Final Rankings 110-101: Sparty Earns Michigan's Badge of Shame

 The season is beginning to wrap up and with bowl games getting canceled as fast as they get scheduled, the end could be getting closer a lot sooner. As for these teams, the end came towards the beginning of the season. The range of games played goes from 3 to 10, but no matter the sample size, winning was not simply in the cards for these schools.

110.Baylor (2-7, 81.5 WP, 55.4 LP)

COVID-Cancelations: 1

What Happened: Dave Aranda's first season was a dud as the Bears racked up a season-opening win against Kansas, but dropped 5 straight before edging Kansas State 32-31. Two blowout losses against the boys from the state of Oklahoma wrapped up 2020.

2019 Rank: 18 (11-3)

109. Illinois (2-6, 89 WP, 56 LP)

CC: 1

What Happened: The Fighting Illini had a chance to right the ship after three straight losses, they put together back-to-back wins against Rutgers and Nebraska. A cancellation against Ohio State ruined that momentum (and nearly the Buckeyes' chances to make the Big Ten Championship) and Illinois dropped their next two by a score of 63-31. That marked the end for Lovie Smith who was fired before the Penn State game in which the Nittany Lions rattled off 42 straight points. Former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach, Brett Bielema, will take over the program.

2019 Rank: 76 (6-7)

108.Washington State (1-3, 67 WP, 25.3 LP)

CC: 2

What Happened: Nick Rolovich has got to be kicking himself that he had to quarantine in Pullman, Wash., instead of Hawai'i where was previously coaching. The Cougars opened the season with a win over Oregon State and a loss to Oregon. They would only play one more game over the next 30 days, a loss to USC. In their finale, Wazzu had a 28-7 lead over Utah before allowing 38 unanswered points.

2019 Rank: 77 (6-7)

107.Colorado State (1-3, 47 WP, 74.7 LP)

CC: 3

What Happened: The Rams were an unlucky bunch as they had three games canceled from COVID related incidents on campus or with their opponents. Then Utah State protested their administration and refused to play the final game of the season, leaving CSU with just four games played in 8 tries. It was their first year under head coach Steve Adazzio.

2019 Rank: 106 (4-8)

106Cal (1-3, 29 WP, 119 LP)

CC: 3

What Happened: It was a rough year for scheduling. The Bears had three games canceled, including their final two of the season. That means that they went out with a bang as their season finale wound up being a 21-17 upset of the eventual PAC-12 Champion Oregon Ducks.

2019 Rank: 47 (8-5)

105. Oregon State (2-5, 64.5 WP, 79.6 LP)

CC: 0

What Happened: The Beavers were in nearly every game this season and that competitive grit helped them put back-to-back wins in the middle of the season. The biggest came against in-state rival Oregon as Oregon State won the (formerly known as) Civil War for the first time since 2016.

2019 Rank: 86 (5-7)

104. New Mexico (2-5, 55.5 WP, 55.6 LP)

 

CC: 1

What Happened: The Lobos were so close early on, but a win by Akron left New Mexico with the nation's longest losing streak. That didn't last long as they stunned Wyoming 17-16. Danny Gonzales followed up his first win with a victory against Fresno State in which the Lobos defense recorded 8 sacks.

2019 Rank: 124 (2-10)

103.Michigan State (2-5, 10.5 WP, 64.2 LP)

CC: 2

What Happened: If you told Mel Tucker that his first win would be against a ranked Michigan team and his next win would be a Top Ten victory over Northwestern, he would probably take that. Unfortunately, those were the big highlights as they dropped a head-scratcher to Rutgers and choked away a lead in their final game against Penn State.

2019 Rank: 59 (7-6)

102.Georgia Tech (3-7, 78.7 WP, 35 LP)

CC: 1

What Happened: The Yellow Jackets exposed both Louisville and Florida State early in the season and Geoff Collins' crew sat at 2-2 early on. Then they got waxed 73-7 by Clemson and dropped their next two before taking three weeks off. That rest paid off as they dropped Duke 56-33. The season ended on a sour note as they dropped their game with Pitt and Collins postgame grumpy handshake become the most newsworthy thing about this team in 2020.

2019 Rank: 116 (3-9)

101. Navy (3-7, 78.3 WP, 34.3 LP)

CC: 1

What Happened: It's hard to replace a weapon like Malcolm Perry, but the Midshipmen were lost without him. After a 3-2, the offense went into hibernation. They had no shot at the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy as they were outscored 55-7 by Air Force and Army. In their final three games, they scored a measly 13 points.

2019 Rank: 14 (11-2)

 

 

  

Final Rankings 127-111: The Bad, the Worse, and the Winless

 This has undoubtedly been the weirdest year for college football. At this point, there are some teams that have played 12 games, while some have played 3, and 3 more teams that didn't even play (Old Dominion, New Mexico State, and UConn).

The New Mexico Lobos are playing this season and living in Las Vegas. Several Bay Area schools have had to relocate as well, and plenty of rivalry games have been canceled.

For some teams, navigating COVID-19 was manageable, but for schools like FIU and Virginia Tech, it was a nightmare that led to postponements, cancelations, or playing games with the minimum number of scholarship players.

With Championship Week upon us, several teams have already finished their seasons either by plan or they were forced to cancel due to COVID outbreaks. Here are the teams that were unable to find success on and off the football field.

127.Florida International (0-5, 0 WP, 90.4 LP)

COVID Cancelations: 3

What happened: After some close losses to Liberty and Middle Tennessee State, the Panthers were embarrassed by a 19-10 loss to Jacksonville State (FCS and located in Alabama, not Florida). They finished their season with two blowout losses back on Nov. 21.

2019 Rank: 80 (6-7)

126 Vanderbilt (0-9, 0 WP,  90.3 LP)

CC:1

Vanderbilt's season was a disaster as they did not benefit from having to play an all-SEC schedule that mercifully avoided a date with Georgia. The Commodores had four games where they scored 12 points or less, but two of their points were rather historic. Sarah Fuller became the first female athlete to score in a Power 5 contest and first since Katie Hnida did so for New Mexico in 2003. 

That moment of awesomeness was not enough to save Derek Mason's job after 7 seasons and just two bowl appearances. Clark Lea has been tabbed to take over a program that has lost 10 straight and 11 of their last 14 contests.

2019 Rank: 114 (3-9)

125 Louisiana Monroe (0-10, 0 WP, 61.6 LP)

CC: 2

It seems like the Warhawks defense was quarantined all fall as no one scored fewer than 31 points against them. The worst moment came in their rivalry with the Ragin' Cajuns who dropped 70 points on their way to victory. Overall ULM has dropped 11 straight and hopes that next year will at least bring a win.

2019 Rank: 89 (5-7) 

124Bowling Green (0-5, 0 WP, 56.8 LP)

CC: 1

Scott Loeffler blamed the state of Bowling Green football on the previous two head coaches during a rant with the media earlier this year. He was probably just upset that they got stuck having to play 4 of the MAC's top teams, but even lowly Akron was able to add to the 45 points per game that the Falcons allowed this season.

2019 Rank: 117 (3-9)

123Northern Illinois (0-6, 0 WP, 55.2 LP)

CC: 0

Unlike the other teams on this list, there were at least signs of life for Thomas Hammock's crew. The Huskies had three games that finished within one score and had the opportunities to tie or take the lead late in those contests.

2019 Rank: 87 (5-7)

122 Arizona (0-5, 0 LP, 50.8 LP)

CC: 2

The desert can be an unforgiving place, but it is a place where you can see something coming for miles. One of those instances came when Arizona State blasted the Wildcats 70-7 and unsurprisingly, Kevin Sumlin found himself out of a job.

2019 Rank: 98 (4-8)

121 UNLV (0-6, 0 WP,  47.7 LP)

CC: 0

It certainly was a weird year to be a first-year head coach, but it's even tougher when your quarterback has to answer about some shenanigans he did on some reality TV show in the offseason. Marcus Arroyo's first year as the Rebels coach will certainly be remembered as the year they weren't close to anybody. No game this season finished closer than 13 points, but at least they got to go to Hawaii.

2019 Rank: 102 (4-8)

120 Kansas (0-9, 0 WP, 42.6 LP)

CC: 1

The Jayhawks are the proud new owners of the longest losing streak in the nation at 13 after Akron and New Mexico both found the win column this year. Kansas also had the distinction of being the first team to lose to Coastal Carolina this season. Even a weaker Big 12 provided no safe haven, though they nearly had a chance to end the year. After finally not allowing at least 38 points in a game, the Jayhawks were positioned for a win against Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders escaped with a 16-13 victory. The Mad Hatter had more COVID positive tests than wins, which is probably not good. Maybe Michigan still wants him?

2019 Rank: 113 (3-9)

119 UMass (0-4, 0 WP, 21.5 LP)

CC: 0

Unlike New Mexico State and UConn, the Minutemen jammed a bunch of random games together to try to play some sort of schedule. Unfortunately, they picked two ranked Group of 5 schools (Marshall/Liberty) and two top tier Group of 5 schools (FAU/Georgia Southern) to get beat 161-12. UMass still hasn't won since the middle of last season and carries an 11-game skid heading into 2021.

2019 Rank: 127 (1-11)

118 Syracuse (1-10, 104 WP, 42.7 LP)

CC: 0

We have a winner finally! Syracuse cruised to a win over Georgia Tech in game three but dropped their final seven contests. Dino Babers is likely on the hot seat if he has another season like this one and it's making 2018 look like an anomaly.

2019 Rank:  84 (5-7)

117South Florida (1-8, 77 WP, 60.3 LP)

CC: 2

The Bulls got a win over The Citadel (FCS) to begin the year and then dropped 8 straight. They did have two heartbreaking losses. The first came against Temple where the Bulls failed to convert on a game-tying two-point conversion. Even worse though, USF carried a 33-20 lead against Memphis with 4:36 left to play. They would wind up losing 34-33 after the Tigers scored twice in two minutes. First-year coach Jeff Scott's tenure can only go up from here...maybe.

2019 Rank: 107 (4-8) 

 

116 Temple (1-6, 115 WP, 66.8 LP)

CC: 1

The Owls didn't get started until Oct. 10 and split a pair of games that were decided by two points. No other game would get that close as the Owls were defeated by at least two scores in their final five contests.

2019 Rank: 42 (8-5)

115Akron (1-5, 118 WP, 56.6 LP)

CC: 0

They did it! Tom Arth got his first win in 17 tries and gave the Zips their first win in 22 tries. Akron did so with a thrashing of Bowling Green but was immediately sent back to reality with a 56-7 beatdown by Buffalo.

2019 Rank: 130 (0-12)

114 Utah State (1-5, 118 WP, 37.6 LP)

CC: 0

The Aggies said farewell to Gary Andersen for the second time in eight years, but this time it was the school's choice. Finding his replacement became the story of the season as Utah State salvaged their season with a win over New Mexico. During a meeting about replacing Andersen, School President Noelle Cockett allegedly raised concerns about hiring interim coach Frank Maile as their new full-time head coach. Her concerns stemmed from his religious beliefs (He is Mormon) and his cultural background (Polynesian).

This caused outrage from the players, who refused to suit up for the final contest against Colorado State. Incidentally, Blake Anderson was hired away from Arkansas State to become the Aggies' third coach in the last four seasons.

2019 Rank: 60 (7-6)

113 Texas State (2-10, 80.5 WP, 43.4 LP)

CC: 0

The Bobcats got in an impressive 12 games this season and played in some exciting games. They had 5 games where they scored more than 30 points but also allowed 30 points or more in 10 games. Jeremiah Haydel had one of the best catches of the year, and they nearly stunned Boston College, losing 24-21. They did claim wins over ULM and Arkansas State and had three losses decided by 7 points or less.

2019 Rank: 119 (3-9)

112 Duke (2-9, 83.5 WP, 43.3 LP)

CC: 1

The Blue Devils got unimpressive wins over Charlotte and Syracuse but did have some very impressive losses. In their final four games, they allowed 56 points in three of those contests and were shutout 48-0 in the other, before their season mercifully came to an end.

2019 Rank: 88 (5-7)

111 South Carolina (2-8, 75 WP, 60.1 LP)

CC: 0

An impressive win over a ranked Auburn squad had the Gamecocks sitting in good shape at 2-2. Then they fell off the face of the SEC Earth and dropped six straight to close out the year. Also dropped was Will Muschamp, who was fired after 5 seasons. He'll be replaced by the son of former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer, Shane Beamer, who had served as an offensive assistant coach for Oklahoma. This will be his first head coaching gig.

2019 Rank: 99 (4-8)