It's the point of the season where people start ranking their playoff teams and other forms of rankings they compile of the best teams in the country. I'm not gonna do that today. Every other week this season I will be ranking the 5 worst teams from power 5 conferences (or Notre Dame if they get there). Why every other week you ask? Two reasons, first off I felt that the list may not change much from week to week and also because I will be alternating between these rankings and my rankings of the top ten group of 5 schools coming from the Sun Belt, MAC, WAC, AAC, and Mountain West so make sure to check in next week to see which teams make that list. I'm sorry if your team is on this list, there probably isn't a lot of hope for your team at this point but the good news is that it's still early on and maybe by the end of the season you'll get off this list. As you can see by my numbering system, there are 65 Power 5 teams if you count Notre dame so I will be ranking #61-65 with number 65 being the worst of the worst.
First I will start out with a few honorable mentions that if they aren't careful will end up on this list next time:
Honorable Mentions
Baylor - Baylor has a really good shot of dethroning Kansas as the worst of the Big 12 here as the Jayhawks have looked surprisingly good (for their standards).
Oregon State - Wasn't an easy start to a rebuilding year getting destroyed by Ohio State, the good news is the Beavers did score 31 so there is some hope with their offense.
Nebraska- A lot of people may have the Huskers on this list, but they did lost to two descent teams in Colorado and Troy who will probably be on our list of top ten group of five schools next week, Nebraska could very easily end up on this list soon though.
#61. Florida State
It hasn't been good for the Seminoles, starting this off-season with Jimbo Fisher leaving for the SEC and replacing him with Willie Taggert who most people questioned. The Noles had a tough game to start the season, getting beat at home by Virginia Tech. It got worse the week after when Samford came to town and had a 4th quarter lead on the Noles before FSU was able to squeak out a win. All hope wasn't lost at that point but a trip to Syracuse where the FSU offense looked non-existent doesn't have fans in Tallahassee optimistic. FSU has a home game vs NIU who is historically a good team from the MAC followed by trips to Louisville and Miami. If FSU isn't careful they may start this season 1-5...or worse.
#62. UCLA
Bruins fans were excited heading into this season with the acquisition of Chip Kelly but their hopes of winning the PAC-12 may have to be put on hold for a few years. UCLA started the season with a home loss to Cincinnati, a team that they shoudl have beaten by at least 2 touchdowns. The following week, the Bruins went to Norman, Oklahoma and actually put up a good fight against the sooner, only losing 49-21 (which isn't as bad as some of the other teams Oklahoma will beat this year). The thing that got the Bruins on this list was the home loss to Fresno State 38-14. Now Fresno State isn't a pushover but if you are a PAC-12 team you shouldn't lose to Fresno by 24 at home. The good news for the Bruins is that they are off this week, the bad news is they follow the bye with a trip to Colorado and then host Washington, the perfect recipe for an 0-5 start. I'm pretty sure the picture above was taken once Chip Kelly realized what he was getting himself into.
#63. North Carolina - North Carolina is definitely a basketball school and it is showing this year. The Tar Heels started the season with a 24-17 loss on the road to Cal which is respectable, however they followed that with a 41-19 loss to Eastern Carolina which is less than respectable. The Tar Heels luckily had their game against UCF cancelled otherwise they would probably have started 0-3. UNC is favorite this week against Pitt at home which will be key because they have a trip to Miami after that followed by a game at home against Virginia Tech. The good news for Tar Heel fans is that Basketball season starts soon, the bad news...I mean have you seen that Duke recruiting class Coach K put together.
#64. Arkansas - The season has gotten off to a rough start for the Razorbacks and playing in the toughest division in college football, it's not gonna get easier. Luckily for the Razorbacks they got their one win out of the way early beating Eastern Illinois to open the season. After that the Razorbacks lost to Colorado State and got destroyed by North Texas at home a game in which a North Texas player returned a punt after standing there still for about 5 seconds which you can see below. Razorback fans better have October 20th circled on their calendars because their game against Tulsa that day may be their only other win this season.
#65. Rutgers
Rutgers lost to Kansas 55-14, is that enough of an explanation? The good news is that Rutgers did pick up a win against Texas State to start the season off. A crazy stat that I heard this week regarding Rutgers football was the score of the last 4 games agaisnt Ohio State. The Buckeyes have outscored the Scarlet Knights 215-10 over the past 4 seasons. Yes that is an average score of 54-2.5...Not good. If I had to put money on any team to remain on this list every week this season its Rutgers.