College football winners and losers: Florida and Florida State lead list of most disappointing teams

Florida State’s terrible 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 after a 20-12 loss to Memphis on Saturday. The Seminoles had three first-half turnovers in the loss as Memphis was not scared of Florida State’s passing game.

What sets FSU apart from the other eight preseason top-10 teams is its opponents. Florida State is the first team from the group 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-opening stretch.

Florida State opened the season with hopes of winning the ACC and making the College Football Playoff. Now the Seminoles are hoping to simply make a bowl game. Florida State needs to go 6-3 over its final nine games to make a bowl.

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

• 1954: Illinois (final record: 1-8)

• 1960: USC (4-6)

• 1963: Washington (6-5)

• 1976: Arizona State (4-7)

• 1983: Penn State (8-4-1)

• 1984: Pitt (3-7-1)

• 1988: Texas A&M (7-5)

• 2020: Penn State (4-5)

Things are rough in Tallahassee. And the symbolism couldn’t have been any more apparent when a fire alarm started going off at the end of head coach Mike Norvell’s postgame news conference.

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

Florida (1-2): Florida’s daunting schedule made a winning season a tall order ahead of the 2024 season. And Florida is lucky that Florida State is winless because the Gators would otherwise be the most disappointing team in college football.

Florida had no chance on Saturday at home in a 33-20 loss to Texas A&M. Head coach Billy Napier played 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 ended any hope of a miraculous Florida comeback.

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

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

And if you needed a video to sum up how the loss to UNLV went for KU, we have you covered.

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

The good news is starter Davis Warren had every pass attempt caught 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.

Warren threw for just 122 yards and it’s clear that quarterback is Michigan’s biggest flaw so far this season. After winning the QB competition over Alex Orji, Warren has thrown six interceptions and just 444 yards in three games. Orji is probably not the option to juice the passing game, either. He’s attempted just six passes all season and is primarily used in rushing situations.

It’s surprising that Michigan didn’t prominently search for a transfer QB after J.J. McCarthy’s departure to the NFL. And if neither Warren or Orji make a huge leap soon, the most important position on offense will hold back Michigan from competing for the Big Ten title.

Here are the rest of this week's winners and losers.

Winners

No. 9 Oregon: The Ducks looked a lot better against Oregon State than they had against Idaho and Boise State. Oregon throttled in-state rival Oregon State 49-14 on Saturday in a game that showed why Dillon Gabriel is a Heisman contender. Gabriel was 20-of-24 passing for 291 yards and two TDs while also rushing for a 54-yard score. The win is the first for Oregon at Oregon State since 2018 in a rivalry that thankfully continued despite the mass Pac-12 exodus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

UCF: The Knights overcame a 21-point second-half deficit in a 35-34 win at TCU. The Horned Frogs took a 28-7 lead early in the third quarter and led by 18 with just over 20 minutes to go before UCF outscored TCU 22-3 down the stretch.

The game-winning score came when KJ Jefferson found Kobe Hudson for a 20-yard TD with 42 seconds to go. Jefferson finished with 230 yards and three touchdown passes as RJ Harvey rushed 29 times for 180 yards. TCU QB Josh Hoover threw for 402 yards and four scores, but the Horned Frogs’ last drive ended in a missed 58-yard field goal.

Losers

Purdue: The Boilermakers served as Notre Dame’s get-right game. The Fighting Irish had nearly 400 yards of offense in the first half alone in a 66-7 win. Purdue was picked to finish last in the Big Ten’s preseason poll and there was nothing to take away from Saturday’s game to show that prediction was wrong. The Boilermakers had just 162 total yards and turned the ball over twice while Notre Dame averaged 8 yards a carry.

South Carolina: It hurts to blow a 17-point lead at home. Especially when you average 6 yards a carry and you 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 sailed wide to the left.

Head coach Shane Beamer quickly blamed his team’s 13 penalties for 123 yards as a contributing factor in the loss. South Carolina’s lack of a passing attack may also continue to 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.

Vanderbilt: The good vibes from the Commodores’ 2-0 start disappeared against Georgia State. The Panthers scored a go-ahead TD with 15 seconds left for a 36-32 win. Vandy trailed 29-17 in the fourth quarter but scored 15 straight to take a 32-29 lead with 1:14 to go. However, the defense couldn’t hold as Georgia State went 75 yards in seven plays. The game-winner came when Christian Veilleux found Ted Hurst for a 25-yard score as Hurst snuck just inside the pylon.

Mississippi State: The Bulldogs are now 1-2 after getting blitzed at home by Toledo. The Rockets won 41-17 after taking a 28-3 halftime lead and forcing the Mississippi State fans at Davis-Wade Stadium to head to the exits early.

The MSU defense gave up over 450 yards to the Rockets as MSU QB Blake Shapen was sacked five times. It’s an embarrassing loss for Mississippi State after losing at Arizona State in Week 2. If the Bulldogs get bossed by Florida in Week 4, it could be a long first year for coach Jeff Lebby.