25 Worst College Football, Basketball Schools of 2021-2022: Who Didn’t Have Enough Fun?
Which schools had the roughest season in the two major college sports? Here are the 25 that had the toughest 2021-2022 on the field and court.
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Which college fan bases didn’t get to have enough fun?
Some schools were able to get to a bowl game, but still had a losing football season to go along with a dud of a basketball campaign.
Some schools had a winning season on the hardwood but didn’t get into the NCAA Tournament to make up for an awful year in football. So …
Which schools that play FBS football – 130 schools – and Division I basketball had the worst 2021-2022 seasons in both major sports?
To get on this list, 1) a school had to either have a losing season in both major sports, or 2) suffer a losing season in football – sorry, but football is more important revenue-wise, and in other key areas, than basketball – and miss out on the NCAA Tournament in hoops.
There were more than 25 schools that fit the criteria, but these 25 were able to rise above – or, really, below – the rest.
The Hoops & Helmets Ranking from last season is out of 130 teams.
25. Temple Owls
The Owls finished 17-12 in basketball and ended up fourth in the American Athletic Conference.
This is a rough beat to be on this list with a relatively strong hoops team, but it didn’t make the NCAA Tournament and it wasn’t good enough to carry the weight of the football team that went 3-9, lost its last seven games, finished tied for ninth in the conference, and fired its coach.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 123
24. Washington Huskies
What the heck was that? The football team was supposed to have the talent an upside to challenge for the Pac-12 lost to Montana from the FCS ranks to open the season, and things didn’t get appreciably better. A blowout loss to rival Washington State and a 4-8 record made a bad season worse.
The basketball team wand 17-15 with a winning record in a loaded Pac-12. It finished tied for fifth in the conference, which was good enough to keep the school ahead of …
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 75
23. UNLV Rebels
There were some bright spots for the Rebel basketball team in an 18-14 season – it finished 10-8 in the Mountain West – but it wasn’t good enough to get into the tournament. More than that, it wasn’t enough to offset a 2-10 season in football. On the plus side, the team played well at times over the final month.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 117
22. Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt ends the run of schools that finished with a winning record in basketball but a losing record in football.
Yeah, football matters more overall to an athletic department, and going 2-10 with just 189 points on the year wasn’t good. The 17-16 basketball team was plucky, but it still ended up 11th in the SEC.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 128
21. West Virginia Mountaineers
Ugh. The basketball team wasn’t all that bad, but the Big 12 was strong. The Mountaineers might have finished 16-17 overall, but they were 4-14 in the conference and finished in dead last.
The football team was okay – it beat Texas and Iowa State – but a loss to Minnesota made it a 6-7 campaign.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 31
20. Ball State Cardinals
The football program that won the MAC in 2020 had a solid season. It went 6-6 before closing out with a 51-20 blasting from Georgia State in the Camellia Bowl. It was a losing campaign, and the hoops team went 14-17 overall, finishing sixth in the MAC.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 49
19. Old Dominion Monarchs
Old Dominion gets a more favorable ranking than others for one key reason – it’s Old Dominion. It didn’t play football in 2020, it started the season 1-6, and it went on a roll to get to a bowl game. It might have lost to Tulsa to finish with a losing record, but it was a fun run. And basketball …
Not so much. The Monarchs finished 13-19 and went 8-10 in Conference USA.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 104
18. Louisville Cardinals
Louisville is supposed to be able to roll in basketball, but it went 13-19 overall and 6-14 in a bad year for the ACC. The football team at least got to a bowl game, but it lost to Air Force to finish 6-7. Worse yet, the Cardinals got rolled 52-21 to Kentucky.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 93
17. Missouri Tigers
This ends one run of schools that fit a certain category. Missouri went to a bowl game, but it finished 6-7 after losing a bowl game to Army.
The football side was fine compared to the the dull dud of a basketball team that finished 12th in the SEC and only won 12 games.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 58
16. Stanford Cardinal
Give Stanford credit for playing as full football schedule full of Power Five programs, and the win over USC led to Trojan head coach Clay Helton getting fired, but going 3-9 was a disaster.
The basketball side at least went 16-16 and finished 9th in the Pac-12. Because the school played tougher teams it gets a better ranking than …
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 77
15. Rice Owls
There’s a threshold with Rice. The 14 schools ranked higher – or lower, as the case may be with this – all had losing records in both football and basketball.
Rice might have been 4-8 in football – it did have a win over eventual conference champ UAB, though – but it was 16-16 in basketball. Even though it was 7-11 in conference play to finish 5th in C-USA West, that was enough to hit a hard stop here in the rankings.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 87
14. Syracuse Orange
In terms of pure fun it was hard to beat the mini-run in the ACC Tournament. The Orange still ended with an unfathomable losing season under Jim Boeheim, but there were moments.
It was the same thing for the football team that had some strong performances, but lost the last three games to finish 5-7 and miss out on a bowl appearance.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 59
13. Tulane Green Wave
It’s hard to dog the basketball team too much after getting to the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinal, but it still wasn’t enough to get to the NCAA Tournament with a 14-15 record overall.
The football side was strange. The team really was better than the 2-10 mark – the schedule was rough – but you are what your record is, and the Green Wave tied for ninth in the conference.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 78
12. Northwestern Wildcats
What happened? The football program that played for the Big Ten Championship in 2020 totally collapsed in 2021 with a 3-9 record and tied for last in the Big Ten West. The offense was miserable, the defense didn’t come through, and it was a total train wreck.
The basketball side at least showed some offense, but it didn’t matter in a 15-16 season with a 7-13 conference run.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 36
11. Cal Golden Bears
The Bears couldn’t get their football season going. It wasn’t totally awful, and a win over USC to close things out helped, but a bout with COVID led to the loss against a miserable Arizona team, and that all but killed any hopes of a bowl bid in a 5-7 year.
The hoops side was far worse going 12-20 overall and 5-15 in the Pac-12. They finished 10th in the conference, closing out with a thud.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 124
10. San Jose State Spartans
Forget anything that happened on the field. This was a horrible, horrible year for the school – and for college sports – with the loss of the wonderful Lawrence Fan, one of the nicest people in the business and the ultimate sports information director.
The football team couldn’t keep up the momentum of the great 2021 season with a 5-7 run, losing three straight to close to miss out on a bowl appearance. The basketball team was totally miserable with just one Mountain West win in an 8-23 season overall.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 61
9. Bowling Green Falcons
The Falcons just couldn’t get anything going in either sport. However, the football team came up with one of the strangest and craziest wins of the 2021 season with a 14-10 shocker over Minnesota.
There were a few more wins to finish tied for fourth in the MAC East, but it was still a 4-8 season. The basketball team went 13-18 and was tied for 9th in the conference.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 102
8. Georgia Southern Eagles
The Eagles were a strange disappointment in football, going 3-9 and finishing at the bottom of a strong Sun Belt East. It wasn’t helped from a basketball team that finished 10th in the Sun Belt with a 13-16 season.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 62
7. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
The football team lost six straight to close out the regular season to finish 3-9 overall and near the bottom of the Coastal division. There was a 45-22 win over North Carolina, though, to have a bright spot.
There needed to be more with the basketball team going 12-20 overall and finishing next-to-last in the ACC.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 80
6. Nebraska Cornhuskers
So here’s the problem with Nebraska in this. In terms of overall wins, it really should be even closer to the top of the most miserable overall seasons for an athletic department. However, the basketball team had a few super-fun late wins including a spoiler over Wisconsin. Even so, the team went 10-22 and finished tied for last in the Big Ten.
The football side had its moments, too. It lost great game after great game, but the only Big Ten win was over a miserable Northwestern squad. This should all boost up fast in the near future, but it’s not okay for this football school to go 3-9.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 116
5. ULM Warhawks
It looked like the football team might be in for something quirky under head coach Terry Bowden, starting 2-1 with a good win over Troy. Throw in the shocker over Liberty, and the season wasn’t totally miserable – but it was still a 4-8 campaign.
The wins weren’t there in basketball, either, finishing next-to-last in the Sun Belt with a 13-18 season with just five conference victories.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 127
4. FIU Golden Panthers
The 15-17 basketball season helped give the school something interesting to pay attention to, but the team was 5-13 in the conference and finished 6th in Conference USA East.
That was rough, but it wasn’t as miserable as the football campaign that started out with a win over Long Island from the FCS world followed up by 11 ugly losses. There wasn’t a single-digit loss in any of the last eight games.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 129
3. UMass Minutemen
This is more about the football team’s struggles than the hoops side.
The basketball team wasn’t totally awful – it went 15-17 overall and 7-11 in the Atlantic 10 – but it still ended up 10th in the conference.
Going 1-11 in football – with the lone win over a miserable UConn – with blowout loss after blowout loss dragged the overall ranking down.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 105
2. Southern Miss Golden Eagles
There was ZERO fun for the Golden Eagles in either sport.
They won a grand total of one basketball game in Conference USA – going 7-26 overall – and was a disaster in football right out of the gate. Through some changes and misfires, the football team managed to win three games, but it still finished tied with for the bottom of the Conference USA standings.
Two end-of-the-year football wins over Louisiana Tech and FIU kept the Southern Miss from being the easy No. 1, so …
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 118
1. USF Bulls
The fan base didn’t get to experience a whole lot of thrills in either sport. There was a close 17-13 loss to UCF in football – there’s hope going forward as the program continues to make decent strides – but it was a 2-10 season with only one American Athletic Conference win.
There wasn’t any relief on the hoops side, going 8-23 overall to finish last in the American Athletic Conference with just three league wins. However, there was a stunning win over Cincinnati to break a little bit of the gloom, and at the very least, the school owns Temple … sort of.
There was a 75-57 Owl win in hoops, but that came after a USF victory earlier in the season. The football side’s lone win over an FBS team was a 34-14 whopper over Temple.
But the school was still at the bottom of the conference in both sports.
Last Year’s Overall Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 122
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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams
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