The future of Texas A&M football looked brighter than ever in December of 2012 as Johnny Manziel cradled the Heisman Trophy in Manhattan before the Aggies capped an 11-2 season with a Cotton Bowl victory over Oklahoma. A&M was fresh off a wildly successful debut campaign for coach Kevin Sumlin and had sent a warning shot to the SEC during its first year in the league by winning at No. 1 Alabama.
Backed by big boosters, with a massive stadium renovation project on deck and a home in college football’s top conference, the Aggies looked poise to claim a spot in college football’s ruling class. In retrospect, however, that 2012 season is the 21st century high-water mark for a program that is always at least somewhat relevant but never dominant.
A&M’s efforts to spend its way to the top have failed, leading to a program reset under Mike Elko for the 2024 season that Aggies fans hope will begin paying dividends in 2025. The Aggies have languished behind their expectations, but they aren’t alone on college football’s misery meter.
Not far behind is a Nebraska program that fancied itself above winning 9 or 10 games on a regular basis under Bo Peeling from 2008-14. In the decade after his firing, the Cornhuskers won nine games just once and only last season snapped a streak of seven consecutive seasons without a bowl appearance.
Though the definition of “overrated” is inexact, we’ve set out to quantify which college football programs have underperformed the most over the past decade. Through coaching salaries, recruiting rankings, program investment, historical success and fan followings, it’s easy to identify the programs most serious about winning.
But the payoff — or lack thereof — is always found in quantifiable results on the field,…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/no-youre-overrated-a-study-of-college-footballs-10-most-overhyped-teams-over-the-last-decade/
Author : David Cobb
Publish date : 2025-08-21 12:48:00
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