Final Rankings 130-121: Akron is the Champion of Being Bad

The end of the college football season is here for those who are not going to a bowl game. For these schools, it was never a question if they would miss the postseason, but how bad they would look doing it. So now it's time to celebrate the ineptitude of turnovers, no points, bad losses, and of course coaches fired.
Here's the Bottom 10 of the 2019 College Football Season:

130.)Akron (0-12, 0 WP, 94 LP)
Here are some numbers that best sum up the Akron season: they scored seven points or fewer seven times, three points or fewer five times, and were shut out twice. Only two games were within eight points as new coach Tom Arth could only cover his eyes on most offensive series. It came to the pinnacle of disappointment on this pooch punt attempt.
In the preseason I projected Akron as two-win team, but they lost a winnable game against UMass and I figured they could steal at least one win during MACtion play. They could not. In 2017 they finished as the 75th team in the country, then fell to 104 last year, before finishing as the second straight MAC school to take home the honor of worst in the FBS. The Zips have currently hold the longest active losing streak in the FBS at 17 straight.

Best Win: The addition of the Turnover Pencil (pictured)
Worst Loss: UMass
2018 Finish: 4-8, No. 104

129.) UTEP (1-11, 131 WP, 83.6 LP)
If the Zips have the longest streak, the Miners finish the season tied for the second longest. After a hard fought win over FCS opponent Houston Baptist, UTEP dropped the next 11 games. Only three of those losses were by ten points or fewer. Things haven't been going well since Dana Dimel got there as the Miners have posted a dismal 2-22 record in his two seasons.
The bad news for Dimel and company is that there are no FCS opponents on the schedule for 2020. Instead they'll open with Texas Tech and will have to garner wins against Rice, New Mexico State, or UTSA. In my preseason rankings, I correctly predicted a 1-11 season, but had them finishing dead last, so clearly they exceeded some expectations.

Best Win: Houston Baptist (FCS)
Worst Loss: New Mexico State
2018 Finish: 1-11, No. 128

128.) Old Dominion (1-11, 131 WP, 78.1 LP)
The Monarchs could have easily found themselves much higher up this list, but they were constantly on the wrong side of some close games. For the second year in a row they gave Virginia more than they wanted and even held their own against Virginia Tech. They had three contests which were decided by seven points or fewer.
I had the Monarchs as a 5-7 squad and that's what I get for counting on the second Conference USA school on this list already. As mentioned the Miners were tied with somebody for the second longest losing streak and ODU would be that other school. They dropped 11 after a close win over FCS Norfolk State.

Best Win: Norfolk State
Worst Loss: UTSA
2018 Finish: 4-8, No. 99

127.) UMass (1-11, 129 WP, 92.5 LP)
Thankfully for the Minutemen the Zips were on the schedule this year, but then again so were so many other winnable games. Instead Rutgers, Northwestern, UConn, and Southern Illinois(FCS) were all able to improve their records with wins over UMass. I read too much into this weak schedule and wrongly predicted a 5-7 finish in Amherst.
Walt Bell's first season was full of disaster as the Minutemen scored seven or fewer three times and aside from the lone win, they were never closer than 21 points in all of their losses. They watched opponents score at least 44 points in those 11 games.

Best Win: Akron
Worst Loss: Southern Illinois (FCS)
2018 Finish: 4-8, No. 102

126.) New Mexico State (2-10, 129 WP, 64.4 LP)
It's a miracle the Aggies survived September as they collected checks from Alabama and Washington State to go with a beatdown by San Diego State and devastating loss to rival New Mexico 55-52. They had lost nine straight before a win over FCS Incarnate Word and then in another bottom feeder classic, a win over UTEP. A bid for three straight wins was destroyed by Liberty, who swept the home-and-home this season.
I gave NMST a little more credit with a 3-9 prediction, but they weren't able to match their win total from last season. Also, unlike last year, the Aggies will not finish ahead of rival New Mexico, but don't worry, the Lobos aren't too far ahead.

Best Win: UTEP
Worst Loss: New Mexico
2018 Finish: 3-9, No. 111

125.) UConn (2-10, 127.5 WP, 58.5 LP)
The Huskies met my expectations for the 2019 season, but finished a little higher than their preseason rank of 129. I should say they barely met expectations as UConn had to escape FCS Wagner in the season opener and then they beat down the Minutemen, which gave them one more win than last season.
However, those were the lone bright spots for a Huskies squad that will leave the American and join the independents. Only three of their ten losses were within one score by the end of the game and six defeats featured opponents scoring anywhere from 48-56 points.

Best Win: UMass
Worst Loss: ECU
2018 Finish: 1-11, No. 129

124.) New Mexico (2-10, 127.5 WP, 58.4 LP)
The Bob Davie era in Albuquerque is over after eight seasons. The New Mexico coach stepped aside after another disappointing season that brought his record to 35-64 as the Lobos head coach. It also didn't help that he was admitted to the hospital immediately after a nail biting win over FCS Sam Houston State to begin the year. They were then crushed by his former employer (Notre Dame) before edging out rival New Mexico State.That was followed with a close loss to Liberty, but after that it was eight straight losses by double figures.
I had the Lobos finishing 4-8 and they were ranked slightly ahead of where they are at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, they never got it going and extend their bowl drought to three straight years after back-to-back appearances in 2015 and 2016.

Best Win: New Mexico State
Worst Loss: Colorado State
2018 Finish: 3-9, No. 112

123.) Arkansas (2-10, 117.5 WP, 63.7 LP)
The Chad Morris era will be fondly remembered by the Group of 5 schools that plundered the Razorbacks in the less than two full seasons he roamed the sidelines. He finished 4-18 with losses to Colorado State and North Texas in 2018 and then to San Jose State and Western Kentucky in 2019. Arkansas hasn't won an SEC game since Oct. 28, 2017. They even struggled to beat FCS Portland State in the season opener, but they did convincingly avenge their loss to CSU.
Another team I predicted to finish 5-7, but in my defense, nobody could have known that their 2018 quarterback, Ty Storey, would transfer to Western Kentucky and lay a smackdown on the Razorbacks.

Best Win: Colorado State
Worst Loss: San Jose State
2018 Finish: 2-10, No. 122

122.) South Alabama (2-10, 88.5 WP, 65.5 LP)
The Jaguars are going out in style as they were in great danger of finishing second to last, but came through with a big win over bowl bound Arkansas State. That win ended a nine-game skid in a season that could've been a smidge better with two of their losses coming by three points or fewer.
South Alabama made me look like I know what I'm talking about as I correctly predicted a 2-10 finish, but they did slightly improve upon their 125th ranking in the preseason.

Best Win: Arkansas State
Worst Loss: Texas State
2018 Finish: 3-9, No. 110

121.) Rutgers (2-10, 80.5 WP, 46.3 LP)
When Googling a picture of Chris Ash, it's hard to tell if he was generally unhappy while at Rutgers or that's just his general expression. Either way he'll be collecting on his buyout from the Scarlet Knights for a few years as they fired him midway through the 2019 campaign. Rutgers finished 8-32 including 3-26 in Big Ten play under Ash and were just 1-6 without him this season.They lost their final four and scored just six points in the last two contests.
On a side note, they did finish 2-0 against FBS Independents this season, so they've got that going for them, which is nice. Those two wins were correctly predicted by me to be the only two victories, but their two wins are better than the one they finished with in 2018. Their last Big Ten win came on Nov. 4, 2017 against Maryland.
Greg Schiano will try to return Rutgers to the glory days when he went 68-67 from 2001-11. He also was the last coach to lead the Knights to a bowl game when he did so six times including five straight from 2005-09.

Best Win: Liberty
Worst Loss: Maryland
2018 Finish: 127