UConn football's 1998 season was honestly their best ever at the FCS level. They went 10-3 and made a real playoff run, winning one game before bowing out in the next round. The crazy thing is, no matter how hard you look, there's basically nothing out there in terms of footage. No playoff game film, no regular season games — it's like the season just vanished. There are a couple of season highlight clips floating around, but nothing substantial. For a program that had its greatest year, it's a shame that almost none of it was preserved or made it online. That run deserves way more documentation than it ever.

This offseason I made a post chronicling, who I felt, were the bottom 10 teams in all of FCS football. This year I thought I'd take a stab at doing a weekly ranking. This post won't strictly go off of the Massey or Sagarin ratings, but as the season goes on, they will be used as a guide

The Bottom 10

1. Northwestern St (0-2): It’s bad enough they became the first FCS team to lose to an NAIA team since 2011, but following up by getting tattooed 80-6 vs Louisiana Monroe is brutal.  It’s an FBS opponent, but L-Mon isn’t LSU.  To make matters worse, both opponents are in their home state.
   
2. Chicago St (0-2): They opened the season with a 16 point loss to a DII program, then got trounced by UTM last week.  They play KCU, an NAIA team next week, so the program's first win may finally arrive, but the first DI win?  I’m not so confident it’ll happen this year
   
3. Davidson (0-2): Last week, they gave up 41 points in a loss to a DII team that finished sub .500 last year.  This week, they followed it up by not even bothering to show up against Elon in a 38-0 drubbing.
   
4. MSVU (0-2):  an 0-2 start vs Nicholls and ‘FBS powerhouse’ Sac St isn’t unexpected.  Still, getting outscored 96-10 is worthy of this list.  Back to back DII opponents on deck the next two weeks should thankfully get them back in the win column
   
5. NC A&T: A 59-10 blowout loss to an FBS team is understandable, but Georgia St was also a 1-11 team last year.  Couple that with a 7-17 loss to Morgan St to open the year and you've got yourself a bottom 10 start.
   
6. Utah Tech (0-2): Move over Portland St!  The Big Sky has a new cellar dweller (but do hang around just in case).  The trailblazers have been outscored 117-7 to start the year.  Of course, 99% of programs would be 0-2 after playing Montana St and BYU, but a -110 point differential over two games certainly doesn’t make them lucky like a plucky underdog. 
   
7. Merrimack (0-2): Like Utah Tech, it’s not ideal to start the year with two strong opponents, Rhode Island and Delaware, but a combined 14-76 start is not a sign of good things to come.  
   
8. VMI (0-2):  two games in and a -98 point scoring differential to Idaho St and FBS Virginia Tech.  Again, brutal schedule, but the lack of competitiveness is concerning.  Davidson in two weeks might be their only shot at a win this year.
   
9. Murray St (0-2):  Losing their first two games by 14 and 24 (the latter to an FBS team) might actually be a sign of improvement.  A winnable game vs Valpo next week may even get them off this list.
   
10. Holy Cross (0-2): identical 35-10 losses to Lehigh and Colgate have HC in a bad spot.  Miami Ohio and Yale are on deck, so their first win may have to wait until October

Honorable Mention:

Alabama A&M: At least you beat your DII opponent this week.

Stetson: Beating NAIA Webber International is nice, but I think SDSU just scored on you again.

Marist: Congrats on the 9 point win over DII Franklin Pierce, a university named after a D tier one term president who was perpetually drunk his entire term.

Morehead St: A 49 point win over a bad NAIA team won’t make me forget losing your season opener to a bad DII team.  No more non D1 opponents are left now, so good luck.  

Drake: For 8 beautiful minutes, you led Montana.

Wagner: The win over Southern Connecticut St was nice and all, but a three TD to Robert Morris last week is too ugly to ignore. 

St Thomas: The Tommies struggled to beat DII Winona St, then followed it up with a waxing at the hands of UND

Vent here. This is a friendly place.

Credit to u/2Pollaski2Furious for the idea. Same sets of rules from the original FBS series apply here for the FCS teams. This is an award for FCS teams that humiliate themselves, whether it's a choke job, a crushing blow with everything to prove, or they have no business losing the match-up.

... I am flattered. Last week was perhaps the most interaction in FCS Tank Job history, with 69 comments (nice). Thank you guys! And while last week provided a lot of entries to work with... this week consisted of a lot of FCS-FBS matchups (a few of which will wind up in the FBS Tank Job), as well as some lower division matchups (none of which makes it here with all FCS teams winning), so there's only so much here to work with this time.

LAST WEEK: There were quite a few votes for Northwestern State, for being a dire-as-is scholarship FCS team with the misfortune of falling to NAIA Louisiana Christian. But easily taking Week 0 is the Villanova Wildcats, hosting fellow former CAA member William & Mary for a conference opener. You would think that having a ten point lead with less than a minute to go would end out in a win, or a forced overtime in the worst case scenario. The botched onside recovery then finding themselves intercepted in W&M's field goal range ensured that the game ended in regulation. The field of candidates is such that some of the others would have otherwise gotten the honor, but this meltdown is special.

And now for a few special mentions:

• Albany damn near got a fourth FBS upset of the week, but they were stopped late in the red zone by Buffalo.
• At one point, Austin Peay actually led post-Pavia Vandy, but we know that this momentum cannot last forever past a 6-5 first quarter.
• Cal Poly looked a bit shaky against Central Washington. I mean they may be one of the better D2s right now but this is not a great look.
• Chicago State drew first blood against UT Martin, who then proceeded to put up 42 unanswered points in two of the remaining three quarters
• Mercer apparently hasn't forgotten last year, and they've decidedly avoided the repeat of a Presbyterian upset, with extreme prejudice.
• Northwestern State had Madden numbers put up on them by the mighty powerhouse of... Louisiana Tech.
• There were moments where South Dakota State were giving Northwestern a real scare.
• I've been back and forth about Weber State, but ultimately relented because I don't think people expected them to get this competitive. It is a pretty good game where the Wildcats fell short.
• This is a fully FBS matchup and therefore the purview of the FBS Tank Job, but lol Rutgers.
• I was a dumbass and only just realized I put the wrong title on last week's Tank Job, which led to a wrong title here the first time, therefore I get a special mention.

And now our nominees:

BUCKNELL BISON (against Villanova 17-16)

They've done very little in the first half and found themselves 14-0 down at halftime. It seemed like the tables were about to turn and they've been on a comeback bid leading 16-14, only for Villanova to respond within a few minutes. And Bucknell critically missed the potentially game-winning 29-yarder(!).

CENTRAL ARKANSAS BEARS (against West Florida 42-14)

It's not because I don't think the Argonauts are for real (they absolutely are). It's more to do with the fact that the Coaches Poll ranked Bears have been boatraced at home. A pick six and two fumbles that led to a touchdown all do not help.

CHATTANOOGA MOCS (against Tennessee Tech 24-9)

It was a rough day for Battle Alberson as he only threw for 37 yards and got picked twice (one leading to a touchdown). The Mocs got owned at home against the SoCon newcomers.

DELAWARE STATE HORNETS (against William & Mary 22-15)

I cannot discount that Delaware State has been much better under DeSean Jackson than they were within recent memory. Now imagine how the result would have gone differently had they not turned the ball over six times(!), especially against a team with offensive output of fewer than 200 yards. You shouldn't have to come back from 22-0 in the fourth quarter.

GARDNER-WEBB RUNNIN' BULLDOGS (against Wofford 17-13)

Gardner-Webb put up twice as much offense and held the ball for longer, but allowing the Terriers to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown turned out to be critical. While nothing came of those three turnovers they suffered, they did not help either.

HOWARD BISON (against Richmond 28-21)

After being 20-0 in the hole, the Bison started a comeback after recovering a fumble for a touchdown. However, they kept stalling in the fourth quarter, which is not helped in the third quarter by a muffed punt reception which quickly led to another Spiders touchdown.

LINDENWOOD LIONS (against Stony Brook 36-32)

An emphatic 22-7 halftime lead, left to gradually wither away as the Lions could only muster two good drives and allowed the Seawolves to muster a 29-10 comeback.

WESTERN CAROLINA CATAMOUNTS (against Campbell 28-19)

Oh c'mon! You've picked Kamden Sixkiller off three times and the best you can muster from these is three field goal attempts (of which one missed)? Also that run game is just sad, just one yard on the ground!

And as always, don't forget to mark your vote in brackets for visibility, <like so>. I also appreciate entries I might have passed over, so feel free to nominate, and I might edit it here.

What’s your favorite matchup and who do you got?

Junior defensive lineman Keller Patterson is nominated after a 2025 campaign where he recorded 26 totals tackles, 0.5 sacks, 3 QB hurries and recovered in a fumble in ten games.

He is joined by junior defensive lineman Luke Walker who recorded 8 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a pass deflection in ten games. Together, Patterson and Walker aim to anchor the defensive line.

Supporting the two linemen will be senior linebacker Charlie Newton, the heartbeat of the defense. He finished with 62 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception, a pass break up, and a fumble recovery in ten games.

On the other side of the ball, senior wide receiver Titus Evans, who finished last year 3rd in the Ivy League in receiving touchdowns and 5th in receptions, catching 46 passes for 584 yards and 6 TDs in 10 games.

Finally, for special teams, junior punter Tommy Sleeman qualified after an All-Ivy 2nd team sophomore season where he recorded 48 punts for 2,048 yards (avg. 42.7) and a long punt of 65. He also finished with 9 punts of 50 or more yards and 10 inside the 20.

We'll see if these five players can lead the Lions when they face Lafayette at home on September 19th at noon.