11. Rutgers
Football: 2-10 overall, 0-9 in conference, 7th in Big Ten East
Basketball: 20-11 overall, 11-9 in conference, T5th in Big Ten
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? Rutgers boasted the worst Power Five team in college football with just two wins beating UMass and Liberty. How bad were things? It scored seven points or fewer seven times.
The basketball team, though, made up for the football side a wee bit by winning 20 games and being almost certain to go off to the NCAA Tournament. There was a rocky run over the second half of the year, but beating Maryland and Illinois cemented what would’ve been a bid.
10. Maryland
Football: 3-9 overall, 1-8 in conference, 6th in Big Ten East
Basketball: 24-7 overall, 14-6 in conference, T1st in Big Ten
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? Everything looked so promising for the football team with 142 points in the first two games in a 3-2 start, and then the wheels came flying off with seven straight losses to close out the year.
The basketball team lost three games late in the year, but it still ended up tying for the regular season title and looked poised to go on a massive run in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
9. Minnesota
Football: 11-2 overall, 7-2 in conference, T1st in Big Ten West
Basketball: 15-16 overall, 8-12 in conference, 12th in Big Ten
How Were The Football/Basketball Seasons? The basketball team was just good enough to be interesting, but it got whacked in tough loss after tough loss. The last three wins of the season – going 3-6 in the run – came against a bad Northwestern team twice and a worse Nebraska squad.
The football team came up with the program’s best season since the early 1960s, coming within a game against Wisconsin of playing for the Big Ten title and a shot at the College Football Playoff. Even with the loss to the Badgers, whacking Auburn in the Outback Bowl was special.