This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Pollaski on 2024-07-25 14:59:58+00:00.
The Tank Job of the Week is an award for the FBS team that did the best job of humiliating itself over the weekend. Whether they blew a large lead, choked away a spot in the limelight, lost a game they had absolutely no right losing, or completely screwed everything on a last second blunder, the TJOTW winner sets the gold standard in college football misery. Over the next seven weeks, we are counting down my 100 greatest tank jobs over the last 20 years. WARNING: You will be hurt.
Four weeks until Week 1!!!
(video links and a link to the entire list in comments)
72: AUBURN TIGERS (lost to Mississippi State 43-34) [2021]
One of the funny things about college football is due to the highly regional and factionalized nature of the sport, fans of rival teams often unite around other sports, particularly in areas where pro sports franchises are sparse. Take the Pacific Northwest, for example- its not common to see people who wore Purple, Green, Crimson, and Orange on Saturday to all wear Seahawk Blue on Sunday (there are, however, a considerable number of Oregon fans who also root for the 49ers. These are objectively horrible people and should be shunned from all polite society)
The Deep South is the same way, given that there’s only two deep south teams- the Saints and Falcons. So you get LSU/Saints fans, Ole Miss/Saints fans, Alabama/Falcons fans, Georgia/Falcons fans…
Auburn/Falcons fans. I think you know where this is going.
Despite being just 6-3 heading into their game against Mississippi State, Auburn was still ranked. All three of their losses were to ranked teams, and they held strong wins over Arkansas and Ole Miss. They were coming off a 20-3 beatdown by Texas A&M, however, and were looking to rebound against the Bulldogs. And rebound they did. Auburn came out swinging, scoring on their first four drives, and ten minutes in to the second quarter held a 28-3 lead. Again, I think you know where this is going.
State would score their first touchdown with a couple minutes left in the half, and Auburn would respond driving down for a field goal, but missed the kick, going to intermission at 28-10. Out of the half, State came out swinging, scoring on each of their first five drives, while the only drive of substance Auburn could muster ended with a blocked field goal. Finally, with the dust settling on the post-apocalyptic 43-28 landscape, Auburn managed to finally get back onto the board, but fail the two point conversion and kept it a two possession game. They fumbled immediately on their next drive to ice the game, and State returned to Starkville triumphant.
Having already lost two in a row, Auburn would drop their final three games to South Carolina, Alabama, and Houston by a combined ten points to finish just 6-7. Auburn would start the next season 3-5, and coach Brian Harsin would be shown the door after a two-touchdown home loss to Arkansas.
71: MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS (lost to Texas Tech 44-41) [2006]
Before July 1, if you had asked me what my favorite Big Ten team was, it was Minnesota. There’s family ties here- my dad’s from Minnesota, and he attended the U for a few years before transferring elsewhere for his degree. So I’m decently versed in the history of the Gophers- Bernie Bierman was basically the Nick Saban of the 1930s, but the team has largely been an afterthought for the better part of the last century. They do claim a National Title for 1960 (which I can’t recognize cause Washington claims 1960 too along with like four other teams), but they haven’t won the Big Ten since 1967. All said, it takes a LOT to impress Gopher fans on the misery front.
Glen Mason spent ten years at Minnesota, compiling a 64-57 (32-48) record. He was the kind of coach that seemed to muster up just enough bright spots to keep around in between the low points. And the Gophers did make a bowl in seven of his last eight seasons, and finished ranked twice, but they were never higher than fourth in the Big Ten standings. 2006 was another ho hum year in the Gophers history, although it was a bit of a roller coaster getting there. The team started 2-5 with four consecutive losses before getting off the schneid by nipping out North Dakota State 10-9. After Ohio State flattened them 44-0, the Gophers won their last three games in convincing fashion to get to 6-6 and fetch an invitation to the Insight Bowl where they’d play Texas Tech.
The Gophers took no prisoners in the first half, scoring on every single drive but one, and that one drive- a would-be pick six that was fumbled out of the end zone for a touchback- still ended up benefiting the Gophers. They led 35-7 at the half, and kicked off the second half by embarking on a drive that consumed half the quarter and ended on a field goal , setting the score at 38-7 with just 22 minutes left to play. Just where Mike Leach wanted them.
Seriously- the number of games where the late Pirate was on either side of a ridiculous comeback is straight up obscene.
TTU scored twice in about five minutes, the latter coming on the first play of the fourth quarter. Minnesota tried to run the clock down, and burned over five minutes off, but was downed out in TTU territory, and Tech went 64 yards in 91 seconds to cut the lead to ten. Minnesota could only go three and out in their final two drives, and Tech scored a touchdown and then, as time expired, nailed a 52-yarder to complete the comeback and force overtime. In the extra period, again Minnesota stalled out, settling for a field goal, but the Raiders found the end zone to complete the stunning comeback victory.
The 31-point comeback was a record for the postseason at the time, eclipsing Marshall’s rally over East Carolina in the 2000 GMAC Bowl by a single point, and since then only one bowl game has ever managed to match it. The fact that this came a little over a month after the aforementioned Michigan State comeback over Northwestern makes it even crazier. It also had a bit more dire consequences for the loser.
Glen Mason was fired two days later, with AD Joel Maturi stating “If we had not lost the way we lost, we probably wouldn’t be here today”. He would be replaced by Tim Brewster, who immediately went 1-11 in 2007, cratering the program, and getting fired after just three and a half seasons after racking up a miserable 15-30 (6-21) record. It took a considerable rebuilding job by Jerry Kill to drag the Gophers back to any sort of semblance of respectability.
TOMORROW: A safety fells the King of the Mountain, and…. Oh God. PEAK CYHAWK IS ACHIEVED.