NCAAF · 1 year ago

Ranking the Most Miserable College Football Fanbases in 2024

TJ Inman

Host · Writer

5. Kent State Golden Flashes
Rooting for the worst team in the FBS seems pretty miserable. Kent State hired Kenni Burns before the 2023 season and had one of the worst campaigns in program history. Kent State has had flashes (pun intended) of success, but the bar is relatively low, and the 2023 season lowered it further as Kent State was outscored 34.6 to 14.7 en route to a 1-11 record. 2024 is on track to be even worse. They lost 24-55 at Pittsburgh in week one and were splattered 71-0 to Tennessee in week three. The loss between those two games was the low point. Kent State lost at home to FCS foe Saint Francis. They have to play at Penn State before entering MAC play, and an 0-12 record is now very much on the table for Burns.

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1. Florida State Seminoles
It has been an awful year for Florida State fans. At the tail end of a dream season, the Seminoles lost star quarterback Jordan Travis to an injury. They were subsequently left out of the College Football Playoff despite an unbeaten record, and it has been all downhill since. Florida State sued the ACC and is stuck outside the “Power Two” of the Big Ten and SEC with no discernible path forward. The coaching staff hit the transfer portal hard again and rebuilt the roster, and the Seminoles were the consensus pick to repeat as ACC Champions. Beginning a season with high expectations and then promptly falling flat is one of the worst things for a sports fan to experience. Florida State is now 0-3 with a pair of conference losses, and Mike Norvell appears utterly bereft of ideas for how to fix it. It has gotten bad enough that jokes are being made about the ongoing Doak-Campbell Stadium renovation hitting an ancient burial ground and causing some sort of curse to haunt the program. Florida State will try to get into the win column against Cal this Saturday.

Week 4: Cal at Florida State (-2.5)

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2. Florida Gators
Florida Gators fans have high standards, but the program is in a dark place, and the highlight of the year for UF faithful is likely to be paying a massive buyout to get rid of head coach Billy Napier after less than three full seasons. Of course, doing so means a failed athletic director would get to make another hire, which seems like a recipe for continuing disaster. Florida has not won a bowl game since 2019’s Orange Bowl, and the Gators are staring at upcoming games against in-state foes UCF, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss. Yikes! Getting your head kicked in week after week is not something Florida fans are used to. Plus, there are rumors that firing Napier would result in freshman quarterback DJ Lagway bolting Gainesville and another total rebuild being in the cards for the new coach.

Week 4: Florida (-6.5) at Mississippi State
3. Wyoming Cowboys
A miserable fan base can be created in multiple ways, but seeing consistent success under a long-time coach come to an end and experiencing a downturn is a surefire way to bring sadness. The Wyoming Cowboys had a great run under head coach Craig Bohl, but he retired after the 2023 season. The Cowboys brought in Jay Sawvel and are off to a poor start. Wyoming is 0-3, losing by an average score of 33 to 11.3 through three weeks. That includes a dreadful 17-13 loss to Idaho in week two at home. Not only are the Cowboys losing, they are doing so in an unentertaining fashion. The future has also been clouded after a recent announcement that four Mountain West schools are bolting for the reformed PAC-12, leaving Wyoming’s league unstable and weaker.

Week 4: Wyoming (+8.5) at North Texas
4. Massachusetts Minutemen
UMass fans would be forgiven for asking themselves: “What is the point?” The Minutemen have been a football independent since 2015 and have not won more than four games since 2011. They are joining the Mid-American Conference again in 2025, but that doesn’t offer much reason for hope, as they won a total of seven league games from 2012 to 2015 during their first stint in the conference. The transfer portal and NIL make it impossible for head coach Don Brown to build a strong program, and the gap only gets wider year over year. UMass has losses to Eastern Michigan, Toledo, and Buffalo (34-3!) thus far, and they still have games against Missouri, Liberty, and Georgia to “look forward” to. When winning three games is considered an accomplishment, miserable seems like the default setting.
5. Kent State Golden Flashes
Rooting for the worst team in the FBS seems pretty miserable. Kent State hired Kenni Burns before the 2023 season and had one of the worst campaigns in program history. Kent State has had flashes (pun intended) of success, but the bar is relatively low, and the 2023 season lowered it further as Kent State was outscored 34.6 to 14.7 en route to a 1-11 record. 2024 is on track to be even worse. They lost 24-55 at Pittsburgh in week one and were splattered 71-0 to Tennessee in week three. The loss between those two games was the low point. Kent State lost at home to FCS foe Saint Francis. They have to play at Penn State before entering MAC play, and an 0-12 record is now very much on the table for Burns.

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1. Florida State Seminoles
It has been an awful year for Florida State fans. At the tail end of a dream season, the Seminoles lost star quarterback Jordan Travis to an injury. They were subsequently left out of the College Football Playoff despite an unbeaten record, and it has been all downhill since. Florida State sued the ACC and is stuck outside the “Power Two” of the Big Ten and SEC with no discernible path forward. The coaching staff hit the transfer portal hard again and rebuilt the roster, and the Seminoles were the consensus pick to repeat as ACC Champions. Beginning a season with high expectations and then promptly falling flat is one of the worst things for a sports fan to experience. Florida State is now 0-3 with a pair of conference losses, and Mike Norvell appears utterly bereft of ideas for how to fix it. It has gotten bad enough that jokes are being made about the ongoing Doak-Campbell Stadium renovation hitting an ancient burial ground and causing some sort of curse to haunt the program. Florida State will try to get into the win column against Cal this Saturday.

Week 4: Cal at Florida State (-2.5)

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Ranking the Most Miserable College Football Fanbases in 2024

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