Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, center, looks on during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Louisville in Louisville, Ky., Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

As disappointing as Penn State’s season turned out to be, it’s worth remembering that in college football, like in life, there is always someone who has it worse.

Entering the final week of the regular season, eight teams are still searching for their first conference win, and 13 teams are riding losing streaks of between five and 11 games.

Throughout the FBS, numerous head coaches have been fired, bowl tours have been scuttled and expectations of College Football Playoff grandeur have been exposed as mere delusions.

For dynasties and programs with legacies of sustained success, planned obsolescence does not qualify as an excuse for deterioration.

Clemson is Exhibit A.

Four appearances in the CFP national championship game in five years between 2015 and 2019 and two titles have not shielded head coach Dabo Swinney from slings and arrows during a 6-5 season.

At Oklahoma State, Mike Gundy led the Cowboys to 18 consecutive bowl games in 20 full seasons as head coach and won 10 or more games in a season eight times.

All it took to send the Gundy Era crumbling was a 3-9 campaign in 2024 and a 1-2 start this season.

During the Joe Paterno era, Penn State produced a 20-season run from 1967 to 1986 that featured 18 bowl games, including four Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls each, two national championships, and 10 AP Top-5 finishes.

Only three Top-5 final rankings followed over the next 25 seasons, as periodic unrest pervaded Nittany Nation.

Like Darrell Royal at Texas and Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame, Paterno had spoiled the base.

Ryan Day and Kirby Smart, take note.

University of Michigan music student Louis Elbel was keen to the sensibilities of Big Blue fans when he wrote the university’s fight song in November 1898.

The Victors celebrates Michigan’s first Western Conference football championship and the glory and fame associated with it.

For teams that will be left at home to channel surf for bowl games this holiday season, the goal for 2026 is not necessarily to be the nation’s best.

Just being better off than most will be a big step in the right direction.

On to the show

In one full swoop, Yale completed an unprecedented trifecta.

With a 45-28 win over Harvard, Yale (8-2, 6-1 Ivy) subdued its rival for the fourth consecutive year, secured a share of the Ivy League title and locked up the league’s first-ever automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs.

The Bulldogs led Harvard 10-0 after the first quarter, 31-14 at halftime and 38-20 after three quarters.

Harvard (9-1, 6-1) was seeking to complete its first undefeated season since 2014 (10-0).

Playoffs? You kiddin’ me?

Well, maybe Jim Mora Jr.’s Connecticut team won’t be going to the CFP, but the 9-3 Huskies surely will be invited to a decent bowl game.

After a 1-2 start, independent UConn has won eight of nine, including victories over Power 4 opponents Boston College and Duke.

UConn’s ninth win last season came at the expense of North Carolina in the Fenway Bowl.

The back-to-back nine-win seasons under Mora are a program-first for the Huskies.

Before accepting the UConn job in 2022, Mora was head coach at UCLA for six seasons. Might his star once again be on the rise in a power conference?

Enchanting campaign

New Mexico (8-3), one of the hidden gems in the West, defeated Air Force, 20-3, for its fifth straight Mountain West Conference victory, the program’s longest in-season conference winning streak since 2004.

The three points scored by Air Force were the fewest allowed by New Mexico in a Mountain West game since 2001.

Positioned in a three-way tie for second place in the conference standings, the Lobos limited Air Force to 110 yards rushing and 161 total yards, both lows in a 42-game series that dates to 1957.

Entering the regular season finale, Jason Eck has already matched the New Mexico program record for wins by a first-year head coach, which has stood since 1934.

Scented dreams

For Washington, last Saturday’s contest against UCLA at the Rose Bowl wasn’t the granddaddy of them all, but the venue itself was a source of motivation.

When the Huskies entered their hotel rooms the night before the game, they found a red rose with a purple ribbon on their pillow.

“We made the game big,” said head coach Jedd Fisch. “We let them know we’re going to the Rose Bowl. We’re going to go win this thing. These guys didn’t think it was too big for them.”

Flush with inspiration, the Huskies (8-3, 5-3 Big Ten) defeated UCLA, 48-14, improving the program’s record at the Rose Bowl to 2-9 over the last 30 years.

Notables

– Since the Ohio football program dedicated its home field to former head coach Frank Solich on August 18, 2022, the Bobcats are 23-1 at home. The loss was to Miami (OH) in 2023.

– SMU is 14-1 in November games during head coach Rhett Lashlee’s four seasons in Dallas.

– North Dakota State (12-0) and Lehigh (12-0) are the only remaining undefeated teams in the FCS.

– Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma are the only schools to win at least six games every year since 1999. Clemson has won three straight after a 3-5 start.

– Among teams that have been in the FBS every season since 2000, Boise State and Oklahoma have the fewest losses at home (16) over the last 26 seasons.

– In the loss to Pitt, Georgia Tech also lost its distinction as the only FBS team to run and pass for 140-plus yards in every game this season. The Yellow Jackets passed for 257 yards against the Panthers but only ran for 121.

– Kutztown (PA) defeated Bentley, 52-0, in the first round of the NCAA Division II Championship. Next up is Assumption, which upset IUP, 23-20.

Quotables

“I have never taken a hit like that in my life…and I haven’t taken a hit like that on the sidelines ever. When I played, I was way too smart to ever get involved in anything like that. I got smoked pretty good. It was not good. It didn’t feel good.”

— Miami (OH) head coach and former college free safety Chuck Martin describing a sideline collision with Buffalo cornerback Solomon Brown

in the second quarter

“Really couldn’t have gone much worse than that. All three segments, definitely offense and defense, stuck it up.”

— Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm after his team’s defense allowed 485 yards and the offense was shut out in the second half of a 38-6 loss to SMU

— “I think we might be like the 75th-best team in the country. I don’t think we’re bottom-25. But I don’t think we’re Top-25, either. We have some work to do.”

— Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall assessing a 37-13 win over Temple, one week after stating that the Green Wave (9-2) were a “bottom-25 team”

“It’s extremely frustrating and painful. We are all in this together–coaches and players. I think they were ready to play in terms of energy and excitement. Unfortunately, want-to doesn’t equal good football.”

— Cal head coach Justin Wilcox after the Golden Bears (6-5 overall) lost three fumbles (two returned for touchdowns) and committed 13 penalties

in a 31-10 loss to 4-7 Stanford in the Big Game. He was fired a day later.

Jim Caltagirone, a former member of Penn State’s sports information department, comments on the national scene for Gameday. He can be reached at jimclion4ever@gmail.com