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Worst power conference teams since 1970

BROTHERSKINNY

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Oct 21, 2010
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I found this on Reddit posted by poster PhiloBlackCardinal. Rutgers occupies several positions including the top spot. Thought it would be interesting to get some reactions to this list.

The 25 Worst Power Conference Teams since 1970 (Using SRS)​

History

This list will be using SRS, in essence it's a combination of SOS with margin of victory. The weaker your schedule and the worst your MOV is, the lower your SRS goes.
I will consider power conferences to be: ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, SWC, P12. Independents that are currently in a power conference or ND will be included IF they played around half or more of their games against P5 teams. This never ended up coming into play anyway. The number next to the record is the team's SRS.
#25 2008 Washington State Washington State(2-11) -13.82
Sorry Wazzu fans, despite the victory over Washington, Wazzu gave up over 60 points 4 times, and scored over 20 just twice. One of those times was against a 4-7 Portland State team. 08 UW escapes the list, barely.
#24 2000 Duke Duke (0-11) -13.91
This Duke team would likely be higher if they didn't nearly upset Phillip Rivers and NcState at the end of the year. Duke got off to one of the worst stretches of football imaginable. Throughout their first 7 games, their closest was by 16 points to Maryland. They got shutout by East Carolina 38-0, lost to 3-8 Vanderbilt 26-7, and was not competitive at all until they faced a 2-9 Wake Forest team.
#23 1999 Rutgers Rutgers (1-10) -13.99
Rutgers has one of the best wins on this list, was an upset over 7-5 Syracuse. However that's about where all the good ends. Lowlights include Michael Vick throwing 11/12 on them with 248 yards passing enroute to a 58-20 loss, a 56-28 loss to 2-9 Temple, a 62-16 loss to 4-7 West Virginia, and a 55-0 loss to Miami.
DQ *2020 Arizona Arizona (0-5) -14.09
Arizona only played 5 games and nearly took down USC, and 4 teams who had winning record. However, SRS was incredibly low on the P12 this year, and it seems to be a weird reaction to the COVID season. Nearly every P12 team's SOS is ridiculously low. That, along with a 70-7 loss to Arizona State, is what made their SOS so low. I'm going to disqualify them, but put them as an honorable mention.
#22 1990 Oregon State (1-10) Oregon State-14.19
This is the only team on the list that beat a ranked team, they overcame #21 Arizona 35-21. Pretty big win. However that is absolutely where the positives end. This Oregon State team lost to Montana to open the season, then lost 38-12 against a 3-7-1 Kansas team, lost 45-20 to a 4-7 UNLV team, 37-3 to 5-6 Stanford, 55-24 against 3-8 Washington State. The season ended with a meme worthy 6-3 loss to Oregon.
#21 1995 Wake Forest (1-10) Wake Forest -14.23
Wake opened up the season by losing to Appalachian State, and then getting beat 35-9 by a Tulane team that finished 2-9. That should tell you how bad this Wake team was. FSU absolutely massacred them, 72-13. Their lone win was impressive however, 30-7 over a 5-7 Navy squad,
#20 1975 Virginia Virginia (1-10) -14.27
The positives? UVA was introduced to their future legend George Welsh when he stomped them 42-14 with Navy the opening game of the season. They also beat instate rival VMI. The lowlights? A 66-21 crushing against ACC basement dweller (at the time) Wake Forest, a 61-10 loss to East Carolina, and the worst defense in college football. Welsh is only 7 years away.
T-#18 1990 SMU SMU (1-10) -14.37
The corpse of SMU had one win on the season, against a power team at that. A big one too, 44-7. However, as that team appears later on in the list, it's not saying much. They got absolutely embarrassed by their in conference opponents. Their defense gave up 495 yards a game and was the worst in college football, they were embarassed 43-7 against 4-7 Tulane, 62-7 against 3-8 Texas tech, and suffered a 14-7 loss to 1AA North Texas.
T-#18 1989 Northwestern Northwestern (0-11) -14.37
This one's a bit of an oddity. This Northwestern team could score. They put up over 30 points 3 times, and were 62nd in the nation in points for. However, their defense was miserable. They gave up 45 points a game and gave up nearly 300 rushing yards per game. Michigan State beat them 76-14, and NW notched losses against 2-9 Wisconsin, 2-7-1 Rutgers, and 3-8 Purdue.
#17 1981 Northwestern Northwestern (0-11) -14.39
This time the offense isn't there, as Northwestern notched the worst offense in college football along with the worst defense. They gave up 315 rushing yards per game, while only rushing for an abysmal 44 rushing yards per game. They gave up 70 to Ohio State, 64 to Iowa, 61 to Michigan State, and were shut out in 5 games.
#16 1992 Temple Temple (1-10) -14.78
Temple's QBs combined for 4 TDs, 28 INTs, 44% completion with 135 yards per game. They scored over 20 on a 1A opponent one time, and their lone win came over a 3-8 Patriot League team.
#15 1985 Kansas State Kansas State (1-10) -14.84
1985 Kansas State pulled off the rare feat of losing to two 1AA teams in a season. 10-6 to Northern Iowa and 22-10 against North Texas. They averaged 2.2 yards on the ground, and outside of a 20-17 win over a 1-10 Missouri team, they got slaughtered by their Big 8 opponents. I'll take it easy on KSU here, it gets much worse.
#14 2009 Washington State Washington State (1-11) -14.87
Plagued by a terrible OL, Washington State only managed to rush for 2.2 yards an attempt. Their defense was lackluster also, and on top of that, they had to face one of the strongest P12 schedules in years. Washington State pulled off a good win against 8-5 SMU early on in the season, but absolutely collapsed as the entire P10 picked them to shreds.
#13 2006 Duke Duke (0-12) -14.98
To open up the season, Duke was shut out by a 6-5 Richmond team, 13-0. That should tell you how bad this team was. They got mauled by a 4-8 Vanderbilt team 45-28, got shutout by 5-7 Virginia 36-0, got torn to shreds by a mediocre FSU team 51-14, and was the joke of the season. However, they did nearly beat the ACC Champions, losing to Wake Forest 14-13.
#12 1990 Vanderbilt Vanderbilt (1-10) -15.01
This was the team that 1990 SMU beat. 44-7. So far, this is the worst loss on the list, and I'm not sure who else can compete. What's saving them is a 24-20 victory against LSU, who wasn't great, but went 5-6. After that, they'd get beat up on by the rest of the SEC, and suffer a humiliating 56-28 loss to 3-8 Wake. Their offense wasn't terrible, with 20 points per game. However, their defense gave up 41 a game.
#11 1989 Kansas State Kansas State (1-10) -15.11
Despite how terrible this team was, silver lining was that this was Snyder's first year. Otherwise, this team was horrible. KSU averaged just 52 rushing yards per game in a Big 8 that was dictated by rushing. They averaged just 12 points per game, and their sole victory came over 1AA North Texas (revenge for 85!). The state of KSU was so bad, that this was KSU's first win since 1986 and considered a massive upset. This season includes another 1AA loss to Northern Iowa 10-8, some smackdowns by the big 3 of the Big 8 at the time (OU, Nebraska, and Colorado), and a bunch of shortcomings from KSU's offense.
#10 2015 Kansas Kansas (0-12) -15.22
Kansas gave up over 500 yards 9 times this season, including 3 games of giving up over 600 yards. Oklahoma had 710 yards on Kansas this season. This Kansas defense got pushed around all season long. They scored over 20 points 3 times on FBS opponents. This Kansas team is certainly the worst of their recent teams, but not the worst of all time.
#9 1988 Kansas Kansas (1-10) -15.45
That title would belong to 1988 Kansas. This Kansas rushing defense is one of the worst of all time. Barry Sanders rushed for 312 yards on Kansas amassing 5 TDs. Oklahoma State would win that game 63-24. The craziest part is that 312 is under Kansas' rushing yards per game. Kansas would give up an average of 357 yards a rush, a number I can't even wrap my head around. Kansas gave up a mind numbing 768rushing yards against Oklahoma that year. That is the NCAA record for any division of football. Nebraska? Rushed for 577 against Kansas. Cherry on top is that Kansas lost 42-29 against 1-10 New Mexico State. And yet they had a win? Place your guesses, their win comes a little later in the list.
#8 1981 Oregon State Oregon State (1-10) -15.54
Oregon State continues the trend of teams struggling with rushing defense. They gave up an average of 300 yards per game. They struggled scoring outside of garbage time that season, and got smashed by nearly everyone on their schedule. Their losses include blowout losses to 2-9 Oregon, 2-9 Cal, and 4-7 Stanford.
#7 1999 Baylor Baylor (1-10) -15.97
Kevin Steele, defensive mastermind (no bias) started out his Baylor tenure with a hopeful note. A close 30-29 loss to Boston College. However, the very next week, a terrible UNLV team took down Baylor 27-24, and the wheels fell off the wagon. Oklahoma beat down Baylor the next week 41-10, Texas followed it up with a 62-0 win. After that, Baylor's offense could never get things going. Other than a victory over a 2-9 North Texas team, Baylor failed to score over 14 points for the rest of the season. Their closest Big 12 game was a 20 point loss to 5-6 Oklahoma State.
#6 1987 Kansas State Kansas State (0-10-1) -16.16
The tie was to Kansas, who's sitting just outside this list. This KSU team is an embarrassment. They opened up the season with a 26-22 loss to 1AA Austin Peay. They were then blownout by 5-6 Army, 41-14. They lost to 3-8 Tulsa 37-25. Every Big 8 team outside of Kansas and Iowa State blew them out of the stadium. They were outscored by an average of 39-9 in conference games, and their offense was completely anemic.
#5 2001 Duke Duke (0-11) -16.57
Opening week, Duke faces #6 FSU. First quarter. Duke's QB finds a WR who breaks it for a shocking 78 yard TD pass. Duke is up 6-0. They miss the extra point. FSU scores 31 in the second quarter and wins 55-13. For the rest of the season, Duke would be victimized by the ACC and other prestigious academic schools. Rice would take them down the next week, a 4-7 Northwestern team would cruise to a 44-7 win, 2-9 Vandy cruised over them to a 42-28 win. Duke's defense held just two teams to under 35, and three under 40. Nearly half the teams on their schedule hung 50 on them.
#4 1988 Kansas State Kansas State (0-11) -16.84
Remember that team that 1988 Kansas beat? Here they are. The Sunflower state was absolutely miserable in the late 80s when it came to football. Kansas beat Kansas State that season 30-12, in the worst P5 matchup of the last 50 years. Kansas State was beat down by everyone on their schedule with the exception of weak Louisiana Tech and Tulane squads. 4-7 Tulsa beat them up 35-9, a 3 win Missouri team dropped 52 on them and won by 30, Oklahoma dropped 70, Barry Sanders ripped KSU's defense apart for 320 yards. This was rock bottom for Kansas State and the Sunflower state as a whole.
#3 2002 Rutgers Rutgers (1-11) -16.85
Do not let that one win fool you. In my opinion, this is the worst team in P5 history. However, SRS disagrees with me. That one win is by 44 points, against Army. Army in 2002 was abysmal and one of the worst College Football teams of all time. This Rutgers team lost 34-11 to a Buffalo team that finished 1-11. That is potentially the worst loss on this list, Buffalo's SRS that season was -20. There are very, very few losses in P5 history that come to mind that near this one. Outside of a 3 point loss to a terrible Temple team, they lost every conference game by 20+ points. And in that Temple game, they were outgained 400-142. They lost to Villanova 37-19. This Rutgers team was abysmal, and at that point, there seemed to be no hope. The bright spot is that Greg Schiano was coach, and he'd right ship soon.
#2 1994 Houston Houston (1-10) -18.23
In 1990, Houston was breaking passing records, producing Heisman winners, and changing the way we approached offenses forever. By 1994, Houston was struggling to score over 10 points a game. In the dying wake of the SWC, Houston put out an absolutely anemic offense, who's only game scoring over 13 points was a 39-33 victory over SMU. Outside of that, Houston was completely shut down every single game. 7 points against 3-8 Louisiana Tech and getting shutout against 3-8-1 Missouri are the low points. Outside of their win against SMU, Houston's closest in conference loss was by 21 points against TCU, 31-10. Houston went from being a power conference staple to an afterthought in just four seasons, and this was the peak of their struggles.
#1 1997 Rutgers Rutgers (0-11) -22.06
In first by a giant margin are the 1997 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. They played in one of the weakest P5 conferences ever, the 1997 Big East. They played 4 teams that finished the season with a winning record, one of those being G5. They suffered blowout losses to teams with losing records. 5-6 Miami beat them 55-23, 4-7 Texas beat them 48-14, 3-8 Temple won 49-7. They got obliterated by the four teams they faced with winning records, losing those by a combined 193-29. Statistically, nothing jumps out that separates them from the other bad teams on the list. Compared to some other teams on this list, they may not seem like the worst team in the world. But with their SOS ranked 76th and them getting beat up in just about every single game they played, it wins them #1 in SRS.
 
There should be more recent Kansas teams on that list. They've had a total of 18 wins in the last 10 years, 2 winless seasons, and 2 1-win seasons. In the 10 years from 1996 to 2006, Duke had 4 winless seasons.

I'm not sure why people single out our team as being the epitome of bad. It's had bad seasons but not nearly as bad as the long stretches of other programs. Even in the worst decade, the 90s, it averaged almost 4 wins per year.
 
Rutgers has had some bad years in the past.
Terrible ones we might adds.
But now the future looks much brighter.
When it comes to badness, looking at :

The 25 Worst Power Conference Teams since 1970 (Using SRS)​

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You're an attention whoo-whaa....

Take this list and shove it. Then bury it.

We know our history. So why conjure up the past. We're B1G now. We're moving on and making progress.
 
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Yet we’re the only program in that group to make it to the power two!
Wonder how that happened?
I guess we might have something going for us after all.
 
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PhiloBlackCardinal is a douche. Stupid post by him with no purpose other than to slam teams. There were several 0-12 teams on his list but he sticks 0-11 Rutgers at number 1. If he is a Louisville Cardinal fan I guess he came up with this post by remembering how Rutgers prevented his Cardinals from playing in a National Championship game in 2006.

I wonder how he avoided listing the 1-10 1997 Louisville team.. oh, that's right, Conference USA
 
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PhiloBlackCardinal is a douche. Stupid post by him with no purpose other than to slam teams. There were several 0-12 teams on his list but he sticks 0-11 Rutgers at number 1. If he is a Louisville Cardinal fan I guess he came up with this post by remembering how Rutgers prevented his Cardinals from playing in a National Championship game in 2006.

I wonder how he avoided listing the 1-10 1997 Louisville team.. oh, that's right, Conference USA
He may be a douche but those RU teams did suck.

I've said this before but IMO it's the single biggest reason that alumni in my age group (went to RU in the mid to late 90s) and a bit younger don't support football now. Our experience was horrible.
 
He may be a douche but those RU teams did suck.

I've said this before but IMO it's the single biggest reason that alumni in my age group (went to RU in the mid to late 90s) and a bit younger don't support football now. Our experience was horrible.
Those of us who went to RU in the mid to late 80s did not have it much better…😉
 
He may be a douche but those RU teams did suck.
While true.. a lot of teams did in his timeframe.. I doubt his research. I found a story written in 2013 that lists the worst season for every D1 team. I parsed through for teams that matched his criteria.

Bottom line, he did not have to triple up or double up on teams. How bad a season was is quite arguable but you'd have to list every no-win team... and here he has 1-win seasons listed but ignore no-win seasons from that same team and other teams.

** marks where on the list he placed the following bad teams, if he did so

Barely under the 1970 line.. 1968 (0-8-2) Miss ST. Same year Wisky badgers went 0-10 and in 67, Maryland went 0-9

But here's a Top 25 that repeats no teams because it takes the worst season of his defined cohort.. no order here

2007 (1-11) Minnesota
1981 (1-9-1) Texas Tech
1985 (1-10) Mizzou
1986 (1-10) Vandy --he lsits 1990 Vandy at No 12 but misses this one, fair enough, same records
1988 (1-10) UNC
1972 (1-10) Pitt
1984 (0-11) Indiana
1978 (0-11) BC (IND then.. but that should count as they are ACC now and Big East before)
2005 (1-10) Syracuse
2001 (1-10) Cal
2006 (0-12) Duke **no 13
1981 (1-10) GTech
1988 (0-11) Kstate **No 4
1973 (0-11) Iowa
1991 (0-10-1) OK State
2008 (0-12) Washington
1982 (0-10-1) Kentucky
2009 (1-11) WashState ** No 14
1997 (0-11) Illinois
1999 (0-11) SCarolina
1973 (0-11) Fl State (IND then.. but should count for how long they have been in a power conference)
1980 (0-11) Ore State --he lists the 1990 and 1981 Ore State teams but ignores this one
1981 (0-11) Northwestern **No 17
1997 (0-11) Rutgers **No 1
2001 (0-11) Houston **No 2

**2015 Kansas #10.. on his list but missed mine because my source was a list of worst seasons ever for each school and was made in 2013,,
**1992 Temple at No 16 is a related issue.. they had a worse season much further back
**1990 SMU at 18.. they had a worse season in 2003 but conference then was not included.. AAC
**1975 UVA at 20.. my source listed earlier season before his limit
**1995 Wake at 21.. same as above
**2020 Arizona (0-5) No DQ? they had a 1-8-1 season in 1959
 
Yet we’re the only program in that group to make it to the power two!
Wonder how that happened?
I guess we might have something going for us after all.
Location, location, location. They had nowhere else to go. Thank you, Fordham, for dropping big time football in the 50s. In 1940, Fordham beat West Virginia, Pitt, North Carolina, and Purdue before losing to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl and in 1941, Fordham beat SMU, TCU, North Carolina, Pitt, West Virginia, Purdue and then beat Missouri in the Sugar Bowl. No doubt if Fordham had stayed Div 1 and continued to play their home games at Yankee Stadium, they most likely would have been given our slot.
 
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