
Nothing could have gone worse for Ok. State. They won their first game of the season against UT Martin, then they lost 11 games in a row. They allowed 63 points to Oregon. They lost to Tulsa. They lost every Big 12 game, most in embarrassing fashion. This was a putrid football team.
We’re not sure there’s anything good to take from this season. Who should look at this year and believe they had positive growth? The transfer portal has to be incredibly good for them, but it hasn’t had many of the top talents looking the Cowboys’ way. This might be a full-blown rebuild for the program. The one thing going for them is that they play in the Big 12. While the schedule can be brutal since nobody is really that bad, it’s not like the other Power 4 programs, where it’s very hard to win. A different team has won this conference every year since 2020.
7. Texas Longhorns
Final Record: 10-3
The Texas Longhorns were supposed to be the superstar team starting on June 23, 2022. That was the day Arch Manning, the top recruit in all of football and the nephew of legends Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, committed to play in Austin during his college career. At this point, he was supposed to be playing the National Championship before heading to a long NFL career as the number-one overall pick.
Texas hasn’t seen that level of impact, and Manning was actually terrible to start this season. He only had 170 yards, a touchdown, and an interception as his offense only scored seven points against Ohio State to start the season with a loss. After an awful performance against UTEP (although, in a win), the questions about Manning’s ability started to come up in a 29-21 loss to Florida in which he threw two interceptions.
Manning played better in the second half of the season, but there was no room for error if they wanted to make the Playoff. Unfortunately for them, Georgia took them to the woodshed with a 35-10 destruction that officially knocked them out of College Football Playoff consideration. They ended up playing an overmatched Michigan team in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, but that’s not where Arch Manning and the Longhorns wanted to be when the season ended.
6. Florida State Seminoles
Final Record: 5-7
The Florida State Seminoles had the season from hell in 2024. It was impossibly bad. They went from 13-1 and were on the verge of the College Football Playoff if it wasn’t for the injury to Jordan Travis. The quarterback suffered a fractured leg that didn’t heal correctly, and it ended his NFL career on top of ruining the Seminoles' chances of adding another championship. The next season, the Seminoles went from ranked at the top of the standings to winning just two games.
One year later, most thought Mike Norvell figured out what ailed his team in Tallahassee. Not so much. The final game against the Florida Gators was all you needed to know about this season. It included frustrating coaching decisions, unforced blunders, no ability to stop a running game, and an inability to exploit its opponents' flaws in a 40-21 whacking. This was supposed to be a rivalry game where the Seminoles could have made themselves bowl eligible. The way things have gone this season, they probably would have just said no to the bowl, anyway.
Because of FSU’s uncertainty, they haven’t had any luck in the transfer portal or getting talent to turn this ship around quickly. Somehow, Mike Norvell has survived two absolutely brutal seasons. His desperation is starting to show up where it’s not welcome. One thing is for sure: the Seminoles won’t be on this list next season. We won’t be naive enough to give them the expectations that come before disappointment.
5. South Carolina Gamecocks
Final Record: 4-8
LaNorris Sellers was called one of college football’s best players. He was legitimately expected to be a difference maker in the SEC. He was… not. Every now and then, he’d put together a decent performance, like in his loss to Alabama when he had 222 passing yards and 67 rushing yards, with a touchdown in the air and on the ground. However, he had many more that looked like his LSU performance, where he had 124 yards passing and 19 yards rushing on 22 attempts.
The issues started against Vanderbilt. With South Carolina ranked 11th, Sellers was knocked out of the game early. The Gamecocks had no answer on either side of the ball after that. They had just seven points against Vandy, and their opponents scored 31. It’s rough to lose your QB, but this type of beating shows deeper problems than one injury.
The losses piled, even as Sellers returned to the lineup. They would only win two of their next nine games, and one was against Coastal Carolina. The rest of the SEC was taking their frustrations out on the Gamecocks. Somehow, Sellers is going to try and reverse his fortunes in 2026 and avoided the transfer portal. They can put this season in a box and forget it ever happened if Sellers can turn things around with quickness. Somehow, Sellers is going to try to reverse his fortunes in 2026 and avoid the transfer portal.
4. Florida Gators
Final Record: 4-8
Florida had by far the strangest season of all the terrible teams in the league. They had an insane schedule. They faced, at the time of their matchup, the No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 (twice), No. 7, and No. 9 teams in the nation. That’s as much adversity as one team can face and more big matchups than anyone expected. However, they were supposed to be better than this, even with that schedule.
They had the big win against Texas that essentially put their season in a blender. Outside of that, Florida’s only wins came against Long Island University, Mississippi State, and Florida State (which is on this list). They lost bragging rights to Kentucky and the University of South Florida. There wasn't a lot of pride for the Gators this season. Not only were they losing, but they were losing badly.
After this disaster season, it’s going to be a season of change in Gainesville. Jom Sumrall left Tulane to clean up the mess Billy Napier left behind. DJ Lagway, who was supposed to be the future of Gators football, is now committed to Baylor. The roster and coaching staff will look completely different, and it will probably take a few years to get this program back to its former glory.
3. LSU Tigers
Final Record: 7-6
The LSU Tigers were all over the headlines, landing head coach Lane Kiffin despite his team, the Ole Miss Rebels, being in the College Football Playoff. Kiffin tried to have his cake (take the LSU job) and eat it too (coach Ole Miss to a title). Instead, it turned into this ugly situation where Kiffin tried to play the victim, the university called his bluff, and now everyone is moving on with their lives.
That isn’t why the Tigers are disappointing, however. This is a team that, at one point this season, was ranked No. 3 in the nation. They finished with a 7-6 record. Ironically, the season started to go off the rails with a loss to Ole Miss. Garrett Nussmeier just wasn’t good enough, and the cracks in the foundation were not front and center.
Three-straight losses to ranked teams (Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, and Alabama) basically put the nail in the coffin of this season. Brian Kelly, who was supposed to be the superstar hire when he left Notre Dame, was fired. They tried to get out of the $54 million they owe Kelly, but rumors say they raised the money from private donors, allowing them to start from scratch. And boy, does this team need to start from scratch.
2. Clemson Tigers
Final Record: 7-6
Is it… time to have a conversation about the Clemson Tigers and Dabo Swinney? The head coach has been vocal about his frustrations with the state of college football, and he only made the first 12-team College Football Playoff because the ACC was horrendous. He didn’t even get a bye despite the top four conference winners getting one automatically. This season, Clemson was supposed to be much better, but they weren’t. They were so bad.
The reason many thought they would be better is because of the quarterback. Cade Klubnick came into his senior season with Heisman Trophy aspirations. This was a team that could have been in the title picture. Clemson was back!
Nope! Clemson started the season with a loss to LSU. Klubnick was awful in that game, finishing with a QBR under 33. They responded by barely beating Troy the next week. Troy! Back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse put their season on life support. Losing 46-45 to Duke ended any actual aspirations this team had that were beyond a bowl game with a ridiculous sponsor. (They ended up playing in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.) Now, with Klubnick going to the NFL Draft, it’s back to the drawing board for Swinney and the Tigers. Or is it?
1. Penn State Nittany Lions
Final Record: 7-6
There is no bigger disappointment than the Penn State Nittany Lions. They were the biggest talking point in college football for the first month of the season. Everything went bad, then somehow, it kept getting worse. Drew Allar’s season ended with a shocking injury. After going 3-0 against absolute nobodies, the Nittany Lions lost their first real game (against Oregon in Week 4). It was a crazy game with the Ducks that went to double overtime. It would have been considered one of the best games of the year, but it led to way too many questions about James Franklin’s ability to win big games and whether Happy Valley would ever be that “happy” again.
And the season crumbled from there. It was clearly too much pressure for everyone involved, and Franklin would never win another game at Penn State, getting fired after a 22-21 loss to Northwestern. Really, it was the loss to lowly UCLA that did it for Franklin. The Bruins were winless going into the game and were widely considered one of the worst Power 4 franchises in college football. Coming into the game, they hadn’t even held a lead all season. They beat Penn State 42-37.
Things didn’t get better after Franklin’s firing. They lost to Iowa, Ohio State, and Indiana before ending the slide against Michigan State. They salvaged bowl eligibility, and even beat Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep them out of the number-one spot. They were a favorite to make the Playoff after getting to the Semi-Finals last season. Now, they are in no-man's land.