College Football HQ

Seven angriest fan bases after Week 3 of college football

Ryan Young|
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney on the sideline against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney on the sideline against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

In this story:

Clemson TigersUCLA BruinsVirginia Tech HokiesTennessee VolunteersKansas State WildcatsNotre Dame Fighting IrishFlorida Gators

Just three full weeks into the college football schedule, and a bunch of fan bases are having to come to grips with the reality that this isn't going to be the season they expected for their teams.

And that isn't going over particularly well in some places.

The only challenge in assembling this week's list of the angriest fan bases in college football was keeping it to our traditional seven, as there is plenty of discontent to go around ...

1. Clemson Tigers

Clemson was ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP poll with expectations of its talent-rich offense leading back to the College Football Playoff.

When the new polls come out, the Tigers could be unranked after a 1-2 start, with their only win coming against Troy in a game they trailed 16-0. On Saturday, Clemson again started slow by allowing the first 13 points on the road at Georgia Tech on the way to an eventual 24-21 loss on a 55-yard field goal by the Yellow Jackets' Aidan Birr as time expired.

Clemson's CFP hopes may quickly be expiring too at this rate.

2. UCLA Bruins

DeShaun Foster is barely into the second year of a five-year contract, and yet his Bruins tenure already seems beyond repair at this point.

UCLA lost 35-10 at home to New Mexico on Friday night, giving up 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to drop to 0-3. That's back-to-back losses to Group of Five foes after falling at UNLV last week.

What's worse -- of yeah, it gets worse -- is that the Bruins were a punchline on social media as photos of a mostly empty Rose Bowl made the rounds, showing how bleak the situation looks for Foster and UCLA.

3. Virginia Tech

It's only a matter of when at this point ...

It sure felt like Brent Pry's tenure as Virginia Tech head coach essentially ended Saturday as the Hokies gave up the first 31 points to Old Dominion on the way to a 45-26 loss.

Virginia Tech's best season under Pry was a 7-6 finish two years ago, so it's not as if he ever really got things going in Blacksburg, but now, off to a dismal 0-3 start, it sure feels like the Hokies have bottomed out.

4. Florida Gators

This is more residual frustration at this point as Florida kept things competitive on the road at No. 3 LSU in a 20-10 loss.

But again Gators fans are left wondering what could have been for their team.

A week after the stunning upset loss to South Florida, the Gators were tied 10-10 late in the first half with the Tigers, but they wouldn't score again as quarterback DJ Lagway finished with five interceptions.

Florida fans came into 2025 with tenuous optimism for embattled head coach Billy Napier in his fourth year, but at 1-2 with a gauntlet of a schedule just beginning and no evidence that Napier can maximize the talent on his roster, the outlook has taken a sharp turn in just a few weeks for a team that was ranked as high as No. 13.

5. Kansas State

Kansas State was picked second in the Big 12's preseason poll, narrowly behind preseason favorite Utah. The Wildcats are instead at the bottom of the conference standings along with Colorado (which could also be on this list).

A 23-17 loss at Arizona on Friday night dropped the Wildcats to 1-3, with the lone win being a 38-35 squeaker over FCS foe North Dakota (not even North Dakota State).

Quarterback Avery Johnson looked overwhelmed and overmatched while completing 13 of 29 passes for just 88 yards in this latest loss, and while Kansas State has been one of the Big 12's most consistent programs under coach Chris Klieman, it's already looking like a lost season for the Wildcats.

6. Tennessee Vols

This is a much different kind of frustration, but yeah, Tennessee fans are battling a major case of what-if after blowing a chance to finally beat Georgia on Saturday.

As they positioned for a potential game-winning 43-yard field goal in the final seconds of regulation, the No.15-ranked Vols were in prime position to upend No. 6 Georgia and send Knoxville into an absolute frenzy while surely vaulting way up into the top 10 of the rankings.

And then ...

Georgia would go on to win 44-41 in overtime for its ninth straight win over Tennessee.

The Vols are still very much in the CFP hunt, of course, and all of their goals remain on the table, but this is one that got away, and time will tell how much that hangs over this season.

7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame poses a complicated challenge to the voters this week.

The Fighting Irish were No. 8 in the last AP poll, but they're now 0-2 and were already the only winless team in the rankings before losing a 41-40 thriller to No. 16 Texas A&M on Saturday night. Yet, both losses came down to the wire against ranked opponents (Miami in Week 1).

The frustration for Irish fans is that this team was the one that always found a way in the end last season on the way to the national championship game, so the narrative is already much different, even if it has been plenty competitive against top competition.

Texas A&M used a 13-play, 74-yard drive to score the game-winning touchdown in the final minutes Saturday -- including a costly holding penalty against Notre Dame on third-and-16 -- with the decisive touchdown pass from Marcel Reed coming on fourth down from the 11 with 13 seconds left.

Notre Dame's once reliable defense has faltered now in both losses, which has Irish fans uneasy as the team's margin for error the rest of the way tightens.

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Ryan Young
RYAN YOUNG

Ryan Young joins CFB HQ On SI after 15 years as a college football beat writer, including the last seven years in Los Angeles covering the USC Trojans for Rivals. He previously covered Florida and Coastal Carolina after four years at the Kansas City Star. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland.

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