Ten Teams About To Take A Tumble

What ten teams are about to suffer a crash and start to disappoint?

Phil Harrison
Harrison: Ten Teams Headed for a Slide

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College football can be a cyclical beast.

While the top dogs of the sport more or less stand the test of time, there are still peaks and valleys for every team. For some programs, the limelight shines less frequent--with the window of opportunity only remaining open for a much shorter period of time. With spring ball here for some, what programs are about to experience leaner times? Here’s a look at ten teams that stand on the precipice of tumbling expectations.

10. Stanford

Though the Cardinal kept things going last year, it was mainly because of some leftovers in the cupboard from the Jim Harbaugh era--mainly Andrew Luck. Now that Luck is working on acquiring real estate in Indianapolis, and Harbaugh’s grittiness has moved on to the NFL, the coaching staff will have its hands full replacing an all-timer of a talent under center and getting the pieces in place up and down the roster. There will be holes that will be become more glaring and even more difficult to fill beginning this year and beyond.

9. Texas A&M

Stating that the Aggies have been consistently relevant in recent years is stretching things a bit, but the program was at least good enough to throw a flash in the pan year here and there and seemed to have things going the right way--at least from a talent standpoint. And now, welcome to the SEC, and welcome to less frequent one-hit wonders. Quite simply put, there’s only so much room at the top of the loaded league. Welcome to the neighborhood coach Kevin Sumlin. It’ll be tough for the Aggies to punch their way out of the corner for a while with so many new variables to go up against.

8. Wisconsin

Wisconsin has been a solid program ever since Barry Alvarez started stomping around Madison, but the program has gone to another level under Bret Bielema throwing hay-makers with Big Ten titles and BCS bowls. No more. With Michigan and Ohio State ready to ramp things up a bit, and with the departure of several key assistants, the Badgers won’t be in the same class picture of the Big Ten like it has over the last few years. Montee Ball is still there, but the Badgers will soon take a step back through all of the transition and resurgence of some of its Big Ten brethren .

7. Michigan State

Not to be outdone by its Big Ten brother, Wisconsin, Michigan State is also staring down the barrel of a decline, and for much of the same reasons. For MSU though, not only will it get recruits stolen by surging Michigan, it’ll also feel the pinch of Urban Meyer cutting off one of its hotbed recruiting states--Ohio. Because of Mark Dantonio’s ties to the Ohio high school coaches, he has been able to get the likes of BJ Cunningham, Le’Veon Bell, Denicos Allen, and Jerel Worthy. While the pipeline in Ohio won’t completely dry up, Meyer has shown that it could slow to more of a trickle than a gushing flood. Without the talent that Dantonio has developed from the state of Ohio, in combination with some serious heat from the Brady Hoke, something has to give--and it’ll more than likely be Sparty.

6. Miami

Bravado no more. If the whole Nevin Shapiro scandal hadn’t of broken, you’d believe it to only be a matter of time before the swagger was back around South Beach. Instead, the proud program stands a good chance of toppling right over once all the digging and prodding is complete. It won’t be the first time that Miami has had to deal with some penalties. Lest anyone forget, the last time put the program in a several year coma that was hard to wake up from. If and when the smoke that is bellowing from Coral Gables uncovers a towering inferno of abominations, you can expect the same pattern of mediocrity--or worse to emerge this time, despite the efforts of Al Golden.

5. Oregon

There is something brewing in the Pac-12, and it’s not the ungodly amount of Starbucks Pike Place Roast cups of coffee. No, it’s an old, familiar beast that is about to awaken. In case you haven’t noticed, the USC Trojans are getting their house in order and are primed to retake a league they have dominated over the history of the proud conference. For Oregon Duck fans, that means the quack attack won’t be taking flight as it has during the post Pete Carroll apocalypse. USC is going to get players--as it always has, and now that the sanctions are in count-down mode, and the NCAA is sniffing around Nike U, it stands to reason that not even 3,234 uniform combinations can keep the party going. Chip Kelly has already entertained ideas of a departure to the NFL, and it may just be a matter of time before he leaves the program, USC becomes USC again--and with the combination, the shiny, new “it” program will fall back to the days of yore.

4. TCU

While Boise State was out finding a BCS conference that it could hang in, if not excel in, TCU was doing the opposite by going to a more competitive Big Twelve. It’s one thing to be the darling of college football and beat one or two high quality opponents a year. It’s another to be able to compete against athletically gifted teams on an almost weekly basis. Now that the Horned Frogs are sitting at the big boy table, there won’t be as much food to get fat on. TCU might catch up to the bright spotlight of the league, but it won’t happen overnight. Suddenly, an outside shot at a BCS bowl might appear much better than the uphill fight that TCU is going to find itself in as it backs the U-Haul up to its new neighborhood. One in which it will no longer be the bully of the block.

3. Missouri

Gary Pinkel was beat into submission with teams utilizing the spread attack against him. The result--If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Ever since Missouri changed its offensive scheming to the spread attack, the Tigers have ridden the elevator up a few floors to at least close to the penthouse of the Big Twelve. Now, there is a new high rise in town, and Mizzou is going to have to do it all over again. It’ll be coming from a league where offense and wide open attacks rule the day, to a defensive slug-fest type of league in the SEC. If they can do it, the coaching staff will need at least some time to align the recruiting to be competitive. There are just too many good teams in America’s favorite (and least favorite) conference to believe that Missouri won’t be lost in a school with tons of cool kids already strutting around.

2. West Virginia

Continuing the trend of teams moving on to perceived greener pastures in a new conference, West Virginia stands to lose some ground. Mountaineer fans have become accustomed to being the class of the Big East (as “hard” as that may be), but now, in the Big Twelve, there are bigger fish to bait, catch, and clean. There just aren’t any Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns showing up on the schedule in Big East stadiums. And as good as West Virginia and head coach Dana Holgorsen looked lighting up Clemson in the Orange Bowl, it’s bound to stub its toe against stiffer, and more consistent programs with a pedigree. Sure the offense might fit right into the Big 12 model, but not even the live ammunition toting mascot can fend off the upper crust of the Big 12 on the same regular basis it did in the Big East.

1. Penn State

Everyone is predicting some very lean times for the Nittany Lions, and it all makes sense. All that has gone on in around Happy Valley over the last six months or so has gotten the feds and NCAA involved with urgency. It has already resulted in many recruits fleeing the program to other schools, and until things calm down, it’ll likely continue. That’s all before even discussing what the NCAA might conjure up after all of the legal due process takes place. Add a first time head coach in Bill O’Brien, dissension in the program, and the Urban Meyer stalking of recruits in and around the area to the situation and there leaves little doubt that the Penn State program is headed from being the once proud “Beast of the East,” to perhaps the least of what’s left. It’s a sad but true tale all around.