21 for 2021 College Football Topics, No. 19: Five teams that should rebound with a better 2021 after a mediocre 2010.
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21 for 2021 College Football Topics
21: 21 Thoughts, Wishes, Hopes
20: 5 Best Programs To Not Make CFP
As if there was a valid excuse to not play up to expectations in 2020.
Most teams that had disappointing seasons didn’t get the free pass they should’ve considering everything the world was dealing with, but some couldn’t play, some were going through issues as a school and community that went far beyond the football program, and some just didn’t play college football as well as they should’ve.
So with the assumption that the virus issues of last season should at least be lessened if not mostly out of the equation in 2021, here are five teams ranked in the 2020 preseason top 25 – or close to it – that should be a whole lot stronger.
The list is based on last year’s preseason ranking going from the bottom up, starting with …
5. Louisville Cardinals
2020 Preseason Ranking
AP NR (31), Coaches NR (33)
Final Record: 4-7
What Went Wrong?
It’s not about what went wrong as much as it was about not being able to build on the big 2019.
Scott Satterfield took over and led the program from the doldrums to an 8-5 season with a bowl win and a fun offense that brought the program back. But the offensive line struggled in 2020, the turnovers wouldn’t stop, and the team couldn’t seem to buy a break.
Oh, and the defense was crazy-inconsistent. It shut Notre Dame down to a dead stop, but couldn’t slow down Georgia Tech. The offense couldn’t seem to get anything consistently going, either.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
15 starters are back starting with QB Malik Cunningham, who turned it over too often but was still able to keep things moving enough for the offense to score 30 points or more six times. The defense that struggled a bit too much at least returns experienced, and James Turner should be one of the nation’s top kickers.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2021 Louisville Football Schedule Analysis
And here’s the issue.
Louisville will have a rough time matching the eight wins of 2019, but it should be well back into bowl contention and should be a more dangerous out in the ACC.
It has to play Ole Miss and UCF in non-conference play, and it starts out the ACC season on the road at Florida State and Wake Forest. The Cardinals have to come up with a few wins against those four, to go along with a victory over Eastern Kentucky, to start 3-2.
Playing Clemson doesn’t help, but on the plus side, the team only leaves Kentucky twice after October 2nd, and road dates against NC State and Duke are manageable.
NEXT: Tennessee Volunteers
4. Tennessee Volunteers
2020 Preseason Ranking
AP 25, Coaches NR (26)
Final Record: 3-7
What Went Wrong?
Offense. There wasn’t any.
For all of the issues under Jeremy Pruitt, he managed to put together a decent enough defense to get by. It gave up way too many passing yards and had a hard time getting off the field, but that wasn’t the issue.
The offensive side was miserable in pass protection, didn’t have anything that consistently worked, and scoring was like pulling teeth. It was good early, ripped up Vanderbilt late, and did next to nothing against everyone else, scoring fewer than 20 points in six of the last seven games.
How do you fix a struggling offense? Say what you will about the hire of Josh Heupel as the new head coach, but the man knows how to crank up an attack. (By the way, in terms of deserving a break and the benefit of the doubt, his UCF team was missing a whole lot of parts last year.)
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
Yeah, this is an issue with seemingly all of the key parts gone or transferring out. However, Hendon Hooker is good.
QB Jarrett Guarantano left to go wing it around for Washington State, and JT Shrout is gone to Colorado, but bringing Hooker from Virginia Tech gives Heupel a big-time all-around playmaker who should be a great fit for his offense if Harrison Bailey doesn’t grab the gig.
Just about the entire linebacking corps is leaving, the offensive line needs an overhaul, and not having top two running backs – Eric Gray is going to Oklahoma and Ty Chandler left for North Carolina – certainly doesn’t help.
So how is any of this a positive? It’s not, but the receiving corps should be okay, the defensive front will likely be fine, and …
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2021 Tennessee Football Schedule Analysis
Tennessee will go bowling.
No, it’s not going to be good enough to take over the SEC East, and it’s not going to beat Alabama, but it’ll beat Bowling Green, Tennessee Tech, South Alabama and Vanderbilt.
Start there, assume a win at home over South Carolina is this is going to be any sort of a return to decency, and it’s not asking a lot to at least split with Pitt and Ole Miss at home. The Vols could pull off a win at Missouri, and the Kentucky game is after an off week.
Again, it might not be a massive year, but think more 8-5 2019 than 3-7 2020.
And the offense will work.
NEXT: Michigan Wolverines
3. Michigan Wolverines
2020 Preseason Ranking
AP 16, Coaches 15
Final Record: 2-4
What Went Wrong?
Start with the one big issue outside of football – the University of Michigan was hammered with COVID issues. That wasn’t necessarily the reason why the football team was so mediocre, but it certainly didn’t help.
The team looked potentially terrific in a dominant 49-24 win over Minnesota to start, and then everything just sort of stopped in a miserable run of four losses in the final five games.
The quarterback play was miserable, the defense was miserable, the performances against Michigan State, Indiana and Wisconsin were miserable and overall the team just didn’t play like Michigan.
For all of Jim Harbaugh’s faults, his teams lose to the Ohio States and Alabamas of the world. They didn’t start losing to the mediocre-to-bad until last year.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
Even with a slew of players transferring out, experience won’t be an issue, and yes, it is a positive that’s Harbaugh is back.
The quarterback situation got interesting with the talented – but often hurt – Alan Bowman coming in from Texas Tech to battle with Cade McNamara. You’ve heard this before, but this might be the best quarterback situation yet under Harbaugh. (And yes, you are right to laugh at that in a believe-it-when-you-see-it way.)
The O line will be fine – there are plenty of options to play around with – Hassan Haskins is a solid-looking back, and the receiving corps has playmakers.
Getting Aidan Hutchinson back on the defensive front after losing him to a knee injury is huge, and most of the top tacklers return.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2021 Michigan Football Schedule Analysis
Western Michigan, Washington, Northern Illinois. All three come to Ann Arbor, and while anything less than 3-0 will make the base grouchy, 2-1 is okay – the Huskies are going to be terrific.
Rutgers, Northwestern, Indiana. All home games against decent teams that should be solid-to-strong, and if Michigan is Michigan, it has to win all three. It also has to win at Nebraska, Michigan State and Maryland.
Going to Wisconsin and Penn State is rough, but at least the Ohio State game is at home – for whatever that’s worth.
And no, being 8-4 at Michigan won’t make anyone do cartwheels, but and 8+ win campaign would seem wonderful compared to last year.
Again, the experience is there to make a quick jump back into being good enough to beat everyone but the elite of the elite like …
NEXT: Wisconsin Badgers
2. Wisconsin Badgers
2020 Preseason
AP 12, Coaches 12
Final Record: 4-3
What Went Wrong?
A global pandemic.
No major team got hit harder or faster than Wisconsin, with QB Graham Mertz following up a historic debut in the win over Illinois with a positive COVID test a few days later. The team came back after three weeks off and roared past Michigan, but it wasn’t nearly the same.
The receiving corps was decimated by injuries, and that changed everything.
As promising as freshman RB Jalen Berger was and is, he’s not Jonathan Taylor. The Badgers couldn’t rely on the ground game when there was absolutely no downfield threat from the passing attack. Nothing worked with a brutal run of three straight losses scoring seven points or fewer in each, and that was it for any Big Ten title dreams.
But the D was still fabulous, the ball control style still worked, and all things considered, going 4-3 by blowing out Michigan, keeping the Paul Bunyan Axe from Minnesota, and wining a bowl game over Wake Forest wasn’t totally awful.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
Start with the receiving corps. The Badgers get back the top guys and playmakers they were desperately missing last year.
There aren’t any major transfer losses to get into a twist over. Mertz is a big-time passer who should look a whole lot better with Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis back along with TE Jake Ferguson.
Berger has a world of upside, the O line is the Wisconsin O line, and even with a few big losses up front, the defense will once again be among the Big Ten’s best.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2021 Wisconsin Football Schedule Analysis
Penn State. September 4th to open the season. Let’s go.
Eastern Michigan comes next, and then there’s a week off before dealing with Notre Dame in Chicago and Michigan at home.
Throw in the trip to Illinois to face former Badger head man Bret Bielema’s club, and follow that up with a dangerous date against Army, and then at Purdue, and then Iowa, and the slate is scary.
So where’s the positive? There’s no Ohio State, there’s no Indiana – that matters this year – and Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern and Nebraska are all home games.
If you’re Wisconsin, and you really think you’re good enough to win the Big Ten title, or at least play for it, a road slate of Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers and Minnesota has to be a walk in the park.
NEXT: Penn State Nittany Lions
1. Penn State Nittany Lions
2020 Preseason
AP 7, Coaches 7
Final record: 8-5
What Went Wrong?
One badly missed call.
You don’t go 0-5 with the worst start to a season in the program’s history on one play, but yeah, the entire Big Ten narrative might have changed if replay officials hadn’t whiffed the ruling on QB Michael Penix’s dive to the end zone in Indiana’s 36-35 walk-off thriller over the Nittany Lions to start the season.
That doesn’t excuse the 35-19 loss to Maryland, though, or losing to Nebraska, or getting rolled by Iowa. However, give the team a whole lot of credit for fighting back with four straight wins to pull up out of the nosedive.
For all of the issues, the offense finished second in the Big Ten, the defense finished third, and overall, the year season like an aberration rather than the norm going forward.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
Penn State appears to be a net even on transfers. There are losses, but bringing in talents like RB John Lovett from Baylor and a few nice parts for the defense helps.
QB Sean Clifford is back along with almost everyone else on the offensive side, and welcoming in new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich from Texas is a big help.
The D line needs work, but it’s Penn State – it’ll be fine. The back seven will be terrific, helped by the return of CB Tariq Castro-Fields and a deep group of linebackers.
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2021 Penn State Football Schedule Analysis
Starting the year off at Wisconsin isn’t a plus, but the rest of the first part of the season isn’t all that bad.
Auburn is a big-name team, but it’s rebuilding a bit and it has to come to Happy Valley. With Indiana, Ball State, and Villanova in the first four games, and all at home, a 4-1 start – at least – is a must.
The downside overall are the road games against the Badgers and to Iowa and Ohio State, and there’s only one home date – Illinois from early October through mid-November, but the Michigan game is at home.
