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College football is one of the best parts of the college experience, as everyone can support their school and hope for them to achieve gridiron glory. This is especially true for fans of teams at the top of the sport, who come into every season with a chance to see their teams win a national championship. But fans of these three college football teams are in for a rough 2019, given that their teams are not as good as their early season rankings may indicate.
Michigan Wolverines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plMNcq–g_0
The Michigan Wolverines enter most seasons ranked in the top 10 in the college football polls, based largely on the fact that they have a great reputation in the sport and play in one of its best conferences. But Michigan has already shown that they are completely fallible in this college football season, nearly losing a game to Army at home and needing overtime to avoid an upset as a massive favorite in that game.
Beyond that, though, Michigan under Jim Harbaugh just hasn’t been as good as their rankings have suggested. Even with Urban Meyer moving into the media, Harbaugh’s teams haven’t proven that they can even beat in-state rival Michigan State, let alone the mighty Buckeyes in the Big Ten. Their shaky performances in conference play have prompted some elite trolling from Paul Finebaum, which is hard to argue with given that they just haven’t lived up to the hype in the biggest games of each season.
As of September 12, odds to win the national championship had Michigan at +2000, behind just five other teams in the list of favorites for the 2019 College Football Playoffs. Given their less than convincing start to the season and their history against their rivals under Harbaugh, that may be giving the Wolverines way too much credit.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cPd0WiI6ws
Notre Dame is typically a very strong college football program, led mostly by some of the best offensive line play in the country year in and year out. The problem with Notre Dame, though, is the fact that they don’t have to test themselves as much as some of the other elite teams in the country during the season. That leads to them being overrated, and often hurts more deserving programs in the sport, although it doesn’t physically hurt them the way that an unfortunately errant Ian Book pass hurt a Louisville cheerleader earlier this season.
The reason for this is the fact that Notre Dame doesn’t officially belong to a conference, registering as one of the few independents in college football. As a result, they can schedule teams from power conferences, but they aren’t obligated to play the best teams in any league on a regular basis. This year’s schedule, for example, sees the Irish take on Georgia, which is a tough game. But their loose affiliation with the ACC doesn’t require them to play Clemson, allowing them to avoid what could be a loss on their schedule every year if they were to join a conference like a regular college football team.
Texas Longhorns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMZM6E6v3UQ
Every year since Tom Herman took over as the head coach of Texas, the team has been said to be on the verge of a resurgence back to the top of college football. This year was no exception, as the Longhorns were ranked in the top-10 and thought to be ready to win big games en route to a potential playoff run. But, again, they fell short against another elite team in LSU at home, and continue to be running on the reputation of players like hall of famer Vince Young rather than on their current level of play.
Texas has made strides under Herman without a doubt, especially in the improvement of quarterback Sam Ehlinger. But it seems clear that those who vote in the college football polls and those who cover the sport in the media want to rush the improvement of the Longhorns along, vaulting them to rankings higher than they deserve before the team is ready to live up to them. There is nothing wrong with a gradual improvement up the rankings in college football, and Texas is on the right track toward achieving that.
