The biggest disappointments in every conference at the 2019 midseason are …
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Midseason Surprises
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC
American Athletic
Houston Cougars
D’Eriq King was supposed to be a fringe Heisman candidate, the Cougars were supposed to have the offensive makeup to be a factor in the opener against Oklahoma and keep up with Washington State, and Dana Holgorsen was supposed to be the upgrade of a head coach the program needed. The Cougars are 2-4, King redshirted after four games, and it’s going to take something big just to go bowling.
Conference USA
North Texas Mean Green
At the very least, the high-powered Mean Green were expected to explode offensively on the way to a possible Conference USA title. They can’t seem to convert on third downs, the scoring has only come against the really bad teams, and the team is just 2-4.
Independents
Army Black Knights
They’re still good, but it was easy to look at the schedule in the preseason and think there might be an honest shot at going 5-1 to start the season. The Michigan loss was acceptable, but after losing to Tulane and WKU – and with Air Force, Hawaii and Navy all away from home, this isn’t going to be a cakewalk of a season.
MAC
Northern Illinois Huskies
The defending MAC champs got former running back Thomas Hammock as their new head coach, and everything was supposed to keep on rolling. There’s a shot that they’ll be fine in the weak MAC – beating Ohio last week was a start – but the 1-4 run to kick things off was painful. Going on the road for seven times in the first ten games isn’t fair.
Mountain West
Fresno State Bulldogs
To be fair, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Even so, the hope for a quick turnaround in talent in Year Three under Jeff Tedford. There were late chances against USC and Minnesota, but the Bulldogs came up short. That was fine, but the blowout loss at Air Force to kick off Mountain West play – on the way to a 2-3 start – hurts.
Sun Belt
Troy Trojans
Last year’s team started 6-1 with a win at Nebraska along the way. Head coach Neal Brown is off to West Virginia, and new head man Chip Lindsey hasn’t been able to find his groove yet, especially on defense. The two wins were against true layups – Campbell and Akron – and the D allowed 42 points or more in the three losses in the 2-3 start.
NEXT: Power Five conference disappointments
ACC
The ACC
Yuck. There’s a solid chance that no team other than Clemson will be ranked by the end of the regular season, and if another one is ranked, it’s going to be in the 20s.
Clemson has been underwhelming at times, Boston College lost to Kansas, Florida State lost to Boise State, Georgia Tech is losing to everyone, Miami is struggling, North Carolina lost to Appalachian State, NC State got rocked by a bad West Virginia team, Virginia and Louisville lost to Notre Dame, and …
Maryland 63, Syracuse 20
As it turns out, Maryland isn’t good at college football. For a game, though, it looked like it was about to be a major factor in the Big Ten after what it did in a dominant wipeout of the Orange.
So far, Syracuse, the ACC’s breakthrough team of 2018 – and the only preseason ranked team along with Clemson – has only beaten Liberty, Western Michigan and Holy Cross, looking nothing like the force it was expected to be.
Boston College Eagles
Everything looked good in the opening weekend win over Virginia Tech and a 2-0 start, and then …. pfffffffft.
The air went out of the balloon in a stunning 48-24 home demolishment to Kansas. Going into the midseason, BC has lost three of its last four games with road games at Clemson, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Pitt ahead.
Midseason Surprises
ACC | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC | Power 5
NEXT: Big Ten
Big Ten
Nebraska and the offense
One of the supposed rising teams this offseason, it still might be. It’s 4-2 and could get right in the Big Ten West title chase with wins over Wisconsin and Iowa at home, but … it’s not looking the part. The offense is just okay, but it’s not crushing it with fewer than 400 yards and 26 points per game, and with lots and lots of turnovers. Coming off a 34-7 loss to Minnesota – with QB Adrian Martinez out – the season is going the wrong way.
Michigan State Spartans
There was a time when Mark Dantonio and the Spartans would come up with something special for the biggest of games. Not this time around.
This year’s team had the amazing defense of 2018 almost all back full, and the offense was expected to start pulling its weight. Instead, MSU got housed by Ohio State and Wisconsin by a combined score of 72-10, and pulled the gaffe of the first half of the season with a 12-men-on-the-field call against Arizona State, negating what would’ve been a game-tying field goal in the loss.
Northwestern Wildcats and Hunter Johnson
Northwestern games were always sort of unwatchable, but at least it won. Now the Cats can’t win, and they really, really can’t do anything offensively with 15 points or fewer against everyone but UNLV. They’re 1-4 with a passing game that can’t complete half of its passes. Johnson – the superstar Clemson recruit who transferred to Evanston – is completing 48% of his throws for 367 yards and a touchdown with four picks.
Midseason Surprises
ACC | Big Ten | Pac-12 | SEC | Power 5
NEXT: Big 12
Big 12
West Virginia Mountaineers
No one thought the Mountaineers would be anything special in a rebuilding year under new head coach Neal Brown, but no downfield passing? No running game? The Big 12’s worst offense? The league’s worst sowing defense? No big plays? They’re still 3-3 and have hopes of going bowling, but four of the last six games are on the road.
TCU Horned Frogs
They haven’t been awful, and being 3-2 is nice, but the defense wasn’t able to hold up in losses to SMU and Iowa State – giving up more than 40 in each – and there are still dates with Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech on the road, and Baylor and Texas at home. They’re not looking like the player in the Big 12 title chase they were supposed to be.
Texas defense
Remember when Texas wanted to be in the whole DB U debate? It’s dead last in the Big 12 in total defense, it’s giving up over 300 yards per game through the air, and it couldn’t slow down LSU and Joe Burrow – allowing 471 yards and four scores – and got torched by CeeDee Lamb in Oklahoma’s win in the Red River Showdown. Now the Longhorns are out of the College Football Playoff chase.
Midseason Surprises
ACC | Big Ten | Pac-12 | SEC | Power 5
NEXT: Pac-12
Pac-12
Auburn 27, Oregon 21
The Pac-12 is still in the College Football Playoff chase more than many might suggest, but if Oregon had hung on to beat Auburn, it would’ve been ranked in the top five and would’ve had total control of its own destiny. The Ducks were outgained and couldn’t get the running going, but it also played it very, very conservatively after getting up 14-3. They still had it won as long as they came up with one last stop, but … nope.
UCLA Bruins and Chip Kelly
The Bruins started to look great at the end of last season with the potential to step up and become players in the Pac-12 South in Year Two under Chip Kelly. Instead, they’re second-to-last in the nation in pass defense, 127th in total defense, and outside of 19 minutes against Washington State, the offense has been a big bag of nothing. 1-5 isn’t how this was supposed to go.
Stanford Cardinal
Blame the injuries. The Cardinal were beaten, battered and bruised after the 17-7 win over Northwestern in the opener – but the Wildcats took a big hit, too. QB KJ Costello hasn’t been right, the offensive line is depleted, and even with the win over Washington, the 3-3 start has been a dud.
Midseason Surprises
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | SEC | Power 5
NEXT: SEC
SEC
The SEC …
Outside of the top teams. This is the SEC – the best conference in college football – but a bulk of the teams apparently get the memo.
Vanderbilt has been a total disaster – who gets blown out by UNLV? – Texas A&M has been meh against the good teams, Arkansas lost to San Jos-fricking State, Kentucky hasn’t been great, South Carolina lost to North Carolina, Ole Miss lost to Memphis, Mississippi State has been a dud and lost to Cal, and …
Wyoming 37, Missouri 31
Also throw in the disappointment of the NCAA not lifting the unfair sanctions on the football program that self-reported its violations – the Tigers can’t go to the SEC Championship or to a bowl game.
They’ve been great against a mediocre schedule. Beating South Carolina was good, and dropping West Virginia and Ole Miss were it, but they haven’t beaten a team that’s a sure thing to go bowling. Even so, had they been able to stop the Wyoming running game in the opener, they’d have been 6-0 right now – and likely 8-0 after facing Vanderbilt and Kentucky – and would’ve been a national thing.
Tennessee Volunteers
No one was talking about this being the year the Vols were going to take over the SEC East, but they were certainly supposed to start the season 3-0 going into the Florida game. Instead, they lost to Georgia State and BYU, and weren’t even competitive in losses to Florida and Georgia. Even with the win over Mississippi State, this is a full-blown rebuild.
Midseason Surprises
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | Power 5
