Pre-Snap Read

The Countdown

A Trip Down (Short) Memory Lane

By Paul Myerberg   //   Jul 8, 2010

I meant to do this a few days ago, to coincide with team No. 60 on the Countdown, but I’ve been a little under the weather. Don’t worry, it’s not contagious. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re a little more than halfway done with this long endeavor, having profiled the wide majority of the nation’s worst and with the cream of the crop looming. Stand up and a take a bow if you’ve read each team preview; you’re an inspiration. To commemorate the passing of the midway milestone, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the more interesting tidbits from the first 60 teams on this year’s Countdown.

No. 85: Army

Tidbit Despite last season’s nice finish, Army remains mired in a 13-year losing streak. Prior to 1997, when this streak began, Army’s longest string of consecutive losing seasons was six: 1978-83. Army’s current losing stretch ranks as the fourth-longest current streak on the F.B.S. level, trailing Duke (15 years), Baylor (14 years) and Eastern Michigan (14 years). Army plays Duke and Eastern Michigan this season, so something may have to give.

No. 101: Ball State

Tidbit (N.C.A.A. record edition) Despite last season’s struggles, Ball State did set a positive N.C.A.A. record. In their Oct. 24 win over Eastern Michigan, the Cardinals became the first team in college football history to have one player rush for 300 yards and another rush for 200 yards. The win marked only the fourth time in history that a team had two players rushed for 200 yards, joining West Virginia in 2006, Michigan State in 1997 and Tulsa in 1985.

No. 78: Baylor

Tidbit (Big 12 edition) Since the birth of the Big 12 in 1996, Baylor has gone a combined 4-66 against its South division brethren. The program is 0-14 against Oklahoma and Texas Tech, 1-13 against Oklahoma State and Texas and 2-12 against Texas A&M. Baylor’s better against the North division: a combined 10-32, though a combined 1-15 against Nebraska and Missouri.

No. 68: Duke

Tidbit Duke averaged only 63.5 yards rushing per game last fall, the worst total in the country. In some good news, Duke’s six rushing touchdowns was only 119th nationally, ahead of the five scores from lowly Washington State. Now, back to the bad news: if you remove Duke’s 233-yard performance against N.C. Central, the Blue Devils averaged only 48.1 yards per game on the ground.

No. 119: Eastern Michigan

Tidbit Eastern Michigan had the nation’s best pass defense in 2009. Wait, what? Yes: E.M.U., allowing only 150.5 yards per game, led the country in defending the pass. And it meant nothing. Why? Because teams ran at will on the Eagles, to the tune of 276.8 yards per game. That’s ranked 120th… worst. It marked the first time in N.C.A.A. history — to the best of my knowledge — that a team has been best in the country against the pass and worst against the run. Why pass when you can run?

No. 109: Florida International

Tidbit As noted in last year’s preview, F.I.U. is one of only two programs in the F.B.S. with a career winning percentage under .400 (Kent State remains the other) and is the only program with a winning percentage under .300. After last season, F.I.U. holds a career mark of 24-68 — a winning percentage of .261. Losing 23 games in 24 tries from 2006-7 hurts. Currently 44 games below .500, it would take 15 consecutive 8-5 seasons for F.I.U. to bring its career winning percentage above .500; if it could do so, F.I.U. would be 144-143 in 2025.

No. 75: Idaho

Tidbit My 59-spot miss on Idaho, while awful, was not my biggest error from last summer’s Countdown. I predicted Illinois to be the 27th-best team in the land heading into the season; the Illini finished No. 90 in my post-season re-ranking. That’s a 63-spot miss. In other bad news, I said on a podcast last August with the great Wiz of Odds that — and I don’t recall the exact wording — it’s always nice to know Idaho would be one of the worst five teams in the country, that it makes my job a little easier; and that Illinois would be one of the bounce-back teams in the F.B.S. in 2009.

No. 67: Kansas

Tidbit The last six Kansas coaches (Mangino, Terry Allen, Glen Mason, Bob Valesente, Mike Gottfried and Don Fambrough) have combined to win 18 games in their debut seasons. Both Mangino and Mason lost 10 games in their first seasons in Lawrence; Valesente and Fambrough each won three games, though Valesente dropped back to one win in his second year; and Gottfriend and Allen won four and five games, respectively, with Mason’s solid nine-year span laying the groundwork for Allen’s solid debut. Gottfried, who won four, five and six games in his three seasons, is the only Kansas coach in the modern era to improve his win total in each of his first three seasons. A brief history of the K.U. football program in 114 words, not including this sentence.

No. 114: Louisiana-Monroe

Tidbit There are five F.B.S. programs in the proud state of Louisiana: U.L.M., Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech, L.S.U. and Tulane. Last season marked the second consecutive season – and the second time this decade – that at least three of these schools posted non-losing records. In 2008, U.L.L., Louisiana Tech and L.S.U. each earned at least six wins. Last fall, U.L.M. joined U.L.L. and L.S.U. while Louisiana Tech slipped to 4-8. Tulane, whose academic reputation remains flawless while its football program spins its wheels in the mud, has not had a non-losing season since 2002.

No. 79: Marshall

Tidbit If we go by the numbers, Marshall enjoys the most dominating home field advantage in the country. The Thundering Herd are 118-19 in Huntington, an F.B.S.-best winning percentage of .866, since christening Joan C. Edwards Stadium in 1991. Twelve of those 19 home losses have come since 2005.

No. 74: Maryland

Tidbit Maryland’s 10 losses last fall leaves Clemson, N.C. State and Miami (Fla.) as the only programs in the A.C.C. to have never suffered a double-digit loss season. Maryland, Boston College (1978), Georgia Tech (1994), North Carolina (2003) and Virginia Tech (1950) have each landed a single double-digit loss season; Florida State a pair (1973-74); Virginia four (1959-60, 1975-81); Wake Forest six (1957, 1962, 1974, 1977-78, 1995); and Duke a conference-worst seven (1996, 2000-2, 2005-7).

No. 112: Miami (Ohio)

Tidbit (ugly start edition) No Miami coach had ever lost more than seven games in his debut season prior to Haywood’s 11-loss rookie year in 2009. In fact, 12 of the previous 14 Miami coaches – all since the start of the modern era – had a winning record in their first season, and eight lost three or fewer games as a first-year coach. The six Miami coaches from 1951-82 (Ara Parseghian, John Pont, Bo Schembechler, Bill Mallory, Dick Crum and Tom Reed) combined to lose 12 games in their first seasons.

No. 83: Minnesota

Tidbit Only five Big Ten programs have reached bowl play five times over the past six years: Minnesota (2004-6, 2008-9), Iowa (2004-6, 2008-9), Penn State (2005-9), Ohio State (2004-9) and Wisconsin (2004-9). Minnesota is the only program of the five to have not won at least eight games in any of the last six years; each the remaining quartet, in fact, has won 11 or more games at least once over that span. Minnesota and Indiana are the only Big Ten programs to have not won eight games in a season over the past six years.

No. 87: San Diego State

Tidbit The Aztecs unveiled a new mascot in 2004, the Aztec Warrior, to replace the politically incorrect — I guess — Monty Montezuma. San Diego State is 20-49 since making the change. Is this a case of Montezuma’s revenge?

No. 66: Tennessee

Tidbit Kiffin is only the second Tennessee coach in the modern era of college football (since 1936) to serve only a single season in Knoxville. He joins Jim McDonald (5-5 in 1963), who moved from the field to the athletic department – he was the assistant athletic director – not from one coast to another.

No. 64: Troy

Tidbit (10-win edition) For the first time since 2006, Troy will not face a non-conference opponent coming off a 10-win season. Oklahoma State’s nine wins in 2009 stands as the most on Troy’s non-conference slate. In 2005, Troy faced Florida State (eight wins), Georgia Tech (seven) and Nebraska (eight), as well as Alabama State and U.A.B., in non-conference play.

No. 117: Tulane

Tidbit Tulane has lost at least eight games in five straight seasons, one year short of the school record set from 1991-96. The last coach to post back-to-back winning campaigns with the Green Wave was Tommy Bowden (18-4 from 1997-98), who is currently available for business. Another much-admired former Tulane coach, current Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez (Bowden’s offensive coordinator), may find himself on the open market in the next year or two, though I would bet against it.

No. 98: U.N.L.V.

Tidbit (first edition) This year’s team will face three program firsts: they’ll play nine bowl teams from the previous season; will play 13 games; and when they head to West Virginia in October, will play a team from the Big East for the first time. About that game against the Mountaineers: it will be the first time U.N.L.V. plays in the Eastern Time Zone since facing Tennessee in 2004, and will be the farthest east it has traveled since 1972. Probably should bet on West Virginia and give the points.

No. 90: Utah State

Tidbit Utah State was one of 39 F.B.S. schools, and one of only 15 among the non-B.C.S. conferences, to graduate at least 75 percent of their seniors in 2009. Among the non-B.C.S. conference schools, U.S.U. was joined by Air Force, Army, U.C.F., Marshall, Memphis, Miami (Ohio), Navy, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, Rice, Southern Mississippi, T.C.U., Troy and Tulane. Most importantly, Utah State was the lone WAC school to crack the 75 percent barrier, as well as the lone school in the state of Utah to do so.

No. 71: Wake Forest

Tidbit (decade edition) A season-ending win over Duke allowed Wake Forest to end the 2000s with a 61-60 mark, its first winning decade since 1940-49. The 61 wins also set a new 10-year program-high, eclipsing the 57 wins posted in the 1940s. The Demon Deacons did not win more than 46 games in any decade from 1950-99, bottoming out with a 27-72 record from 1960-69.

No. 92: Western Michigan

Tidbit (Michigan edition) In 2009, Western Michigan became the first F.B.S. program to play the Great Lake State’s remaining four F.B.S. programs in the same season: Michigan, Michigan State, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan. The Broncos went 1-3, beating only the Eagles.

Tags: Army, Ball State, Baylor, Duke, Eastern Michigan, Florida International, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana-Monroe, Marshall, Maryland, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota, San Diego State, Tennessee, Troy, Tulane, U.N.L.V., Utah State, Wake Forest, Western Michigan

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