End-of-season Bottom 10: Stacking up the best of the worst
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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
Inspirational thought of the week:
So this is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you, saying, “I’m sorry for that night”
And I go back to December all the time
It turns out freedom ain’t nothing but missing you
Wishing I’d realized what I had when you were mine
I’d go back to December, turn around and make it alright
I go back to December all the time
— Taylor Swift, “Back to December”
Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located behind the giant industrial fans used to cool the massive warehouse of computer servers that store Pete Thamel’s contact list, we come once again to Championship Weekend, which means it’s time for us at the Bottom 10 to make like the head coach of a college football team named the Owls and get the hell out of town.
But before we commenced with our annual Scotch-Irish exit out the side door that sets off the fire alarm, we assembled our Bottom 10 Selection Committee to help sort out the final rankings. When we shouted into the air “Bottom 10, assemble!” we were immediately joined by our usual list of longtime esteemed colleagues that includes me, my dad, Captain Morgan (aka my stepdad), former LSU coach Ed Orgeron, current Northwest Oklahoma defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville and Ed “Straight Arrow” Gennero, the man who joined forces with Sinbad and Supervisory Special Agent Dwayne Cassius Pride to save the Texas State Armadillos from the death penalty.
Bo Pelini served on the committee one year ago but never showed up this time around, so we replaced him with Mack Brown, who immediately tried to cast five votes for North Carolina. For the second consecutive season, we also invited Jimbo Fisher but were told that he was too busy racing Rich Rod and Anthony Becht in kayaks up the Monongahela River toward Morgantown.
As per usual, we were told by the posh Gaylord Texan, where the hoity-toity College Football Playoff people hang out, that there was no room at the inn. So we hotwired an RV from a nearby Buc-ee’s and parked it behind an abandoned Dickey’s BBQ adjacent to the Gaylord, so close that it allowed Coach O to irritate Mike Riley and Gary Pinkel by aiming a laser pointer at them through the conference room blinds.
One more sleep until the final #Bottom10 rankings of 2024. It’s crowded in here, but the Bottom 10 Selection Committee is used to cramped quarters…and potpourri spray. pic.twitter.com/0TD6NaTpVU
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) December 3, 2024
And once again we leaned on our Bottom 10 FPI formula. No, not the ESPN Football Power Index, but rather the Faux Pas Index.
Because everyone loves math, here’s how it works. Teams receive one point for each win, minus one point for each loss, minus one point for each loss of their longest losing streak of the year, plus a minus-10 bonus if that longest losing streak is currently active. We also subtract the number of points they have surrendered on the season from the number of points they scored, subtract or add points based on their season turnover margin and subtract their weakness of schedule (WoS) ranking. If a team fired its head coach, that earned a 50-point subtraction, aka the Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus.
Divide all of that by the number of games played, and there’s your Bottom 10 FPI score. See? Simple as pie. A Shaker lemon cherry rhubarb strawberry walnut pecan quiche with lattice crust and cranberry-pear cookie crumble topping.
So, with apologies to Tulsa lineman Ender Aguilar, former Toledo Rocket Alex Enders, former Wisconsin kicker Andrew Endicott and Steve Harvey, here are the season-ending Bottom 10 rankings for 2024.
Wins: +0
Losses: -12
Longest losing streak: -12 (current -10)
Point differential: -362 (167 for, 529 against)
Turnover margin: -9
WoS: -46
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: N/A
Total: -451
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -37.58
Nick Saban’s alma mater successfully defended its 2023 Bottom 10 title by finishing the season as the nation’s only 12-loss team. Saban also lost 12 games … over his last nine years at Alabama.
Wins: +1
Losses: -11
Longest losing streak: -19 (current -10)
Point differential: -202 (117 for, 319 against)
Turnover margin: -19
WoS: -110
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: -50
Total: -420
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -35
The Molden Eagles nearly swooped in for the Bottom 10 upset as Kent’s season finished early with some midweek #MACtion and Southern Miss played one more game, a 10th straight loss, the nation’s third-longest active losing streak. They did so by surrendering 21 points in less than two minutes to season-long Bottom 10 Wait Lister Troy Bolton State. The bad news is all of the above. The good news is that Brett Favre has already filed the paperwork to see if the season qualifies for disaster relief so he can use the funds to buy the team the gold-plated private plane used in the movie “Richie Rich.”
Wins: +3
Losses: -9
Longest losing streak: -4 (current -10)
Point differential: -210 (300 for, 510 against)
Turnover margin: -7
WoS: -133
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: -50
Total: -420
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -35
In other gold-covered natural disaster news, the Golden Hurricane didn’t just lose their last four games, they lost them by surrendering 59, 38, 63 and 63 points, including three games against EC-Yew, You A Bee? and FA(not I)U, all of whom spent large chunks of time in the Bottom 10 this season.
Wins: +1
Losses: -11
Longest losing streak: -11 (current -10)
Point differential: -290 (189 for, 479 against)
Turnover margin: -14
WoS: -6
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: -50
Total: -391
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -32.58
The Buttermakers churn into winter riding the nation’s second-longest losing streak, their only 2024 win coming in Week 1 against the Indiana State Sycamores. In their defense, they did play the nation’s sixth-toughest schedule, according to our ESPN Analytics Ouija board of truth. Also in their defense, Sycamores are tough to chop down, so they were pretty tired.
Ryan Day is 66-10 at Ohio State, but 1-4 against Michigan. On the flip side, Jim Harbaugh at Michigan was 0-5 against Ohio State before winning his last three. On the flip side of that, Harbaugh also had that guy named after a bunch of horses stealing signs for him. On the flip side of that, I’ve tried to watch that Netflix documentary about that guy like five times but keep turning it off because I can’t see that sign-stealing guy as the sort of sympathetic genius that he wants me to. On the flip side of that, Ohio State fans are having a hard time seeing Day as a sympathetic genius, either.
Wins: +2
Losses: -10
Longest losing streak: -6
Point differential: -176 (198 for, 374 against)
Turnover margin: -6
WoS: -132
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: -50
Total: -378
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -31.5
Who outlasted all Owl-based FBS programs this season? Kennesaw, that’s who. That’s who also beat out the Rice Owls, FA(not)U Owls and Temple of Doom Owls, all of who-m fired their head owls this season. But who fired their coach, who then showed up to hoot it with his former pigskin parliament the next weekend anyway? These Owls, that’s who.
Wins: +3
Losses: -9
Longest losing streak: -5
Point differential: -176 (259 for, 435 against)
Turnover margin: -13
WoS: -108
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: N/A
Total: -308
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -25.67
The Other Aggies had climbed out of the Bottom 10 like Bruce Wayne from that deep-hole prison in that movie where no one could understand what the bad guy was saying and appeared to be in the clear after outdueling fellow CUSA scrambler Muddled Tennessee State two weekends ago. But then they dropped the season’s final Pillow Fight of the Week, literally, with two fumbles that were returned for two UTEPid touchdowns. It was a finale fight almost as badly choreographed as that same movie’s finale fight between Batman and Bane.
Wins: +2
Losses: -10
Longest losing streak: -4 (current -10)
Point differential: -156 (270 for, 426 against)
Turnover margin: -1
WoS: -74
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: -50
Total: -303
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -25.25
The Minuet-men employed the same battle tactics they employed at Bunker Hill, waiting until they saw the whites of their enemies’ eyes. Unfortunately, in football that means you’ve already been run over.
Wins: +2
Losses: -10
Longest losing streak: -6
Point differential: -151 (185 for, 336 against)
Turnover margin: -16
WoS: -11
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: N/A
Total: -192
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -16
The Semi-No’s spent their entire offseason in court desperately trying to prove they had no business playing football in the ACC. Then they spent the entire season proving beyond a shadow of doubt that, no, they certainly didn’t.
Wins: +3
Losses: -9
Longest losing streak: -9 (current -10)
Point differential: -101 (326 for, 427 against)
Turnover margin: -8
WoS: -35
Randy Edsall Fired Coach Bonus: N/A
Total: -169
Games played: 12
Final Bottom 10 Faux Pas Index: -14.08
Back in July, the Fightin’ Gundys were picked by many to be spending this weekend playing in the Big 12 championship game. Instead, they went 0-9 in the conference and ended the season with the nation’s fourth-longest losing streak. It’s enough to make someone declare that they are a man and they are 40, even after a season like this one, when they looked 90.
Waiting list: Miss Sus Hippie State, FI(not A)U, FA(not I)U, Temple of Doom, Baller State, Georgia State Not Southern, Why OMG?, UTEPid, Muddled Tennessee State, treating flag planting like a TikTok trend.
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Chris Low
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Coach Josh Heupel is adding former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Seth Littrell to his staff at Tennessee in what is expected to be an analyst’s role, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.
Heupel and Littrell were captains on the Sooners’ 2000 national championship team.
Littrell spent parts of the past two seasons on Oklahoma’s staff. On Oct. 20, he was fired as offensive coordinator after the Sooners lost three of their first four SEC games and were ranked 128th nationally in total offense. They were plagued by inconsistency at quarterback and a rash of injuries at receiver.
Littrell, 46, was the head coach at North Texas from 2016 to 2022. He was 44-44 overall and led the Mean Green to six bowl bids and two Conference USA championship game appearances but was fired after the 2022 season when North Texas finished 7-6. He spent the 2023 season as an analyst at Oklahoma before he was promoted to co-offensive coordinator before the 2024 season when Jeff Lebby left for the Mississippi State head coaching job.
Heupel was the quarterback and Littrell the fullback for the Sooners in 2000, and both ended up being fired as offensive coordinators at their alma mater. Bob Stoops fired Heupel after the 2014 season.
The Vols beat the Sooners last season in Norman on their way to their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. They play again this season Nov. 1 in Knoxville.
Volquest first reported Littrell was joining Tennessee’s staff.
DALLAS — Leaders of the College Football Playoff are asking for more information before they decide whether to change the way teams are seeded in the 12-team playoff this fall, CFP executive director Rich Clark said Tuesday following a day of meetings at the DFW Grand Hyatt.
The 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua — an 11-person group called the CFP management committee — are considering a “straight seeding” format this year, which would reward the selection committee’s top four teams with a first-round bye instead of the four highest-ranked conference champions as was the case this past season.
“We laid the groundwork,” Clark said, following a roughly seven-hour meeting. “There’s still some things the [management] committee wants from us, some research we need to do for them on their behalf so they can make good, informed decisions. They do want to make not just data-informed, but informed — they don’t want to go into this on a whim. They want to make these decisions really strong.”
The management committee has to unanimously agree to any format changes in 2025. Last week, at a meeting in New Orleans involving the SEC and Big Ten conferences, both SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said they would vote in favor of a straight seeding model. In that format, No. 3 seed and Mountain West Conference champion Boise State and No. 4 seed and Big 12 champion Arizona State would not have earned first-round byes because they weren’t ranked in the committee’s top four.
This was the first time, though, that the full management committee discussed it in person. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said “it’s too early” to determine if he would vote in favor of changing the seeding.
“We had a really good discussion,” Yormark said. “The CFP is going to run some models and then come back to us next month. Good, heartfelt conversations — everyone gave their point of view — we’ll vet it out and see what happens.”
There’s a $4 million payout that comes with advancing to a quarterfinal — that’s in addition to $4 million for reaching the playoff for a total of $8 million earned by a team’s respective conference.
“That’ll certainly be a part of the decision,” Clark said, “because whatever changes happen — if changes happen — that would be a part of it. I don’t know how to quantify how much of it is about that, but whatever we use, there’s going to be a financial model that goes with it.”
After the meeting, both Sankey and Petitti left without speaking to reporters, and multiple commissioners declined to comment and were scrambling to catch flights. American Athletic Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti said the group looked at a model as to how the CFP would have played out this past season with straight seeding.
“And then everybody had questions and asked for more information,” Pernetti said, “so the CFP is going to come back to us with some analysis, a couple things that were asked for, but I can’t get specific beyond that.”
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said any decisions for 2025 have to be made with the new six-year contract, which begins in 2026, in mind.
“You’ve got to look at it in totality,” Phillips said. “It’s one contract coming to an end and a new six-year cycle, but those things have some linkage to them as well.”
Though the possibility of automatic qualifiers has generated conversations both publicly and privately, Clark said the idea was discussed, but not at length, and the Big Ten and SEC did not present any specific model for consideration. Phillips said the CFP was still considering multiple options for 2026 and beyond, including fields of 12, 14 and 16 teams.
“All of it is open for us,” Phillips said. “What you do is you believe in your coaches, you believe in your program, and you want the best format that you possibly can for college football. We all have our own constituents, but that can’t be the only thing that drives what you do with the CFP now and in the future. It’s really important to get this thing right. Access is why we expanded from four to 12, and if we go to 14 or 16 or stay at 12 — and I would just say that — none of those models were taken off. … We just haven’t dug in exactly on which of those we prefer.”
The CFP’s management committee will meet again in March, but it could be a virtual conference because of the hectic scheduling nature of basketball season. Clark said that any decisions about the seeding for this fall could happen next month or at the annual CFP spring meeting in April.
“It’s important we make these decisions for ’25 now,” he said, “because they’re going to impact what happens in ’26 and beyond.”
NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers owe $1.051 billion in deferred pay to eight players from 2028 to ’46 following Tanner Scott‘s $72 million, four-year contract and Teoscar Hernandez‘s $66 million, three-year deal.
Los Angeles’ high payment point is $100.95 million in both 2038 and ’39, according to details obtained by The Associated Press.
Major League Baseball proposed during collective bargaining on June 21, 2021, to put an end to the practice, but the players’ association rejected the change.
“The Dodgers have gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist, to put the best possible team on the field and that’s a great thing for the game. That type of competitive spirit is what people want to see,” commissioner Rob Manfred said last week.
“By the same token,” he added, “it’s clear that we have fans in some markets that are concerned about the ability of the team in their market to compete with the financial resources of the Dodgers. And I think if we’ve been consistent on one point it is we try to listen to our fans on topics like this and I have heard people on this, believe me, I get a lot of emails about it.”
Scott’s contract includes $21 million in deferred money and Hernández’s $23.5 million.
Hernández is owed a total of $32 million in deferred pay from the team. He already was due $8.5 million as part of his $23.5 million, one-year deal for 2024, to be paid in 10 equal installments each July 1 from 2030 to ’39.
Los Angeles also owes deferred payments to two-way star Shohei Ohtani ($680 million from 2034 to ’43), outfielder/infielder Mookie Betts ($115 million in salaries from 2033 to ’44 and the final $5 million of his signing bonus payable from 2033 to ’35), left-hander Blake Snell ($66 million from 2035 to ’46), first baseman Freddie Freeman ($57 million from 2028 to ’40), catcher Will Smith ($50 million from 2034 to ’43) and utilityman Tommy Edman ($25 million from 2037 to ’44).
“It’s just how you account for it,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said when Snell was introduced. “We’re not going to wake up in 2035 and [say]: ‘Oh my god, that’s right. We have this money due.’ We’ll plan for it along the way.”
The Dodgers’ deferred obligations total $4 million each in 2028 and ’29, $7.2 million annually from 2030 to ’32, $17.2 million in 2033, $90.2 million in 2034, $98.95 million a year from 2035 to ’37, $100.95 million in 2038 and ’39, $98.75 million in 2040, $93.75 million annually from 2041 to ’43, $20.75 million in 2044 and $7.25 million a year in 2045 and ’46.
Los Angeles must fund the deferred money in an amount equal to its present-day value by the second July 1 following the season in which it is earned, according to MLB’s CBA.
Hernández received a $23 million signing bonus payable Feb. 1 as part of the deal announced by the World Series champions on Jan. 3.
His agreement includes salaries of $10 million this year, $12 million in 2026 and $14.5 million in 2027. The Dodgers will defer $7.5 million from this year and $8 million in each in 2026 and ’27, and that $23.5 million will be paid in 10 equal installments each Dec. 1 from 2030 to ’39.
Scott’s deferred money is due in a dozen $1.75 million payments each Dec. 1 from 2035 to ’46.
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