2007's Most Disappointing College Football Teams

Here is my list of the five most disappointing college football teams this year. The teams on it, for the most part, had high expectations of one sort or another placed on them by the pre-season polls and the opinions of experts and two of them actually had fine seasons. Like most "top" lists, it is mainly subjective and completely open to debate. I don't even claim to be an "expert" on the subject, not having stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. I'm simply a fan and follower of the sport.

1) NOTRE DAME (3-9). Granted the team lost several quality players such as Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija following the 2006 season, but most of the pre-season college magazines felt that the Fighting Irish would be respectable, mainly through the coaching talents of Charlie Weiss. Instead, the Irish finished with their worst record of all time with two of the wins coming against teams that had five wins combined. The team suffered from an anemic offense the entire season.

Low point of the season: Too many to choose from to just pick one.

2) LOUISVILLE (6-6). The Cardinals were picked in either the Top Ten or in the Top Twenty in pre-season ratings and was highly ranked early in the season. However, in the long run, their prolific offense, led by quarterback Brian Brohm, could not keep pace with their mediocre defense. The Cards gave up an average of 39.3 points per game in their six losses. A win over Rutgers in their final season game was not enough to keep them from being shut out of a bowl game.

Low point of the season: When rumors started to fly that first year head coach Steve Kragthorpe was interested in the SMU job and fans started to pray that the rumors were true.

3) NEBRASKA (5-7). Coming off a 2006 nine and five season, experts and fans were predicting that Husker football, led by transfer quarterback Sam Keller, appeared ready to return to its past days of glory. Some were even predicting a possible BCS bowl game. Offensively, the Huskers West Coast Offense did average a respectable 33.4 points per game, but the defense gave up an average of 37.9 and finished below 110^th in most defensive categories. Except for a couple of fortuitous breaks, The Huskers could have easily finished 3-9. Fourth year coach Bill Callahan was fired at the end of the season.

Low point of the season: Giving up 76 points to Kansas. A close 2^nd was giving up 41 points in the last two quarters to Colorado after leading the Buffaloes 35-24 at half time.

4) MICHIGAN (8-4 with Capital One Bowl game against Florida remaining). Lloyd Carr's final team did finish the regular season with a respectable record and will play in an upper level bowl game against a very good Florida team, but they began the season with much higher expectations. Almost all pre-season predictions had the Wolverines in the top five with at least two polls, USA and College Football News, ranking them 2^nd. After a disastrous 0-2 start, they did reel off eight straight wins before losing their last two regular season games to Wisconsin and arch rival Ohio State.

Low point of the season: The season opening loss to I-AA Appalachian State, a good football team but not on the same level as most Division I schools. A close second was the two regular season ending losses just when it appeared that the Wolverines were on a roll.

USC (10-2 with Rose Bowl game against Illinois remaining). In any other universe, a team ending up with a 10-2 season record and a BSC bowl bid would be considered to have had a successful season, but we're talking Southern Cal here. The Trojans were a pre-season consensus pick to finish #1, and with a Heisman candidate quarterback in John David Booty, a exceptionally talented corps of receivers and running backs , and an aggressive swarming defense, they were being touted as one of the greatest college football teams ever. The Trojans did start the season strong, out scoring their first four opponents by an average score of 40-20 before losing two of their next four games. All-in-all though, USC seems to be getting its early season swagger back and will probably be too much for Illinois in the Rose Bowl.

Low point of the season: The 24-23 loss to Stanford, a team that couldn't beat Notre Dame.