RE: 2021 Schedule
College football news ranked all 127 D1 teams that played this year along with an explanation for their ranking. With seniors able to come back next year the rankings might give a bit more insight than normal on what to expect from each team next season (St. Francis wasn't apart of it obviously, and didn't play this year but the last three seasons they've played they were: 6-6, 4-7, 5-6).
127. UMass (0-4): The Minutemen gave it a go, but there wasn’t anything that worked. They started late, only played four games – all on the road – and got walloped by a combined score of 161 to 12 against Georgia Southern, Marshall, Florida Atlantic and Liberty.
126. Bowling Green (0-5): Not only did the Falcons go winless in their five games, but they weren’t even close. The closest battle was a 28-point loss to an Akron program that broke a massive losing streak.
122. NIU (0-6): The expectations weren’t high, but to still finish winless was a gut-punch for a program that’s normally in the MAC championship mix. On the plus side, three of the six losses were in good battles, including a 31-25 defeat against eventual MAC champion Ball State.
111. Texas State (2-10): The Bobcats only won two games, but they were able to get by Arkansas State late in the year and played a whole lot better than a lot of their final scores. They only lost to SMU by seven, to UTSA by three in a wild shootout that could’ve gone either way, and by three at Boston College.
109. Ohio (2-1): It was only a three-game season. The team was good, but it didn’t have the chance to prove it with the wins over Akron and Bowling Green – two of the worst teams in college football.
107. EMU (2-4): It’s Eastern Michigan, so every game seemed like a fight that could’ve gone either way. Just when it seemed like a lost season with an 0-4 start, the fun win over Western Michigan showed just how good the Eagles really were.
105. CMU (3-3): There weren’t enough games. The Chippewas weren’t bad and got off to a 3-1 start, but the losses to Ball State and Toledo to close out were acceptable, and the loss to Western Michigan was a crazy shootout.
98. Toledo (4-2): The Rockets probably deserve a little better than this, losing to Western Michigan in an epic finish and to eventual MAC champ Ball State. There weren’t any amazing wins, but the team could argue that it was among the four best in the MAC.
97. WMU (4-2): The Broncos were almost good enough to be in the mix for the MAC Championship, starting 4-0 before inexplicably dropping a home game to Eastern Michigan and losing to Ball State. The offense was fun, though.
93. Miami (2-1): They only played three games and were blown away by Buffalo, but they’re the only team to beat MAC champion Ball State. The other win was against Akron – yippee. The defending MAC champ was going to be interesting, but it didn’t get much of a shot.
46. Ball State (7-1): The program was on a run of six straight losing seasons and started out with a loss to Miami University. And then everything kicked in with seven straight wins including a MAC Championship over Buffalo and a bowl game domination over a fantastic – but completed – San Jose State.
25. Wisconsin (4-3): The Badgers were amazing in the opener against Illinois and rocked Michigan, but they weren’t right the rest of the way with virus issues and injures becoming crushing as the O went into the tank. Beating Minnesota and winning the bowl over Wake Forest made a massively disappointing season better.
|