ESPN Trolls Jayden Daniels While Revealing College Football's Bottom 10 Teams

National championship contenders are always the focal point of preseason college football conversations.

Pundits spend the entire offseason projecting which teams will make the College Football Playoff field. Eventually, outlets begin to unveil their official preseason polls, which focus on the 25 best teams ahead of each college football season.

But what about the bottom feeders of FBS? Trapped in a vicious cycle of losing enough to fire their coaches but winning enough to lose their star players, these teams generally only receive attention from the most diehard of college football fans.

Many of these teams schedule their games on weekdays to boost their visibility, days when most avid college football fans are away from the television. Additionally, they must schedule non-conference games against Power Four opponents in order to increase their program's revenue.

Ryan McGee of ESPN ranked the 10 worst teams in FBS on Wednesday. Middle Tennessee, ULM, Sacramento State, Charlotte and Sam Houston were among the programs unfortunate enough to make McGee's list.

However, something was missing from McGee's ranking: a tenth team. McGee purposely didn't place a team in the fifth spot so he wouldn't be accused of stealing the No. 5 from Jayden Daniels.

"No sooner than I could write Jayden Daniels and Coveted Fifth Spot in the same sentence, I had already received a cease-and-desist letter from his lawyer and an angry lunchbox note from his mom," McGee wrote.

Daniels' attorney sent a cease and desist letter to LSU

One week ago, reports surfaced that Daniels' legal team had filed a letter to LSU to prevent cornerback DJ Pickett from wearing the No. 5 in 2026. This letter is the origin of the viral jokes surrounding Daniels' camp's apparent sensitivity over his number.

Despite the fact that no player has worn No. 5 since 2023, the jersey is not retired from LSU and was promised to Pickett in order to get him on campus.

No. 5 is not the only complaint Daniels' legal team has with LSU. His lawyer also requested that the university return its copy of Daniels' Heisman Trophy to Daniels, even though he has his own copy of the accolade.

Should Daniels' jersey be retired at LSU?

Jayden Daniels in LSU's 2023 game at Ole Miss. — Sep 30, 2023; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; LSU Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Daniels' 2023 season was one of the greatest by a quarterback in LSU program history. He finished the year with 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns and just four interceptions in the air while adding 1,143 more yards and 10 more touchdowns on the ground.

However, LSU never reached the same heights with Daniels that it did with its previous two Heisman Trophy winners. The Tigers were a combined 20-6 with Daniels as their starting quarterback, and they were plagued by bad defenses in both 2022 and 2023.

The transfer portal has also created a complicated feeling around jersey retirement in college football. Daniels transferred to LSU from Arizona State in the 2022 offseason, and he spent three of his five college football seasons with the Sun Devils.

Programs that have recently hit historic highs may retire the numbers of transfers due to their contributions, but the complication of legacies with the unmitigated transferring may also turn jersey retirement into a fad of the past.

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