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As the season winds down, the final picture of “The Worst of the Power Five, 2019” is coming more into focus. You can check last week here.
Having reviewed the remaining schedules, we don’t see too much more wiggle room for the rest of November, but you never know. These teams might surprise us. They certainly surprised their respective fan bases.
Once again, as experts in the Group of Five, here are this weeks’ Power Five teams playing at or below our very reasonable level:
5. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
The worst of an ACC that’s generally struggling, with the exceptions of Clemson and (oddly enough) Wake Forest. The Yellow Jackets would be a lot lower on this list if not for their road win against Miami earlier in the season, proof they still have a few bullets left in the chamber.
Their only other win this season remains South Florida in week two, which of course looks less impressive as the season drones on. This weeks loss to Virginia was close, but no cigar, as their fan base eagerly waits for them to engineer some kind of late season run.
4. Northwestern Wildcats
Bouncing up and down on this list for a number of weeks, the Wildcats barely lost to not-great Purdue last week, 24-22. A valiant effort, but still a loss, dropping a hapless Northwestern to 1-8 (0-7).
Sure, this team beat UNLV way back in week two, but could they beat any other Group of Five team? Not with this offense, and not in 2019.
3. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Rutgers had a bye week this past week, and was still a nine-point underdog.
That’s an old joke, but we’re happy to raise the Scarlet Knights a slot this week, especially considering they’re a few days away from welcoming Ohio State into SHI Stadium. How would a Group of Five team fare in that game? This one will be just as ugly, if not moreso— the Buckeyes are favored by 52.5 points.
2. Vanderbilt Commodores
Just a few weeks ago, the Commodores took out a ranked Missouri squad. This week? Blanked by Florida, 56-0.
Any SEC fan will proudly try and convince you that their conference is the best conference, but that must only refer to the top handful of squads, if the disparity is so bad these guys can’t even score on the Gators. There’s always next year.
1. Arkansas Razorbacks
Oh, Arkansas. When you lose to two C-USA schools in two seasons, you have no choice but to fire your coach, but also that means you’ve been playing at the Group of Five level this entire time. What else can you do, pig?
Mercifully, Chad Morris is out after some average seasons at SMU somehow netted him a job at a school where Bret Bielema couldn’t get anything going, either. We don’t yet know who the next Razorback coach shall be, but something tells us they’ll be looking outside the Group of Five ranks. You’re due, pig.