This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Pollaski on 2023-12-11 17:29:57.

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 (By week)

  1. Baylor Bears (lost to Texas State 42-31)
  2. Nevada Wolf Pack (lost to Idaho 33-6)
  3. Oklahoma State Cowboys (lost to South Alabama 33-7)
  4. Minnesota Golden Gophers (lost to Northwestern 37-34)
  5. UCF Knights (lost to Baylor 36-35)
  6. Miami-FL Hurricanes (lost to Georgia Tech 23-20)
  7. Boise State Broncos (lost to Colorado State 31-30)
  8. North Carolina Tar Heels (lost to Virginia 31-27)
  9. North Carolina Tar Heels (lost to Georgia Tech 46-42)/ Sam Houston Bearkats (lost to UTEP 37-34)
  10. Air Force Falcons (lost to Army 23-3)
  11. Oklahoma State Cowboys (lost to UCF 45-3)
  12. Auburn Tigers (lost to New Mexico State 31-10)
  13. Auburn Tigers (lost to Alabama 27-24)
  14. The College Football Playoff Committee (lost everyone’s respect) / Oregon Ducks (lost to Washington 34-31)

LAST WEEK: I knew what you guys were going to do. I tried to stop it. It didn’t work. Despite me saying “they already win”, the vote was STILL overwhelmingly for the playoff committee. I guess that’s the hazard of posting this less than 24 hours after perhaps the single most infuriating thing that’s ever happened in college football. Everyone was mad. Hell, I think everyone’s still mad.

Anyways, for the actual on field stuff, Oregon edged Georgia by a couple of votes, so congrats to them. Don’t worry Ducks, you’re still undefeated against the eye test.

As for this week, its Tank Job of the Year time! This is a season long award, so this isn’t for the biggest screw ups like Miami. This isn’t even necessarily for the multi-time winners like UNC or Oklahoma State, since they both ended up having decent seasons despite their pratfalls. Nope, this is for the teams that managed to put their seasons into a dumpster fire, then pour gasoline on them. That Mr. Incredible full-color/black and white meme playing out over the course of fourteen glorious weeks.

NOTE: For Ease of Counting, please use carats in your vote, like this: . Thank you, thanks for participating, and we’ll see you all January 2 for TANK JOB OF THE BOWLS!

And now, the nominees for TANK JOB OF THE YEAR ARE:

AIR FORCE FALCONS (8-4)

I’m not sure I’ve ever nominated an 8-4 team for TJOTY before, and certainly not a Group of Five one. It might be disappointing, but its still a respectable record. But here we are, because the Falcons sat 8-0, ranked in the low teens, and sitting with almost certainty to become the Mountain West’s first Group of Five representative since 2014. And then they got destroyed 21-3 by a lackluster Army team. And then 27-13 to a lackluster Hawai’i team. And then they were finished off with back to back losses to UNLV and Boise State to take them from the spotlight to not even making the Mountain West championship.

BAYLOR BEARS (3-9)

The Bears escaped nomination last year despite turning a Top 10 start into a dismal 6-7 finish. They don’t escape it this time as things went from bad to worse, starting with a TJOTW-winning meltdown against Texas State. Things did look promising when they played Utah close and even pulled off a miracle comeback to beat UCF, but smackings by Iowa State, Texas Tech, Kansas State and TCU, plus a overtime heartbreaker against Houston confined the Bears to oblivion.

CINCINNATI BEARCATS (3-9)

The Bearcats brought in Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield to replace departing coach Luke Fickell, and showed promise early on including a big win over (what turned out to be an equally dismal) Pitt team. But then everything went wrong and the Bearcats could only muster up a single conference win over Houston, finishing dead last in their new Big 12 conference.

COLORADO BUFFALOES (4-8)

Without any other context, Colorado should not be on here. They had a three-win improvement over last year, and even though they were still 1-8 in conference play, they were much more competitive than the complete doormat they were last year. Of course, there’s additional context- the unwarranted hype machine that the Buffs cultivated and displayed during the first half of the season, even after reality-check losses to Oregon and USC. And then came the Stanford game, where the Buffs blew a 29-0 lead and lost in overtime. Colorado didn’t win a single game after that, finishing the season on a six game losing streak and alone at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings. Their own ego and arrogance pushed them higher than they actually were, and so the fall was even further when reality hit.

PITTSBURGH PANTHERS (3-9)

It was a tough schedule, but it was also a total bottom out for a team that had spent much of the last few years in the upper midcard of the ACC. The Panthers couldn’t even beat fellow ACC strugglers Wake Forest and Syracuse. They did, however, beat Louisivlle. So at least they have that going for them.

TCU HORNED FROGS (5-7)

I mean, sure, they were riding on Hypnotoad Magic last year and lost much of their production that made them the National Runners Up and any hype they had was completely destroyed in that Week 1 loss to Colorado, but this is still a team that started off in the Top 20 and failed to make a bowl.

USC TROJANS (7-5)

After missing the playoff and the Pac-12 Championship by a painted fingernail last year, the Trojans returned Heisman winner Caleb Williams in a bid to finish the job they came close to doing. Unfortunately, an even more suspect defense also returned, and it knocked USC from a top ten team to a team barely above .500 in conference play. In fairness, none of the teams that they lost to were bad- but that’s also just it- they failed to win ANY of their big games.

WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (5-7)

What the hell happened here? The Cougs started hot- including a win at Wisconsin and becoming triumphant in an epic showdown against fellow Pac-12 Left Behind Oregon State to make it to 4-0. But SOMETHING happened in that bye week, because the Cougs just weren’t the same, losing their next six in a row. They did rally to beat Colorado and played undefeated Washington close, but it was just too little too late for their bowl hopes.