Florida State, Nebraska, Texas and USC combine to set bizarre record

Four college football blue bloods set a group record this year. But it’s not a record for which they’d like to be remembered.

For the first time, per Matt Brown of The Athletic, Florida State, Nebraska, Texas and USC all finished the season with a losing record. Florida State and Texas finished 5-7, Nebraska finished 3-9 and USC is 4-7. In total, that is a 17-30 record from four of the country’s most storied programs. 

Florida State and Texas had very opposite seasons. The Seminoles started 0-4 for the first time in school history before finishing the season 5-3. Florida State owns the worst defeat of the four teams, a 20-17 loss to FCS Jacksonville State on the final play of the game. Despite an influx of transfers and talent, they could not piece together a bowl-bound season. One bright spot for the Seminoles involved one of those transfers, Jermaine Johnson. The former Georgia defensive end led the ACC with 12 sacks.

Texas started 4-1, lost six consecutive games, and finished their 2021 campaign with a 22-17 victory over Kansas State on Friday. Five of their seven losses were by one possession; they often looked solid out off the gate but could not hold on for the win. It was not the year first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian imagined, and he will not have much time to get his team on the right track come September; Texas hosts Alabama on Sept. 10 in their first meeting since the 2009 Rose Bowl, which doubled as the BCS National Championship that year. 

While Nebraska has the worst record of the four teams, they were likely the most competitive team in the group. The Cornhuskers became the first team in college football history to lose nine games by single digits. Their largest margin of defeat was a 26-17 loss to Ohio State on Nov. 6. Additionally, Nebraska finished with a score differential of zero in the Big Ten. They scored 239 points, and they gave up 239 points all on the way to a nine-loss season. Head coach Scott Frost will return for another year, but he may start 2022 with the hottest seat in the country.

USC is the only team on the list that is not yet done with their 2021 season. The 4-7 Trojans are slated to play Cal on Saturday as their final regular season game, a game which was rescheduled for Dec. 4 after it was postponed due to COVID-19 issues for the Bears. After firing former head coach Clay Helton in September, USC’s issues this season largely were not on the offensive side of the ball. Their defense, however, was nothing short of abysmal. The Trojans allowed 32.5 points per game, which was last in the Pac-12. Of course, they are already remedying this season’s disaster by landing new head coach Lincoln Riley.