The Misery Index Week 3: Livid in Lincoln?

Dan Wolken | USA TODAY Sports

The common perception about fans is that their happiness is related to wins and losses. But it's really about trajectory. Is there a tangible difference between a football program that wins eight games and nine? Between playing in the Alamo Bowl or the Music City Bowl? Of course not.

As it is, the bloated bowl system and ability to schedule four cupcakes per year has made it so that any coach or athletics director can claim a "successful" season by putting another tchotchke in the trophy case. But fans aren't that dumb, and no matter how a coach wants to present his record, what truly matters is whether fans believe the program is progressing, whether fans can envision something better than what they're seeing today.

And once a coach has lost that, it becomes hard to rationalize what would seem to be decent results on the surface.

Which brings us to Nebraska and the curious case of Bo Pelini. By almost every metric, Pelini is doing fine at Nebraska. He's 51-21 as a head coach, has won or tied for first in his division four times in five years and has finished in the top-25 each of the last four years.

But at some point, if you're a Nebraska fan, you have to ask, "What exactly are we doing here?"

Many reached that point before Saturday, when UCLA came into Lincoln and won 41-21 despite trailing by 18 points early. That's a 38-point turnaround, which encompassed a thorough de-pantsing of Nebraska's defense, which is supposed to be Pelini's specialty (he made his name as a defensive coordinator at LSU, helping win the national title in 2007). Ever since fielding defenses led by Ndamukong Suh in 2008 and 2009, Nebraska has slipped noticeably on that side of the ball.

Meanwhile, Pelini's individual records are as follows: 9-4, 10-4, 10-4, 9-4 and 10-4, and the truth is Nebraska hasn't been a legitimate factor nationally in any of those seasons. Nebraska football is supposed to be better than that, and right now it's just not. But the bigger potential problem for Pelini is showing no signs it will get there.

That's why the Cornhuskers are an easy choice for No. 1 in this week's edition of the Misery Index.

(Disclaimer: This isn't a ranking of worst teams, worst losses or coaches whose jobs are in the most jeopardy. This is simply a measurement of a fan base's knee-jerk reaction to what they last saw. The way in which a team won or lost, expectations vis-à-vis program trajectory and traditional inferiority complex of fan base all factor into this ranking.)

1. Nebraska: As noted above, Bo PeLLLLini – you know, because he takes four L's a year – needs to fix the Cornhusker defense, and he needs to fix it quickly. When it joined the Big Ten, the expectation was that Nebraska would help raise the league's football profile. Instead, it has contributed to the league's recent run of mediocrity. If you look at Nebraska's schedule, there's clearly another opportunity to win 9 or 10 games. But what will that really mean? Another Capital One Bowl banner isn't going to make the Big Red Nation believe.

2. Texas: Mack Brown was putting the best possible face on the Longhorns' latest catastrophe, clinging onto the hope that Texas can still turn it around and win the Big 12. But man, that's a hard thing to envision after Ole Miss ran away for a 44-23 victory Saturday, out-scoring the Longhorns 27-0 in the second half. After the Rebels easily scored on their first two possessions, Texas' defense had a moment where it stiffened up and looked like something was clicking under Greg Robinson, who replaced the fired Manny Diaz last week. But in the end, Ole Miss just read-optioned Texas to death, and that's going to be a big problem in a league where a lot of teams are capable of running the read option. The Texas fan base is now getting dangerously close to the point where some (if not a majority) will hope for things to get as bad as possible, thus expediting the removal of Brown as coach. Not to say we endorse such measures, but then again, these things take on a life of their own.

3. Mississippi State: This is a perfect example of the trajectory theory described above. Mississippi State fans were happier with Dan Mullen after his first season, when he went 5-7, than after last year, when he went 8-5. And now, with the Bulldogs sitting at 1-2 and looking very shaky to make a bowl game based on the upcoming schedule, they're not very happy at all. Many in the business were surprised when Mullen didn't jump at opportunities to leave Mississippi State after his second season, when he went 9-4, or his third, when he went 7-6. Despite being well-regarded as a coach, that level of success is just very difficult to sustain at a place like Mississippi State, especially once expectations have been raised. Now, he's feeling the heat, even though it's absolutely unreasonable to expect eight wins a year at the least glamorous school in the SEC West.

4. Notre Dame: It was sort of weird how under-the-radar Notre Dame was before the season. Despite playing in the national title game last year, the hype level for the Fighting Irish was remarkably low, especially compared to other years when it has been entirely unwarranted. But based on the results so far, maybe Notre Dame was under the radar for a reason: They're not very good. Irish fans have compelling reasons to complain right now. Following an underwhelming performance in the opener against Temple, you could certainly rationalize the road loss to Michigan. But Saturday's results, which included Michigan barely escaping against awful Akron and Notre Dame needing to come from behind against awful Purdue, put a new perspective on everything. Notre Dame fans have legitimate reasons now to dread the next four – all home games against Michigan State, Oklahoma, Arizona State and USC. And what's up with that defense, which looks slow and soft after returning most key components from last year?

5. Wisconsin: The misery here isn't directed inward, but instead toward the Pac-12 officials who botched the end of Saturday's 32-30 loss at Arizona State. That's a huge opportunity lost for Wisconsin, especially when the Badgers had the ball down to the Sun Devils' 13-yard line with 18 seconds left, at which point they should have set up for a game-winning field goal. Quarterback Joel Stave tried to get the ball to the center of the field and kneel down, then set up for a quick spike that would have brought on the field goal unit. But instead of handing the ball to the official he placed it on the field, which made it look like a live ball fumble, and chaos ensued as an Arizona State player fell on it, the officials didn't know exactly what to do and time ran out before Wisconsin got another play off. Wisconsin fans will forever feel they got robbed here, and maybe that's fair, but on the other hand why get cute in that situation when you don't have a timeout? Just line up and kick the field goal, cover a kickoff and defend against one Hail Mary play. Gary Andersen over-thought the situation, and Stave invited chaos by awkwardly placing the ball on the field instead of just taking a knee and tossing it to the official.

6. USC: The Trojans' misery was temporarily soothed by a 35-7 win against Boston College, but things have gotten so bad at USC that fans – those who showed up between the large swaths of empty seats, anyway – mockingly cheered an early incompletion to Marquise Lee just because coach Lane Kiffin actually called a downfield pass to his top receiver. Naysayers will point out that USC did nothing but beat a bad team at home Saturday. On the other hand, that's better than losing to a bad team at home, which is what the Trojans did last week against Washington State. All is not well after just one win, but at least it's a little less ugly for Kiffin than it was a week ago.

7. Temple: Putting Temple here is a big leap of faith because it actually assumes the Owls' football program has fans. Those that exist – and, yes, once again that's a huge assumption – will give first-year coach Matt Rhule a pass this season. But the way they lost to Fordham on Saturday was painful, if not downright inexcusable. Not only did Temple fall behind 20-7 and miss a chip shot field goal early, but finally came back to take the lead in the fourth quarter, only to lose on a 29-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left. After a couple promising moments over the last few years, this was the kind of loss that makes you wonder if Temple football is headed back to the dark ages.

8. South Florida: Everybody knew Willie Taggart inherited a mess at South Florida, but at least fans could buy into him as the face of the program. Taggart not only had the Jim Harbaugh pedigree as an assistant at Stanford but did good work in turning around Western Kentucky as a head coach, going 7-5 in 2011 and 2012. But anything Bulls fans had to hold onto in the preseason has been absolutely obliterated with three miserable performances: A 53-21 loss to McNeese State, a 21-6 loss at Michigan State and Saturday's 28-10 loss to Florida Atlantic. The first two could be explained away. You lose an opener, even to an FCS team, maybe you just weren't ready to play and the game got away from you. Obviously, you're not supposed to beat Michigan State. But the Florida Atlantic loss is hard to figure. The Owls had been absolutely inept against Miami and East Carolina, but they had no problem with South Florida. Maybe USF fans can still believe in Taggart, but it shouldn't be this bad.

9. Kansas: Charlie Weis has lost to Rice two years in a row. That's pretty much all you need to know.

10. Florida: The Gators got the week off, but that's just more time for Florida fans to sit around and wonder if this team is actually any good. When you look around the SEC these days and even Auburn can complete forward passes with a first-year coach and first-year quarterback, and you're sitting here with a former blue-chip recruit who is now a veteran starter and you've still got an inept passing game, it makes you doubt some things. If Florida doesn't beat Tennessee this week, it's going to get very ugly for Will Muschamp.

Others receiving votes (Miserable, but not quite miserable enough): Utah, Michigan State, Georgia, UConn, Virginia Tech, SMU, Southern Miss, Wake Forest.

Dan Wolken, a national college football reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @DanWolken.