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Joel Klatt lists 3 B1G fan bases among most miserable in CFB right now

Mark Schipper

By Mark Schipper

Published:

Fox College Football lead analyst Joel Klatt dropped a harsh tweet naming the four most miserable fan bases in the sport at this moment—and three of them belong to the Big Ten.

According to Klatt, Penn State and Michigan top the list, while the Wisconsin Badgers and their partisans rank fourth, with each team and fan base miserable for their own separate reasons. 

Up in State College, where head coach James Franklin just two years ago announced his program was going to cross the final frontier from great to elite, the Nittany Lions are 0-2.

The context of Franklin’s oath was an impassioned post-game speech following a painful one-point home loss to Ohio State, the same school that dominated and beat up on the Nittany Lions last night in Happy Valley in a game that was never close. 

After an opening week loss at Indiana to start the year the Nittany Lions are a long way from elite, and may have slipped from the great level as well.

The Michigan Wolverines are in a wilderness of pain following a home loss to what appeared to be an awful Michigan State Spartans team under first-year head coach Mel Tucker.

After beating Minnesota in Week One, the bandwagon for the Wolverines had filled up once more with fans dreaming of a return to glory. Instead, the Paul Bunyan trophy is back in East Lansing for the first time in two years and the season appears destined to wallow in the misery of recriminations and doubts about the job being done by head coach Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor.

And finally, the Badgers, who cancelled their Saturday game against Nebraska due to a Covid-19 outbreak across the roster and may never play football again. That is somewhat of an exaggeration, but the Badgers were at 22 cases in counting at last check, including key players and the starting quarterback on whom many of their hopes rest.

With the Big Ten’s strictest in country protocols—players are out a minimum of 21 days—the Badgers promising season may be pelted through no fault (maybe some fault) of their own. 

Mark Schipper

Mark Schipper is a reporter, sportswriter, and aspiring novelist living in Chicago, Illinois.