This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/2Pollaski2Furious on 2024-09-23 14:54:31+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.
Previous Winners
Week 0: New Mexico Lobos (Montana State 35-31)
Week 1: Florida State Seminoles (Boston College 28-13)
Week 2: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Northern Illinois 16-14)
Week 3: Mississippi State Bulldogs (Toledo 41-17)
LAST WEEK: One of the most diverse votes I’ve yet seen, with at least six teams reaching double-digit vote counts. TCU beat out Washington by a single vote for the second spot, but even with all these choices, the runaway winner was still the Cowbells of Starkville, who were brutally Clanga’d at the hands of Toledo last week. And, spoiler alert- we’re not done with the Bulldogs quite yet.
Onto this week, and… hoo boy. There’s a LOT this week. Like, half the Big 12, for starters- that conference decided to kick off league play by dousing itself in gasoline and running down a mountain screaming while holding road flares. There is quite a few others too, and an extensive list of honorable mentions. But for all that, I think we have a clear favorite… at least a definitive top 2. We’ll see if I’m right.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Its not egregious enough to merit a nomination, but USC was unable to stop Michigan’s one-dimensional offense, and then threw well short of the sticks on a 4**th and 9 to end the game.
- No I’m not nominating Cal despite the memes. But oof that game was painful to watch.
- Arkansas vs Auburn was just depressing on all fronts.
- Virginia Tech committed one of the more hilarious safeties we’ve seen en route to losing to Rutgers.
- It was a great game between two evenly matched teams but that loss to WKU explodes the Rockets’ launching playoff hopes like a Space-X prototype.
- NC State had a first quarter from hell, going down 28-0 immediately to Clemson
- Northwestern had 117 yards and 5 points against Washington.
- We were all rooting for you Vandy and that missed field goal to lose in Double OT hurt America.
- What in the actual hell was that, Aggies?
- ECU took an early 17-0 lead but couldn’t hold it as the Flames got hot.
- Ole Miss gave up a touchdown.
NOTE: For ease of counting, please use carats to make your vote, like this: . And thank you for participating!
And now, the nominees for Week 4 are…
BAYLOR BEARS (lost to Colorado 38-31)
It seems like whenever I nominate a team for blowing the game on a Hail Mary, my entry is basically “all the had to do was knock it down”. I can’t even do that with Baylor, because their hail mary defense play (appropriately named Victory Cigar because it spectacularly blew up in their faces), somehow enabled LaJohntay Wester to get into one on one coverage and make a diving catch before anyone could come over to help. And then they fumbled the ball out of the end zone in overtime to seal the loss. But hey, at least they’re a big enough deal for Colorado fans to rush the field over!
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL PANTHERS (lost to Monmouth 45-42)
Obligatory FCS loss, but oh boy does this one hurt. First, Monmouth isn’t exactly what you’d consider an FCS powerhouse (they were 36 in the FCS SP+ rankings heading into the week). Second, FIU was driving for the win, but fumbled the ball at the goal line with just thirty seconds left to let the Hawks escape with the victory.
HOUSTON COUGARS (lost to Cincinnati 34-0)
Are… are you guys okay?
KANSAS JAYHAWKS (lost to West Virginia 32-28)
If there’s any consolation for the Jayhawks, at least their win might have instilled some PTSD flashbacks in the Mountaineers, because this is pretty much EXACTLY the same way WVU lost to Pitt last week- score late to take a two touchdown lead, give up a quick score, go three and out, and then give up the fatal touchdown with less than a minute left to seal the collapse. The Jayhawks have a closing problem- they’ve been outscored 24-0 in the last four minutes of their three losses so far.
KANSAS STATE WILDCATS (lost to BYU 38-9)
The Wildcats pack up their game, and head out West, where Real Housewives come equipped with screams and fake breasts (sorry, for some reason I just binged RHOSLC in between football overdoses over the past couple weeks). Anyways, they stifle the Cougars to a 6-0 lead just before the half, and then turn the ball over on three consecutive possessions, watching the script flip completely to a 24-6 debacle, and it only gets worse from there. And yes I know there’s a 321noles-esque wager involving a burrito about this, but let’s be honest- if he even tries it that things gonna fall apart quicker than the Cats did.
KENT STATE GOLDEN FLASHES (lost to Penn State 56-0)
Sorry, I can’t let this one go. I know, it’s the worst team in FBS against a playoff contender and no one expected much but… SIXTY SEVEN YARDS OF OFFENSE? Lets put this another way- Penn State had eleven drives in this game. Eight of them (all their scoring ones, incidentally), exceeded Kent State’s entire yard output for the entire game. I would love to know how many single plays have exceeded Kent State’s entire yard output for this game. I hate to pile on, but sheesh.
MEMPHIS TIGERS (lost to Navy 56-44)
“Lookee me, I’m a playoff contender!” screamed the Tigers after suffocating Florida State last week. And then they walked into Annapolis, which is where American Conference playoff contenders go to DIE (ask 2016 Houston), going down by 18 points in the third quarter, clawing back to a 5 point deficit, only to go down 49-30 in the fourth quarter. And then they clawed back again, was driving for the win, and had it all torn apart when Rayuan Lane III took a pick six 86 yards the other way to torpedo the Tigers’ playoff hopes.
MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS (lost to Florida 45-28)
There’s some games where I pretty much have the loser pencilled in as a nomination before it starts, and the DepresSEC game of the week was definitely one of them. The fact that it was pretty much a total domination by the Gators (despite only having 20 more yards of offense) seals it. Its going to be a long year in Starkville, but they’ll probably still do something incredibly stupid like beat a seemingly playoff bound Ole Miss on the last week of the season.
NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (lost to Illinois 31-24)
I almost hate to nominate them because this was for the most part a fantastic game between two clearly improved teams in front of Memorial Stadium’s 400th consecutive “sell out”. And yeah, that was a brutal missed field goal with three minutes to go that sent this to overtime. But it was overtime… oh god, the overtime. First they let the Illini shred them in two plays to take the lead, and then what quite possibly might be the worst possession in the history of overtime football, where Dylan Raiola consistently failed to pull the trigger, got sacked to the point where they were behind midfield, and then got sacked again on a 4th and 29 to seal the win. Just brutal.
NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (lost to James Madison 70-50)
Fun Fact: Despite a blocked punt being returned for the Dukes first TD, UNC actually led this game 14-11 about 11 minutes in. Then JMU hit a 69-yard TD pass, recovered an onside kick, scored again, and finished the half with four straight touchdowns, the last being a pick six just after UNC finally got a stop to seemingly prevent the Dukes from breaking 50 in the first half. Which, considering the 53-21 halftime score and five first half turnovers, 70-50 doesn’t seem so bad, now does it?
NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES (lost to Buffalo 23-20)
“Lookee me, I’m a playoff contender!” screamed the Huskies after their monumental win over Notre Dame two weeks ago, then had a week off to prepare as the two-touchdown underdog Bulls came to DeKalb. And it started off well with NIU holding an early 14-3 lead, but Buffalo came back, took the lead and the Huskies needed a last minute FG to even make it to overtime. And then they missed their FG in OT. Buffalo did not.
TCU HORNED FROGS (lost to SMU 66-42)
All you really need to know is that SMU had only 375 yards of offense this game- 105 less than TCU did. And hung 66 points and won by 24, thanks in large part to 5 TCU turnovers, including a pick six and scoop and score, along with a punt return. We thought the Frogs had unloaded into their foot against UCF last week, but apparently they still had a few left in the chamber.