by New Year’s resolutions are a big deal to some people in this country. Whether it’s going to the gym more often, eating healthier, or just ditching a bad habit, a lot of folks try to commit to making improvements in their daily life. In college football, programs have a New Year’s resolution of their own: be better next year. To some coaches across the country, being better next season could be the difference between security and disaster.
Here are seven teams that ended the season with a bad taste in their mouth and are looking to right the ship in 2024 after failing to reach expectations this season.
Wisconsin
I’ll cut head coach Luke Fickell some slack here because I still do believe he’s a good coach and, I mean, it was his first year in Madison after all. However, 7-6 was not what Badger fans had envisioned in 2023. Many thought that Fickell’s new offensive system would instantly give this team the spark that it needed to finally get them over the hump and potentially put them in the CFB Playoff hunt while competing in what turned out to be a weak Big Ten West.
Those expectations came up short, however, as inconsistencies plagued Wisconsin most of the year. Big-armed QB Tanner Mordecai’s high-flying style didn’t live up to the hype as he finished the season with a career-low 127.1 passer rating and the offense ranked 87th in the country in PPG. A blown 28-14 lead against LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl loss put the cherry on top of what turned out to be an average season for the Badgers.
Penn State
A 10-3 season is terrific for 95% of the schools across the country. Not at Penn State.
Following a fairly lopsided 38-25 loss to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, where the Rebels garnered 540 total yards of offense, it feels like the Nittany Lions are still stuck in square one. For as many 10-win seasons as James Franklin has helped produce in Happy Valley, PSU still has yet to clinch a playoff berth. The Nittany Lion offense also hasn’t been seriously threatening since the Saquon Barkley days and while defense has not been an issue, losing defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and a few key centerpieces like Chop Robinson and Kalen King calls for an immediate reload. The 12-team playoff may be PSU’s best friend next season, but it very well could be a make-or-break year for Franklin.
Miami (FL)
The Canes haven’t recorded a double-digit win season since 2017 when Mark Richt led them to a 10-3 campaign. Their combined record since that year: 40-33. To many, that’s above average. To the Miami faithful, that’s lackluster.
Miami capped off the 2023 year with a rather disappointing 7-6 finish after losing a sloppy 31-24 game to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. At the start of the season, “The U” was riding high at 4-0 and scoring 38+ in each game until the wheels fell off and they dropped six of their last eight.
While it’d be far-fetched to say that Mario Cristobal’s job is in jeopardy, he only has a .500 record since taking over his alma mater two seasons ago. Granted, he’s just 24 games in, but if there’s any regression in 2024, the hot seat will be warming up in Hurricane country.
Texas A&M
A 31-23 defeat in the Texas Bowl completed a miserable season for the Aggies that saw head coach Jimbo Fisher get fired and a handful of star players flee to the transfer portal. Hopefully Mike Elko is the answer for A&M and can reboot the culture because otherwise it’s rinse and repeat all over again for what has been a rather mediocre big-named program in recent times.
North Carolina
I snuck the Tar Heels on this list mainly because of their midseason collapse and the fact that this team finished 8-5 despite having one of the most potent offenses in the country with a top-3 NFL Draft pick under center.
A 6-0 start and top-10 ranking had many people pencil in North Carolina as a surefire ACC title game contender. That’s until a heartbreaking home loss to Virginia led to the Heels dropping four of their final six games.
UNC technically already did improve ahead of next season by firing defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, who was responsible for a defense that ranked 95th in YPG (404.4) and allowed 29 PPG this season. But still, losing a chunk of talent calls for a serious rebuild and makes Tar Heel fans wonder how much juice the great Mack Brown has left.
Florida
Similar to Cristobal at Miami, it’s only year two of Billy Napier leading the Gators so it’s hard to draw serious conclusions about a head coach already, but little to no progress has been made from last season to this season.
Florida was 6-7 in 2022 and 5-7 this year, and you better believe Gator fans are already putting Napier on the hot seat. Back-to-back losing seasons is inexcusable, especially when considering Florida has had recruiting classes ranked in the top 20 over the past two years. Losing star running back Trevor Etienne to arch-rival Georgia in the portal puts salt in the wound too. Expectations are sky-high in Gainesville, so immediate improvement is mandatory.
USC
The Trojans did end the year on a high note after upsetting #15 Louisville 38-24 in the Holiday Bowl behind Miller Moss’ breakout debut. On the other hand, USC settled for an 8-5 record during a season in which the College Football Playoff was the goal, especially with Caleb Williams and a handful of offensive weapons returning. Obviously the finger points to the defense that saw its coordinator Alex Grinch get fired and opposing offenses put 28+ points on the board against them 11 times.
Still, Lincoln Riley cleaning up the defense and Moss looking like a highly capable starter in 2024 leaves a trail of optimism. However, moving to the Big 10 and losing a decorated Heisman winner is a big hurdle, so 2024 could be Riley’s biggest “prove it” year as a head coach at the college level.
Other teams with more to prove than most: Nebraska, Clemson, South Carolina, Notre Dame