6 College Football Programs That Should Be Shut Down
UAB announced on Tuesday it would shut down its football program, the first school to do since Pacific in 1995.
The news was met with anger by supporters of the team, which just qualified for a bowl for only the second time in school history. Yet, while the Blazers prepare to pull the plug, there are other schools whose football teams have struggled so much on the field that shutting them down would seem like a no-brainer. Here are a couple of them:
- 1
Temple Owls
Four bowl games in its history. One postseason ranking. Fun fact: ‘Pop' Warner ended his legendary career at Temple, going 31-18-2 and coaching the Owls to the first Sugar Bowl in 1934, where Tulane beat them. That’s far and away the best bowl Temple has ever played in (Garden State Bowl, EagleBank Bowl and New Mexico Bowl were the others).
- 2
Indiana Hoosiers
Make no mistake: football takes a back seat to hoops in this basketball-mad state. Bloomington is a tough place to win as a coach and the Hoosiers are the Big Ten's traditional doormat. IU has played in exactly one Rose Bowl in its history, losing to USC in 1968, and has made just two bowls in the last two decades.
- 3
Northwestern Wildcats
The Wildcats enjoyed a renaissance in 1995 with an unlikely run to the Rose Bowl, but that belies two disturbing trends: they haven’t returned to a BCS bowl since and the program hasn’t won a bowl game of any sort since 1948 when it beat Cal in the Rose Bowl. That’s a long time.
- 4
Eastern Michigan Eagles
This is neither a major program nor a good one. The Eagles have won one conference title in the last half-century, as well as one bowl game, a 1987 California Bowl win over San Jose State.
- 5
New Mexico State Aggies
It’s tough to be a fan in Las Cruces. The Aggies have been to one bowl since 1960, the longest drought of any FBS team. In fact, the school hasn’t been to any bowl except the Sun Bowl.
- 6
Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State is an afterthought in the college football landscape. The Cyclones last won a conference title in 1912 when they claimed the second of back-to-back Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles. That was the forerunner of the Big Eight, which was the forerunner of the current Big 12. That’s just a roundabout way of saying it’s been a long time for fans in Ames.