The 5 most disappointing preseason top-10 college football teams of the 21st century

Preseason rankings in college football have become a hot topic of conversation nearly every July and August.

While the college football world still eagerly awaits the 2026 edition of the preseason polls, it's good to remember that these rankings are somewhat of an inexact science.

It's fun to argue and joust with other fans about where you believe your team should be slotted in the first edition of the official rankings of the college football season, but sometimes being a highly ranked team heading into the year can be a death sentence.

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The combination of sky-high expectations and overlooking holes in the roster can lead to disastrous seasons for teams whose goals may have been a bit too lofty, and there's plenty of historical precedent to prove it.

With that in mind, here are five of the most disappointing preseason top-10 teams from the 21st century.

An Oregon State helmet sits on the back of a bench during a PAC-12 conference football game between the Oregon State Beavers and Oregon Ducks on November 27, 2021 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. (Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Believe it or not, there was a time when the Oregon State Beavers were a budding powerhouse in college football.

The 2000 season was a glimpse into what the Beavers could be under the direction of head coach Dennis Erickson, featuring an 11-win season and a throttling of traditional blue blood Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

All signs were pointing up heading into 2001, but for whatever reason, Oregon State bottomed out before they even had a chance to get things going.

After starting the season in the top 10, the Beavers dropped three of their first four games, including their opener against Fresno State.

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Oregon State fell out of the top 25 for good following a 38-7 beatdown against UCLA, and they were never able to recover from that point forward, limping to a 5-6 record and missing out on even making a bowl game.

While they did secure a win over a top-10 Washington team late in the year, 2001 will always be seen as a season of wasted potential in Corvallis.

Erickson would jump ship to the NFL the following season, and fans were left wondering what could have been.

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 11: Head coach Lane Kiffin (R) and his father and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin of the USC Trojans talk during warmups for their game with the Virginia Cavaliers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 11, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

We all know that preseason number one teams rarely go wire-to-wire and win the whole thing, especially in the modern era.

For the 2012 USC Trojans, winning the national championship was the furthest thing from their mind, as the presumptive pick to win the crystal football had it all come crashing down the minute the calendar flipped to November

Coming off a top-10 finish in 2011, the Trojans and head coach Lane Kiffin (yes, THAT Lane Kiffin) were finally eligible for postseason play following a two-year ban in the aftermath of the end of the Pete Carroll era in Southern Cal.

That wasn't the only cause for celebration, as USC returned a litany of stars including presumptive number one overall draft pick Matt Barkley at quarterback, as well as two 1,000 yard receivers (Marquise Lee and Robert Woods), a 1,000 yard running back (Curtis McNeal) and Penn State running back transfer Silas Redd.

Even after an early season loss to eventual Pac-12 champs Stanford, the Trojans headed into late October still boasting a top-10 ranking with all their goals in front of them.

Then disaster struck, and they lost five of their last six games to finish the season unranked.

They would be the first preseason number one team to end the season outside of the top 25 since the 1964 Ole Miss Rebels.

Despite all the talent in the world, USC could not live up to the lofty expectations foisted upon them in August.

Kiffin was "tarmac'd" just one season later, and the Trojans still haven't fully recovered, finishing in the top 10 of the AP Polls just once since 2011.

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher walks up field during the Southwest Classic college football game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Arkansas Razorbacks on September 30, 2023 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. (Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

2022 was a bizarre, up-and-down year for the Texas A&M Aggies, both on and off the field.

Things started about as good as they could have in College Station, as head coach Jimbo Fisher constructed what was, at the time, the greatest recruiting class in the history of college football.

The signing day haul was so legendary, it caused Alabama head coach Nick Saban to personally and publicly call out his former assistant, and their relationship has allegedly been strained by the incident to this day.

To complement their historic acquisition of talent, the Aggies were ranked sixth to start the 2022 season, but it took all of two games for that to come unraveled.

Notorious giant slayers Appalachian State strolled into Kyle Field and pulled off only the second-most shocking upset in program history, downing TAMU by a score of 17-14.

While the Aggies rebounded nicely and beat a couple of top-15 teams in Miami and Arkansas, they would go on to lose their next six games, missing out on a bowl game entirely.

A team with College Football Playoff aspirations failing to make a bowl game is shocking, though not unprecedented, but the added sting of losing all the momentum from signing the number one class just eight months earlier is what makes this one stand out from the rest.

Oddly enough, the Aggies had two wins over top-10 opponents in 2022, as well as another against number 13 Miami, meaning more than half of their wins came against top-15 opponents.

Texas A&M had the talent to warrant their preseason ranking, but for some reason, Jimbo and the boys just couldn't get it done.

A general view of some Florida State Seminoles Fans with bags over their heads during the game against the Memphis Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium on Bobby Bowden Field on September 14, 2024 in Tallahassee, Florida. The Tigers defeated the Seminoles 20 to 12. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** (Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)

Speaking of Jimbo Fisher, the former Texas A&M coach was almost on this list twice, since his final year in Tallahassee featured a team ranked in the preseason top-five that only narrowly avoided missing a bowl game in 2017.

Luckily for Jimbo, however, the Seminoles just recently outdid themselves when it comes to shocking collapses relative to preseason expectations.

The 2023 Florida State Seminoles were a freak injury to quarterback Jordan Travis away from making the College Football Playoff, and whether you believe they were robbed of the chance to play for a national title or not is up for debate.

Regardless, coming into the '24 season, the Noles were ranked in the top 10 and had one thing on their mind: revenge.

Perhaps they should have had "actually playing football" on their mind, too, because the season was even more of a disaster than anyone could have anticipated.

After starting the season with a last-second loss in Ireland to Georgia Tech, the Seminoles returned to the friendly confines of Doak Campbell Stadium and got roadgraded by an unranked Boston College team.

Another home loss to Group of 5 Memphis signaled that the season was officially on catastrophe watch, and after a nail-biting win against an overmatched Cal team, FSU watched their hopes and dreams combust in the form of six straight losses, all while failing to score more than 16 points.

Even the biggest Seminole haters couldn't have seen this coming, as head coach Mike Norvell's portal strategy finally blew up in his face to the tune of a 2-10 season.

A 5-7 campaign in 2025 didn't do much to brighten the moods of fans in the Panhandle, and now FSU is on the hook for Norvell's bloated contract with seemingly no way out.

From a 13-win season to football purgatory. Life comes at you fast.

Drew Allar (15) of the Penn State Nittany Lions practices passing before the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Beaver Stadium on Oct. 11, 2025 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)

This was supposed to be the year that Penn State finally put it all together. 2025 was going to be the year Big Game James Franklin silenced his doubters en route to a national championship.

The year prior featured a deep playoff run for the Nittany Lions (albeit, aided by a fairly weak draw) and all the pieces seemed to be in place in Happy Valley for Franklin to make his move.

Their quarterback, Drew Allar, was entering what seemed like his eighth year of eligibility, the defense looked elite from the year prior, the portal haul of wide receivers was supposed to help Allar take the next step, and both coordinators were considered some of the best in the nation.

Even after a close, overtime loss to sixth-ranked Oregon to close out the month of September, things seemed to be going as planned for Penn State.

Then, disaster struck.

The Nittany Lions were upset by a winless UCLA team, and the powers that be at Penn State had finally seen enough big game meltdowns, showing Franklin the door after another loss, this time to a listless Northwestern squad.

After starting 3-0 and being penciled into ever Playoff bracket from sea to shining sea, Penn State would lose six straight games and would end up fighting for their lives in late November just to make a bowl game, meeting fellow preseason hype casualty Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl.

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Despite all the false hope and crushing weight of expectations, Franklin has the dubious distinction of being the only coach on this list that was fired during the same season that the collapse occurred.

Most coaches survived long enough to bleed out the next season or two, but not Franklin.