College Football Winners and Losers: Florida and Florida State Top the List of Most Disappointing Teams

Florida State’s poor start is unique.

The Seminoles became the ninth team in the AP poll era to start the season 0-3 after being ranked in the top 10 of the preseason poll following a 20-12 loss to Memphis on Saturday. The Seminoles had three first-half turnovers in the loss as Memphis’ defense was unafraid of Florida State’s passing game.

What sets FSU apart from the other eight top-10 teams in the preseason is its opponents. Florida State is the first team in the bracket to have all three of its losses come against unranked teams. The other eight teams all lost to at least one ranked opponent in their season openers.

Florida State opened the season hoping to win the ACC and make the College Football Playoff. Now the Seminoles are simply hoping to make a bowl appearance. Florida State needs to go 6-3 in its final nine games to make a bowl appearance.

If history is any guide, that won’t be an easy task. Only three of the previous eight top-10 teams that started 0-3 have finished with winning records.

Things are bad in Tallahassee. And the symbolism couldn’t have been clearer when a fire alarm went off at the end of coach Mike Norvell’s postgame press conference.

Florida State isn’t the only team to have had a terrible start. Here are some of the other disappointing teams through the first three weeks of the season.

Florida (1-2): Florida’s daunting schedule has made a winning season a tall order heading into the 2024 campaign. And Florida is lucky Florida State hasn’t picked up a win yet, or the Gators would be the most disappointing team in college football.

Florida didn’t stand a chance in a 33-20 loss to Texas A&M at home on Saturday. Coach Billy Napier had both Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway at QB, and neither played well. Mertz threw a pick-6 in the second half that extended the Aggies’ lead to 26 and dashed any hopes of a miraculous Florida comeback.

The Gators have been ineffective and undisciplined against both Miami and Texas A&M this season. That’s a terrible combination. Next week’s game against Mississippi State is a big test. Either the Gators get back to .500 and have some hope, or the season starts to turn at 1-3.

Kansas (1-2): The Jayhawks fell 23-20 to UNLV on Friday night after losing to Illinois in Week 2. Kansas’ offense looks a lot different now that former assistant coach Andy Kotelnicki is calling plays for Penn State. QB Jalon Daniels was the Big 12’s preseason player of the year in 2023, but has six interceptions through the first three games of 2024 and has completed just 55 percent of his passes. KU scored 35 points per game last season, though Daniels sat out much of the season with a back injury. The Jayhawks have scored a combined 37 points in their two games against FBS opponents this season.

And if you need a video to recap how KU’s loss to UNLV went, we’ve got it.

Michigan (2-1): The Wolverines are the only team on this list with a winning record. And there’s one reason Michigan disappoints: their quarterback play.

The good news is that starter Davis Warren caught every pass attempt in Saturday’s 28-18 win over Arkansas State. The bad news is that three of Warren’s 14 passes were caught by Red Wolves players.

Warren threw for just 122 yards, and it’s clear that quarterback is Michigan’s biggest mistake so far this season. After winning the QB competition over Alex Orji, Warren has thrown for six interceptions and just 444 yards through three games. Orji also likely won’t be the option to boost the passing game. He’s attempted just six passes this season and has been used primarily in rushing situations.

It’s surprising that Michigan hasn’t made a major push for a QB transfer following JJ McCarthy’s departure to the NFL. And unless Warren and Orji make a big leap soon, the most important position on offense will keep Michigan from competing for a Big Ten title.

Here are this week’s remaining winners and losers.

Winners

No. 9 Oregon: The Ducks looked a lot better against Oregon State than they did against Idaho and Boise State. Oregon defeated in-state rival Oregon State 49-14 on Saturday in a game that showed why Dillon Gabriel is a Heisman candidate. Gabriel was 20-of-24 passing for 291 yards and two TDs while also running for 54 yards. The win is Oregon’s first at Oregon State since 2018 in a rivalry that thankfully continued despite the Pac-12’s dissolution.

Washington State: The Cougars scored one for the remaining members of the Pac-12 in a 24-19 victory over Washington. Washington State stopped Washington on an option play down the short side of the court on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 1:07 remaining.

Washington ran that option play with QB Will Rogers, a player not known for his running ability and who entered the game with -300 career rushing yards (sack yardage counts for quarterbacks in college football).

The Huskies then committed two offside penalties after using their final two timeouts. The second penalty gave Washington State time to run out the clock.

Pit: The Panthers certainly know how to be dramatic. After beating Cincinnati on a late field goal in Week 2, Pitt got a 1-yard TD from Derrick Davis Jr. with 34 seconds left to win the Backyard Brawl over West Virginia, 38-34. Eli Holstein threw for 301 yards and three TDs while rushing for 59 yards as the game changed leads three times in the second half.

Pitt led 24-17 midway through the third quarter before West Virginia scored 17 straight to take a 10-point lead with 4:55 remaining. The Panthers cut the lead to seven with 3:06 remaining and quickly got the ball back for the game-winning drive after forcing a three-and-out.

State of Arizona: The Sun Devils pulled off a nice 31-28 win at Texas State on Thursday night to move to 3-0. The win in San Marcos comes after ASU defeated Mississippi State in Tempe (Texas State defeated UTSA 49-10 in Week 2). RB Cam Skattebo scored twice after catching 33 carries for 262 yards against the Bulldogs. Arizona State’s Big 12 schedule is tough; the Sun Devils have four games against ranked opponents and will play just two teams that missed bowls in 2023. But there are real signs of life in Kenny Dillingham’s second season as manager.

Losers

Purdue: The Boilermakers were Notre Dame’s get-right game. The Fighting Irish had nearly 400 yards of offense in the first half alone in a 66-7 victory. Purdue was projected to finish last in the Big Ten’s preseason poll, and there was nothing to take away from Saturday’s game to prove that prediction wrong. The Boilermakers had just 162 total yards and turned the ball over twice, while Notre Dame averaged eight yards per carry.

South Carolina: It hurts to blow a 17-point lead at home. Especially when you’re averaging six yards per carry and have TD runs of 75 and 66 yards. And that’s exactly what happened in the Gamecocks’ 36-33 loss to No. 16 LSU. South Carolina had a chance to send the game to overtime as time expired, but Alex Herrera’s 49-yard field goal went wide left.

Coach Shane Beamer was quick to blame his team’s 13 penalties for 123 yards as a contributing factor in the loss. South Carolina’s lack of a passing attack could also haunt it. LaNorris Sellers was hampered by an ankle injury, but he and Robby Ashford were just 11 of 20 for 155 yards, and Sellers threw an interception.