Five college football teams that could suffer major dropoffs in 2017

Teams like North Carolina, Colorado and Maryland are poised for letdown seasons in 2017.

College football is, like all sports, a zero-sum game. As SI’s Chris Johnson explained last month, several program are poised for breakthrough or rebound seasons in 2017, rocketing up the standings by increasing their win totals by four, five or even six games over last season. So of course, that means some other programs must undergo an equally precipitous dropoff this fall.

The 2016 season brought crushing falls to some of the biggest programs in college football, including Notre Dame, Oregon and Michigan State. Who could suffer a similar decline in 2017? These five programs seem destined for a dropoff.