Dan Wolken | USA TODAY

Whenever a horrible, unthinkable loss happens, fans will often react by calling it the worst in school history, even though it’s rarely ever true. But every now and then, it's not hyperbole. Sometimes, the stars align and rock bottom really is rock bottom.

Miami fans, many of whom have celebrated five national titles over the decades, can now say they've also lived to see the absolute, unquestioned worst loss ever suffered by the former national power. Once feared, the Hurricanes are now mocked almost annually, but never more than during Saturday’s 30-24 loss to FIU.

In a game that was billed as a return to the site of the old Orange Bowl where the Hurricanes dominated for so many years — it’s now a baseball stadium known for its tacky decor — Miami did the unthinkable and lost to a program on the other side of town and, in college football terms, from the other side of the tracks.

Even though we all knew Miami is a mediocre team having a mediocre year, losing to FIU seemed like a bridge too far. You’re talking about a school with a $36 million athletics budget and a football program that played its first-ever game in 2002, the same year Miami won its last national championship. You’re talking about a program that has never won more than nine games in a season and never beaten a brand-name football school outside of Louisville in 2011.

Steve Mitchell, USA TODAY Sports

And yet, this really didn't look like a fluke. It looked like a bumbling Miami team that committed three turnovers, was shut out for the first 43 minutes and didn’t have athletes superior enough to impose their will in the second half.

“One of the darkest nights in this program’s history,” coach Manny Diaz told reporters. “That's on me.”

Making matters worse for Diaz is that he lost to former Hurricanes coach Butch Davis, whom many Miami fans have wanted to bring back but has been deemed either too old (he’s 68) or too tainted by NCAA scandal from his time at North Carolina to come back to Coral Gables. That ship has likely sailed now, but something to note: When Miami has had more than a week to prepare for a game this season, it has fallen behind 10-0 to North Carolina, 28-0 to Virginia Tech and 16-0 to FIU. Though quality of coaching can often be difficult to measure, that’s a pretty powerful set of data points for fans who are calling for the school to dump Diaz after one season.

While that’s unlikely to happen for a variety of reasons, the sheer force of anger about the state of the program is going to be at an all-time high as this season comes to a close. That’s why Miami is No. 1 in this week’s Misery Index, a weekly measurement of knee-jerk reactions based on what each fan base just watched

FOUR MORE IN MISERY

Oregon: If there’s any fan base that understands the pain of not grabbing the chance to do something special when it’s right there in front of you, it’s Oregon. Earlier this decade, the Ducks were twice on the precipice of reaching the holy grail and couldn’t close the deal either time. Though Saturday’s 31-28 meltdown in the desert against Arizona State doesn’t have the gravity of two national championship game losses, it’s a moment that could resonate for years because of the opportunity that was wasted. All Oregon needed to do was beat a couple middling Pac-12 teams to get to the conference championship game at 11-1. Furthermore, it’s pretty clear from the College Football Playoff selection committee ranking Oregon at No. 6 last week that the Ducks were probably going to to get in had they been able to beat Utah for the Pac-12 title. Instead, the Ducks' defense — which had been quite good most of this year — got completely shredded by freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels (22-of-32 for 408 passing yards). And to make matters worse, Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert threw a couple awful interceptions in the second half. Though Oregon may certainly make the Playoff at some point in the future, it’s hard to believe it will enter late November with this clear of a path and this manageable of a schedule again any time soon.

Texas: An article this week in the Austin American-Statesman essentially put to bed any notion that the Longhorns would seek to fire Tom Herman after this season, pointing to the contract extension he signed after last season's Sugar Bowl win and a buyout of more than $20 million that Texas isn’t in the mood to pay. But when you’re a school as rich as Texas and the only real reason you’re bringing a coach back is the buyout, that’s a very difficult sell to a fan base that likes Herman less the more it sees of him. And it shouldn’t like what it sees after Saturday’s 24-10 loss to Baylor in a game where Texas got manhandled by a team that is much better coached and lost its composure with three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the fourth quarter. For Herman to overcome the unmitigated disaster that is this Texas season, he needs to make the Playoff next year. It’s hard to see how anything short of that will make things right after the Longhorns started this season at No. 10 and will probably end up playing in the Cheez-It Bowl as a 6-6 or 7-5 team that would rather have a Christmas vacation.

N.C. State: There has long been a school of thought that if any ACC program in North Carolina had the potential to harness the state’s strong base of high school talent, it’s the Wolfpack. Why? Unlike Duke and North Carolina, where basketball is the clear priority, the dynamic at N.C. State is more egalitarian. The passion for football isn’t manufactured. When N.C. State is good and Carter-Finley Stadium is full, it’s one of the sneaky-tough places to play in the entire country. But what has Dave Doeren done with that potential? Not much, really. Thursday’s 28-26 loss to a rebuilding Georgia Tech team ensured that Doeren’s seventh season on the job will be the worst since his first year. And what happened in between? Not much worth remembering. Though Doeren will boast about going to five straight bowl games before this season, his overall ACC record is just 21-34. Out of seven seasons, he’s been below .500 in the league five times. Out of his 47 overall wins at N.C. State, 19 have come against schools in Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Sun Belt or FCS. That’s a stunning level of mediocrity for a school that, simply based on geography and resources, could be performing so much better. Doeren seems entrenched in that mediocrity, at least for another year, but the margin for error will get much smaller and the wrath of a fan base will become more intense if the results don't change next season.

Washington: Seriously, what happened to Chris Petersen? For at least the last decade, you wouldn’t be able to find one of those “best coach” lists where he wasn’t consistently listed in the top seven or eight. And for a hot minute there, it looked like he was on a trajectory to dominate the Pac-12 and potentially win a national title at Washington. Instead, it’s gone the other way, and the Huskies are wheezing to the finish line at 6-5 going into the Apple Cup. It's hard to pinpoint why it's not working anymore, especially since Washington started getting higher-ranked recruiting classes after making the Playoff in 2016 and added a legitimate pro prospect quarterback in Jacob Eason as a transfer to take over for Jake Browning. But the bottom line is the Huskies don't score a lot of points against solid defenses, aren’t explosive enough at the skill positions and haven't been creative offensively like Petersen’s teams at Boise State. In Saturday’s 20-14 loss at Colorado, the Huskies had just 238 total yards. For a program of this caliber, that isn’t acceptable.

TRENDING TOWARD MISERY

TCU: This will be an offseason of “what-ifs” for the Horned Frogs and their fans. What if their final drive into SMU territory hadn’t stalled out in Week 3? What if they hadn’t given up a 61-yard run to Kansas State late in a tied game? What if Baylor hadn’t made a 51-yard field goal to send their game into overtime? What if the officials hadn't given Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts a way-too-generous spot for a first down that iced the game with a little more than a minute left with TCU trailing just 28-24? The line between 6-6 and a 9- or 10-win season was really thin this year for TCU, which lost five games by a combined 27 points. Some of that may be bad luck, but at the same time, TCU’s offense has been pedestrian at 5.51 yards per play (No. 88 nationally). Gary Patterson has been adept at retooling his program whenever things feel stale, and he may need to do it again.

South Florida: A large gray cat found its way onto the field in the second half of South Florida’s 49-10 loss to Memphis, and for about a minute it just ran around in circles, unsure where it was supposed to be. You could say the same for the Bulls’ defense against Memphis. In one of the most lopsided games you’ll see all season, South Florida got out-gained 560-170 as the Tigers pulled their starters for the entire fourth quarter. Though USF has shown a few signs of competitiveness late in the season against Temple and Cincinnati, this was a massive step backward in front of a very small home crowd that was generously listed at 25,136. The question now is whether next Saturday’s game against rival UCF will be the last for Charlie Strong if the Bulls finish 4-8 as expected.

Stanford: It's all but official now. Stanford is going to miss a bowl game for the first time since 2008, ending by far the longest postseason streak in school history. Though there may be a need for 5-7 teams to fill some bowl games, a loss to Notre Dame next week would drop the Cardinal to 4-8, which is a stunning fall for a program that had been so consistent under David Shaw. Saturday’s 24-20 loss to Cal also ended another streak for Stanford, as the Cardinal had won the so-called “Big Game" between Bay Area rivals nine straight times. Though injuries have hit Stanford hard this year, the trend over the last three years has been slightly downward. Given how many opportunities he’s passed up to stay at his alma mater, you wouldn’t expect Shaw to do anything other than go back to work and try to fix this. But can he?

North Texas: When a historically bad program climbs the hill to respectability, it’s often taken for granted how fragile that success can be. Just when fans of the Mean Green thought they’d finally stabilized as an every-year postseason team and regular Conference USA contender, it turned out a season from hell was lurking around the corner. Preseason C-USA favorite North Texas relinquished its last hope of a season-ending rally with a 20-14 loss to a previously 1-9 Rice team. Quarterback Mason Fine, who many projected to have a huge senior year, struggled again with a 17-of-32 passing performance for 163 yards. North Texas’ offense has been held under 30 points in six of its seven losses this year. Meanwhile, fans are beginning to notice that coach Seth Littrell has only beaten one team with a winning record the last two years.

Fresno State: The Jeff Tedford era got off to a remarkable start with a 22-6 record in his first two seasons, raising hopes that he could build a program to contend year in and year out against Boise State. But the Bulldogs hit a stunning speed bump in Year 3, falling to 4-7 with a 35-28 loss to Nevada in which they coughed up a two-touchdown lead midway through the third quarter. It was also the fourth loss at home this season for Fresno State, which lost just once at Bulldog Stadium in Tedford's first two years.

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College football: Best photos from Week 13

TOTALLY REAL AND IRRATIONAL MESSAGE BOARD THREADS

“Why would any good player want to come here?” - canesinsight.com (Miami)

“One of these decades we will hire the right coach” - orangebloods.com (Texas)

“This program is on life support” - thebullspen.com (South Florida)

“Enough is enough: Shaw has to go” - CardinalSportsReport.com (Stanford)