Ranking the five most disappointing college football teams so far in 2024

College football in 2024 has been a roller coaster ride for several programs and their fans. Some positive and some negative. Names like Ashton Jeanty have emerged out of nowhere as a Heisman Trophy front runner, while programs like the USC Trojans are off to disappointing starts.

With the season halfway over, we can pretty confidently at this point deem who the biggest disappointments are for 2024.

Here are the five biggest disappointments in college football so far in 2024

5. Ole Miss Rebels (5-2)

5-2 is not a bad record, especially on the surface with one of the Rebels’ two losses coming against the 5-1 LSU Tigers in overtime in Baton Rouge in front of a raucous crowd. However, the problem is that the Rebels’ other loss is to 3-3 Kentucky at home, combined with the fact that they ranked as having the fourth best transfer portal class in the country in 2024 according to On3.

Although top wide receiver Tre Harris has had a great start to his 2024 campaign as expected, the rest of the offense including star tight end Caden Prieskorn and third year returning starting quarterback Jaxson Dart have struggled. The fact that the struggles have been on the offensive side of the ball is even more surprising due to the fact that the Rebels have an offensive-minded genius in Lane Kiffin as their head coach.

Two losses may have been the projection for the Rebels by many for 2024, but not by the end of week seven of the season.

4. Virginia Tech Hokies (4-3)

The hype surrounding the Hokies this offseason was sky high. Performance has far from met these expectations yet again for the Hokies who seemingly every year since the Big East days underperform when having high expectations heading into the season.

The Hokies were ranked 27th heading into the season, but factored by many to be a contender for the ACC title in their third season under head coach Brent Pry who improved the team to a 7-6 record last season after a 3-8 season in his first with the school.

Quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Byashul Tuten have not shown to be anything more than adequate for the Hokies and were expected to be quite the dynamic duo in the backfield. After an overtime loss to Vanderbilt in week one, the Hokies would lose their next two games to power four conference foes Rutgers and Miami.

Although the Hokies have won their last two contests against Stanford and Boston College and appear to be somewhat righting the ship, three losses will remain. Unless a lot of things happen and the Hokies go undefeated the rest of the way, their chances at making the ACC Championship Game are all but shot.

3. Kansas Jayhawks (1-5)

No- we’re not talking college basketball. Yes, the Jayhawks have been a historically bad football school, so you may be wondering why a 1-5 start is so surprising and disappointment. Head coach Lance Leipold is your answer.

Since arrived in Lawrence in 2021, the Jayhawks have improved every year under him all the way to 9-4 last year with a shining moment many remember as their win over their then Big 12 opponent Oklahoma Sooners.

Unfortunately, it has been downhill from there to begin 2024 with the Jayhawks receiving subpar quarterback play from returning starter Jalon Daniels which has led them to a five-game losing skid since beating FCS opponent Lindenwood in their first game of the season.

2. USC Trojans (3-3)

Lincoln Riley was one of the hottest names in coaching the past two years ago after his quarterback Caleb Williams followed his high-powered offense from Norman to Los Angeles. Williams won the Heisman Trophy following an 11-3 for the Trojans in 2022 which was Riley’s first at the school. The Trojans however have regressed from there going 8-5 last year and already having three losses halfway through 2024.

Most recently, the Trojans held a 20-6 lead over the Penn State Nittany Lions at home before allowing them to come back and losing in overtime. This inevitably not only put them inside my top five for disappointing teams, but rose them all the way up to second most disappointing.

1. Florida State Seminoles (1-5)

This has got to be the story of the season as far as disappointments go. The Florida State Seminoles were ACC champions in 2023 and finished the regular season 13-0. Head coach Mike Norvell had just completed his fourth season at the school and it seemed to be the sky that was the only limit. That quickly came crashing down in the 2023 Sugar Bowl against Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs with a 63-3 defeat and has continued into 2024.

With the graduation of starting quarterback Jordan Travis, Norvell took to the transfer portal to find his next starting quarterback and in came former Clemson and Oregon State quarterback DJ Ugaleilei. Ugaleilei was a five-star quarterback in the class of 2020 but failed to find firm footing with the Tigers or the Beavers prior to the Seminoles.

What many hopes would be a rejuvenation of sorts for Ugaleilei has been everything but for the Seminoles, contributing to an abysmal start to 2024.

The kicker here is that the Seminoles were ranked 10th in the country in the AP poll pre-season.