The disappointments in college football in 2016 have been easy to identify. The only hard part is taking a group of eight or nine teams and whittling it down to just four. The Texas Longhorns would make a 10 most disappointing teams list, but not four. Stanford would make a top-10 list, but not four. Tennessee would probably make the list at this point if it was 10 teams long, but not a list of four. Florida State would also fit in the same category. These teams below are the most massive disappointments in the country.
TCU Horned Frogs
This team is on the list because it was hyped before the season, but also because the defense was supposed to be good enough to carry the team. What was also known is that quarterback Kenny Hill was viewed as a capable replacement for departed quarterback Trevone Boykin. Hill sat out for a season, and in that time, many people felt that he had fixed his problems, the things which caused his 2014 season at Texas A&M to head south after promising start. Well, as it turned out, Hill did not fix his problems. He committed way too many turnovers and is still having a problem reading defenses. Some injuries cropped up here and there, but if Hill had been half the quarterback he was expected to be, TCU would be in the thick of the Big 12 race. At this point, TCU might not even make a bowl game. The Big 12 is down this year, and TCU should have been a contender after finishing in the top four in 2014 and winning 11 games last season. This is a profound disappointment.
Oregon Ducks
The Ducks aren’t just an okay team in an era when they’ve established a standard of being great. They’re much worse than “okay.” They are not likely to make a bowl game, which is a spectacular fall for a team which played for the national championship two years ago. Few were expecting Oregon to win the Pac-12 North this season, but the utter collapse of the team is what’s truly surprising. This is not something analysts and pundits were prepared for. As a result, head coach Mark Helfrich is truly on the hot seat.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
It’s possible that Notre Dame is the biggest disappointment of them all. The Fighting Irish had a schedule and a talent level which pointed to a College Football Playoff berth. Notre Dame very nearly made the playoff the year before, and the Irish had DeShone Kizer back at quarterback, with a veteran defense and some important skill position players also in the fold again. This team was supposed to be experienced and battle-tested under head coach Brian Kelly. Notre Dame had made a college football national championship game in the 2012 season, so the idea of the Irish getting back to that spot under their coach made sense. However, their defense cratered early in the season and their offense lost focus in the middle of October. It’s been a total disaster, the most puzzling component of the season being that no part of the team has been immune from a decline relative to 2015. It’s been so bad that head coach Brian Kelly may enter next season as one of the college football head coaches on the hot seat.
Michigan State Spartans
This is the disappointment which makes sense, in that Connor Cook’s absence as the team’s quarterback figured to set back the Spartans. However, the severity with which Michigan State has declined – 2-6 and certain to not make a bowl – is something which was completely unanticipated. A reasonable expectation for Michigan State was 8-4. This level of ineptitude simply wasn’t a consideration. The Spartans should always be strong enough to beat Indiana on the road and BYU at home. Maybe Wisconsin was legitimately better, but some of the teams MSU has lost to (Maryland being another one) have no business flourishing against the Spartans. They have to completely rebuild for 2017, a very unexpected position for last year’s playoff semifinalist.
