The Bottom Five Teams in College Football

While the "big boys" are battling it out to see who can get into a BCS bowl there are teams out there that are not having a great year. This has been a good year for Ohio State, LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma. It is coming down to the last couple weeks of the season to see which of these teams will play one another (or someone new?) in the Championship Game on January 7. These teams are just hoping for the 2007 season to end. They are not looking forward to a bowl game, they are looking forward to next year. Here is the bottom five teams of the Bowl Subdivision.

5. Notre Dame (1-8)

I didn't want to put the Irish on this list but they just are not producing this year. Right now they are 1-8 with their only win against UCLA. It seemed like the Bruins were dying to give that game to Notre Dame. Notre Dame recovered three fumbles and had four interceptions. Overall their defense isn't playing that badly, compared to the offense. They are only giving up 369 yards a game. Their offense on the other hand is only averaging 14 points a game. The once mighty Irish running offense is only averaging 56 yards a game. After this weekends game with Air Force things might look up for Notre Dame. They play Duke (1-8), who would probably be number 6 on this list, and Stanford (3-6).

4. Minnesota (1-9)

The University of Minnesota can not stop anyone. They have held only ONE opponent under 30 points this year. That team was North Dakota State, the 27 points they scored against Minnesota was the lowest amount their offense has scored, and they play in what used to be known as Division I-AA. The Gophers are allowing an average of 549 yards a game, 229 on the ground, in each game. Their offense is averaging 407 yards and 38 points a game. Things don't look any better for them as the season winds down. Their last two games are against Iowa (5-5) and Wisconsin (7-3).

3. Southern Methodist University (1-8)

The Mustangs lone win, against North Texas, was won on two touchdowns in the latter part of the fourth quarter back on September 8. The one good thing that SMU has going for it is that they are averaging 25 points a game. That's about it for good news. Their defense is giving up 37 points and 491 yards a game. With their last three games they do face two opponents with sub .500 records (Rice and Memphis). Both of those teams give up over 450 yards a game. SMU can hope for a high scoring shootout.

2. Utah State (0-9)

The Aggies are on the bottom of the WAC barrel. They are another team that can't seem to stop anyone. They have held two teams to under 25 points (2-7 UNLV and 3-6 San Jose State). Giving Utah State some credit, they do play a somewhat tough schedule. They face three ranked opponents this year. They lost to Oklahoma 54-3, Hawaii 52-37 and they face Boise State this weekend. That is the same Boise State team that has scored over 50 points in a game three times this season already. Their one saving grace could be the last game of the season. They battle with Idaho 1-9).

The distinctive title of the Worst Team in College Football goes to.........

1. Florida International (0-9)

The biggest issues with the Golden Panthers so far this season is that they can't move the ball, score or stop anyone. Defensively they are giving up 40 points a game, and have lost by three touchdowns or more in four of their nine games this season. They have given up at least 50 points to Penn. State, Kansas and Arkansas this year. Their offense has been abysmal. The Golden Panthers have only scored 9 touchdowns on the season. Two glaring problems with their offense are that they can't convert third downs (21%) and can't run in the red zone, only two rushing touchdowns. Who knows they might be able to get out of this lowly position. Two of their final three games are against Louisiana-Lafayette (1-8) and North Texas (1-7).

Who knows how the season will end up? Some of these teams have a chance to get themselves off this list in the final two or three games. For some of them that would involve a minor miracle. Hopefully next year will be different.