Every college football conference is as strong as and as week as its best and worst teams and when it comes to the College Football Playoff that is a big part of the argument against the selection of a team from a non-power conference. There are some really good teams from those conferences but there are also some really terrible teams and at the end of the day the weak strength of schedule really hurts the case for the top teams from those conferences to make the playoff. Here is a look at which team projects to finish last in every non-power conference this season.
American: Tulane Green Wave
Tulane fell to 1-7 in the American last season and finished with a 3-9 record overall. Staying out of the AAC basement won’t be easy, especially with an offense that ranked 119th out of 128 FBS teams last season. Head coach Willie Fritz will have a tough time turning that offense around and it doesn’t help that the Green Wave play in a conference with so many high scoring offenses that can turn things up quickly. A road game against UCF could determine which of those teams finishes at the bottom of the standings with a good chance that Tulane falters on the road and finishes in the AAC basement.
Conference USA: Charlotte 49ers
Charlotte is coming off an 0-8 record in Conference USA play for its first full FBS season and while the potential is there for marginal improvement it might not be enough to climb out of the basement. The 49ers’ two wins came in their first two games, which means they ended the year with 10 straight losses overall. Charlotte has the misfortune of playing on the tougher side of the Conference USA bracket so they will definitely struggled with trying to climb out of the conference basement this season.
Mid-American: Eastern Michigan Eagles
The Eagles are a good bet to finish with the worst record in the FBS this season and there is very little double they will finish below .500 for the 22nd straight year. Eastern Michigan has lost 14 straight Mid-American games, so it’s no surprise they have been recommended to drop down to the FCS. It’s kind of like in soccer: when a team sucks at the main level, they get relegated to a weaker division.
The Eagles will have to play the two Michigan schools as well as Toledo and perennial power Northern Illinois this season so there is no doubt at this point that they are the team most likely to finish at the bottom of their conference of any on this list.
Mountain West: Wyoming Cowboys
Head coach Craig Bohl has lost more games over the last two years at Wyoming (18) than he did in his final five seasons at North Dakota State (15). There are obvious concerns about whether he will actually be able to turn the program around and while positive results are usually seen by the third year after a coaching change, there is much reason to think that will not happen with this team. The Cowboys were the only Mountain division team to not make a bowl last season and that could be the case again this year with Wyoming – at least on paper – appearing destined to struggle. They just don’t have to the tools to succeed right now, even in a mediocre conference.
Sun Belt: Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
A win over New Mexico State in its season finale allowed Louisiana-Monroe to avoid a winless 2015 season in the Sun Belt, but it won’t offer much in the way of optimism looking forward to 2016. The Warhawks allowed 27 rushing touchdowns and 29 passing touchdowns while forcing only 14 turnovers in the process. Their defense is absolutely abysmal.
The Sun Belt has several weak teams but Louisiana-Monroe clearly projects as the worst right now. And when you’re the worst team in a weak conference, you’re one of the worst teams in the nation. It won’t help that the Warhawks play at Oklahoma and Auburn in a four-week span at the start of the season as the lingering effects of those losses could really last as Louisiana-Monroe once again ends up in the basement of the Sun Belt conference.
