Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college sports, where at least nobody had a self-inflicted disaster as bad as the Washington Commanders did at the NFL level. First Quarter: Mamas, Don’t Let Your Sons Grow Up to Be Five-Star QBs.
It’s midseason, more or less. We have information beyond the early blowouts of overmatched teams. Everyone has played a road game by now, and almost everyone has played multiple conference games. We know some stuff.
And some of what we know isn’t good for a few teams that began the season with high hopes and are now on a salvage mission. The Dash midseason bust list:
Texas A&M (11)
- Preseason AP ranking: No. 8.
- Currently: 3–3 and unranked, 1–3 in the SEC. The Aggies have played two road games and scored zero touchdowns, with a total of six points in each. Their combined margin of defeat at LSU and Missouri was 50 points.
With a three-year starting quarterback, returning leading rusher and multiple experienced receivers, this was not an expected offensive development. The line, mostly rebuilt via the portal, has not been great, and QB Marcel Reed has regressed. The Aggies have the lowest yards-per-pass attempt average of any power-conference school at 5.8. Several daunting defenses lie ahead on the schedule.
This constitutes the first real adversity in Mike Elko’s five years as a head coach, and he may not be passing the stress test.
“There’s a difference to me between the fan base and social media,” Elko said after the Mizzou loss, then took aim at TexAgs.com, a large fan hub co-owned by Billy Liucci. “So there’s one group that I really don’t care much about. Billy’s cesspool can go be Billy’s cesspool. Our fan base, stay with us, be behind us. We’re going to build something that we told you we were going to build. So we’re in a really bad spot right now, but we’ll work our way out of it.”
Considering how many TexAgs subscribers might also be counted on for NIL contributions, this might not be the wisest PR move. For now, Elko has the nation’s No. 1 freshman class lined up for 2027. But that won’t fix this season, and it probably won’t guarantee success next season, either.
Remaining ranked opponents: Alabama, Tennessee, Texas.
Penn State (12)
- Preseason AP ranking: No. 18.
- Currently: 2–3 and unranked, 0–3 in the Big Ten and winless against power-conference competition. The Nittany Lions have left the state just once, and lost by 21 points at Northwestern.
Penn State’s preseason ranking was probably a product of name recognition and a belief that first-year coach Matt Campbell would immediately thrive in a program with more advantages than the one he left (Iowa State). But this team doesn’t look talented enough to compete at the high end—in league games, the Nittany Lions are 15th in the Big Ten in total offense and 16th in total defense.
What makes this worse is the runaway immediate success of Bob Chesney at UCLA. Could a guy born and raised in central Pennsylvania have been the Penn State coach? Almost certainly, if the school had aggressively pursued him at James Madison instead of fixating on power-conference coaches.
(Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft isn’t the only guy Chesney is making look bad after upsetting Oregon to reach 5–0. Dan Lanning, with all those resources at Oregon, is another. And Lincoln Riley at USC, who couldn’t beat the Ducks at home, is the third.)
Remaining ranked opponents: None. Penn State’s soft schedule presents an opportunity for a turnaround, but also underscores the missed opportunity of this season. A very reasonable path to at least 10 wins was there from the beginning.
Oregon (13)
- Preseason AP ranking: No. 2.
- Currently: 3–2 and unranked, 1–1 in the Big Ten.
The Ducks were part of the ironclad seven teams that separated from the rest of the nation in every preseason poll—Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame, Indiana and Oregon, in some order. They are the first one of those seven to drop out of the top 10, and are now all the way out of the Top 25. That seems overly punitive, with victories over two ranked teams and losses to two ranked teams, but make no mistake this season has been disappointing.
From the moment rosters were set for 2026, the Ducks appeared to have everything they needed to chase an elusive national title. They paid handsomely to retain star QB Dante Moore and many other veteran standouts, and made a few key portal acquisitions. Adding a two-year Big Ten starting QB as a backup (Dylan Raiola) seemed to be an additional luxury nobody else had.
The title chase has veered off the rails. It was a struggle to put away Boise State in the opener. The Ducks were dramatically outplayed by Oklahoma State in Week 2. They were impressive at USC to open Big Ten play, then utterly dysfunctional at home against UCLA. Once again, Lanning’s refusal to accept the value of placekicks cost him in a close game—this time unsuccessfully going for two after the first touchdown against the Bruins, then coming up short when forced to go for two at the end.
Remaining ranked opponents: Northwestern, Ohio State. Oregon isn’t out of playoff contention yet, but winning in The Horseshoe could become a requirement.
LSU (14)
- Preseason AP ranking: No. 11.
- Currently: 3–2, 1–2 in the SEC and ranked No. 22, despite zero wins over ranked opponents. (Burying Clemson to open the season got everyone excited, but as noted down below—beating Clemson doesn’t mean much these days.)
For $13 million a year, with a roster pushing $50 million, you’d think Lane Kiffin could win a road game. So far, he hasn’t. The Tigers’ loss at Mississippi was understandable, given the emotional payload of the game for the Rebels. But adding a loss at Kentucky imperils LSU’s playoff chances—and failure to land a playoff berth is what got Brian Kelly fired.
Kiffin, who in years past never met a fourth down he didn’t want to convert, punted on a fourth-and-1 near midfield late at Kentucky while holding a three-point lead. On one hand, challenging the Wildcats’ shaky kicker to make a tying field goal made sense—but Kiffin’s offensive acumen suggests that he would have a play call capable of getting a yard to essentially end the game. The more strategically bold coach won Saturday night in Lexington, and it wasn’t Kiffin.
Remaining ranked opponents: Mississippi State, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee. The Tigers could certainly use a return to health from tight end Trey’Dez Green.
Washington (15)
- Preseason AP ranking: No. 17.
- Currently: 3–3, 0–3 in the Big Ten and winless against power-conference opposition. The Huskies have hosted two Midwest teams that made the long trip to Seattle and were dominated by both, never leading against Minnesota and Iowa. The Huskies’ once-formidable home field advantage has disappeared.
It’s been a full-system failure of a season so far for the Huskies. But as tends to be the case, the blame game has focused on quarterback Demond Williams Jr. He became a late-season sensation as a freshman in 2024, followed that up with a productive sophomore campaign, nearly left for LSU, then stayed and received a big payday to do so. This season has not gone well for Williams, bottoming out in a futile performance against Iowa that ended early with a rib injury. Backup Elijah Brown played well in relief and could spark a lineup change, but benching Williams would wave the white flag on a hefty investment.
The Hawkeyes also exposed shortcomings in the trenches for the Huskies. They were outrushed by 266 yards, giving up six sacks and failing to produce any run longer than nine yards in the game.
Remaining ranked opponents: Indiana. There also are three Midwest trips still on the schedule—to suddenly hot Purdue, Nebraska and Michigan State—plus a game at rival Oregon.
Michigan (16)
- Preseason AP ranking: No. 16.
- Currently: 3–2, 0–2 in the Big Ten, on a two-game losing streak and unranked. Including the malaise at Michigan State, The Mitten is a seething cauldron of angst.
As noted in the Dash First Quarter, the Wolverines have failed to score 20 points in four of their first five games, something they last did in 1965. Their offense has boiled down to five players: quarterback Bryce Underwood throwing to receivers JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh (49 of Michigan’s 69 receptions), or Underwood running the ball along with backs Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter (158 of 176 carries). There is little diversity of weaponry, with little impact from tight ends or multipurpose skill players.
The Wolverines are coming off an open date, so we’ll see if they used that time to locate some offensive spark. The defense is more than capable.
Remaining ranked opponents: Indiana, UCLA, Ohio State.
Oklahoma (17)
- Preseason AP ranking: No. 10.
- Currently: 3–2, 1–1 in the SEC and unranked. But the Sooners are coming off an all-time Red River upset victory of then-No. 1 Texas.
They beat Texas with grit and defense and special teams. The offense still isn’t good. Oklahoma has produced just 11 offensive touchdowns on the season, and five of those were in the opener against overmatched UTEP. The good news is that quarterback John Mateer and the rest of the offense got through the Texas game without turning the ball over, their first turnover-free game since last November.
The Sooners circled the schooners last November and made a playoff push, going 4–0 against tough competition. Doing so again isn’t out of the question, but an offense that hasn’t produced 300 yards in a game since the opener is going to have to find a higher gear somewhere in the second half of the season.
Remaining ranked opponents: Kentucky, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Missouri.
Clemson (18)
- Preseason AP ranking: Unranked, but first among others receiving votes.
- Currently: 3–2, 2–1 in the ACC, and unranked. The losses to LSU and Miami were by a combined 69 points.
The Tigers are coming off an open date and have a get-well offensive game against FCS opponent Charleston Southern before entering the latter half of the season. They need it. Clemson is tied for last nationally in touchdown passes with two, and is dead last in TDs as a percentage of total passes at 1.3%.
In the uninspiring muddle of the ACC after Miami, the Tigers could still win several games and give Dabo Swinney a chance for one more told-you-so tour. But there is no confusing this Clemson team with vintage Clemson teams. It’s not there.
Remaining ranked opponents: None. A sideways scramble to Charlotte remains possible.
Vanderbilt (19)
- Preseason AP ranking: Unranked, but did receive votes.
- Currently: 3–3 overall, 0–3 in the SEC and on a three-game losing streak. The margins of defeat have grown from six to 24 to 35 points.
Diego Magic has not been sustained. The Commodores miss Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia’s dual-threat dynamism, as their offensive production has dropped from 38.5 points and 463 yards per game last year to 24 points and 348 yards. Meanwhile, turnovers are up: Vandy has 10 to date, after just 12 in 13 games last year. Freshman quarterback Jared Curtis is going to get it, and it will be a beautiful thing when he does—but it’s a work in progress now.
Remaining ranked opponents: Kentucky, Mississippi State, Alabama, Tennessee.
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