1. College Football Season Recap
Sadly, the 2014-15 college football season is over. Now begins the dreaded 8 months
of no college football, crying in the streets, suicide watch time of the year, the off-
season.
Sure, we all love the NFL playoffs, the NBA, college basketball, hockey and all those
other random sports we rediscover every Spring, but college football is what makes
the sports world go ‘round.
Thus, before we go into the (nearly) never-ending off-season abyss, I present to you
the Recap of the entire college football season.
In this you will find What We Learned from this year, the rankings of the Power-5
Conferences, Ryan King’s Final Rankings and my Way Too Early Predictions for next
season.
What We Learned
The SEC really WAS overrated
Year after year we hear the same comments abut how the SEC is the greatest
conference in all of college football and possibly ever.
Sure, they had their era of domination, winning seven straight national
championships, but what about now?
This is the first year since 2005 that an SEC school did not make the championship.
It also happens to be the first year that a Playoff was introduced, meaning the teams
would have to beat another good team before playing for the Title.
Alabama got into the Playoff, only to lose to the no. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes.
This alone does not prove that the SEC was overrated, I mean, anyone can have one
bad game and lose, right? Sure. The problem is, what many considered the greatest
division in college football history, the SEC West, went just 2-5 in their 7 bowl
games; the only teams that won, were the teams that finished 6th and 7th in the
division, Texas A&M and Arkansas.
The marquee losses, other than Alabama, were a 49-34 domination of Mississippi
State at the hands of Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl, a 31-28 loss for LSU at the
hands of Notre Dame and the best one of all, a 42-3 humiliation of Ole Miss at the
hands of TCU in the Peach Bowl.
2. The SEC has had great teams and will continue to produce good teams, but the
notion that the conference as a whole is head and shoulders above everyone else is
simply ludicrous.
The Heisman doesn’t mean everything
Marcus Mariota won the 2014 Heisman Trophy and good for him. He seems like a
down-to-earth, good human being that any school, or franchise, would love to have
as the face of their team. However, we saw once again that winning that Trophy
doesn’t mean much.
Mariota was embarrassed in the national title game, and although it was not entirely
his fault, his disappointment proved that nearly any competitive player would
rather be a champion than have a trophy saying you are really good.
Florida State was what we thought they were
All season Florida State narrowly escaped almost every game. We all kept waiting
for them to fall, only to see them rally back behind the “crab-stealing captain” game
after game.
However, against Oregon, they weren’t so lucky.
Florida State fell behind early, as they did often this year, making all of us think they
might lose, but still hesitant to call the game because of the fluky ways FSU seems to
win.
But this time, it was different. Florida State literally fumbled the ball away, with five
turnovers; none more iconic than the Jameis Winston backwards fumble returned
for a touchdown.
The final score was 59-20 and it wasn’t even that close.
Now, it is true that when it rains, it pours. Is Oregon really 39 points better than
Florida St, no, but we all wanted to see them fail.
The general consensus was that FSU got lucky over and over again and would get
killed when they played a good team, which is what happened.
The only side note I want to make is please do not belittle the 29-game winning
streak, or the national championship.
Even if a team gets “lucky” game after game, winning 29 games in a row is extremely
difficult to do. You cannot get lucky for almost 30 games.
3. This team was not one of the best in the nation, but winning every game is a skill
that few players, coaches and teams have.
Records are meant to be broken…Twice
LaDainian Tomlinson held the record for most rushing yards in a single game in
NCAA history with 406 since 1999 and then it was broken, twice.
Melvin Gordon ran for 408 rushing yards against Nebraska on November 15th in one
of the most impressive running games you will ever see, the only problem was there
was still more college football to be played.
Just one week later, true-freshman running back Semaje Perine of Oklahoma ran for
427 years against Kansas. That’s right. A record that stood for almost 15 years was
broken twice within seven days.
Tomlinson had a nice run (haha) but the one you should feel bad for is Gordon. That
guy had the record to himself for one week. When people ask how this happened
twice in one week, I think we have to look at the “when it rains it pours” idea.
Oklahoma knew the record because it had been broken the week before, so why not
go for it?
The only question left is, will it be broken again next year?
The Playoff worked
We kicked and screamed and begged the NCAA to give us a Playoff for years and
they finally listened, giving us the Playoff for the first time this season.
As we all know, it was a huge success, but if you disagree you can read my last
article (http://bit.ly/1xz0jne ).
The meat of the argument is simple, Ohio State and Oregon, who met in the national
championship, would not have had a shot at the Title in previous years; instead,
Alabama would have played Florida State, effectively handing Alabama their 10th
championship, (not 16th, but that is a future article (foreshadowing)).
Power-5 Conference Rankings
1. Pac 12
I know this seems crazy, but Oregon’s domination of a team that hadn’t lost in 29
games, and the fact that their 6-2 record was highest among Power-5 schools gives
them the no. 1 spot.
Not to mention UCLA showing up big over Kansas State and USC beating Nebraska.
4. 2. Big 10
I couldn’t put them no. 1, but anytime you have the national champion, you have to
be ranked high.
Ohio State beat Alabama and Oregon on its way to the Title, not to mention Michigan
State’s come back victory over Baylor and Wisconsin’s overtime thriller win versus
Auburn.
3. SEC
Some would find this sacrilegious. But the SEC West, which was so dominate,
disappointed big time, as I touched on earlier, going 2-5 in the bowls.
However, the weaker division, the East, did do quite well at 5-0, pulling the
conference’s total bowl record up to 7-5.
4. ACC
Many considered the ACC to be a joke, and although it still isn’t great, Florida State is
a good team, Georgia Tech killed Mississippi State to win the Orange Bowl and
Clemson put a beat down on Oklahoma.
Who knows how good this conference was all year, but at the end, they had a few
teams playing extremely well.
5. Big 12
This conference was top heavy all season, but with a weak Texas and Oklahoma, that
will happen.
TCU was legit, blowing out Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, but their other “True
Champion” Baylor blew a 20-point lead to Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.
This, coupled with a 2-5 bowl record (worst among the Power-5) gives them the 5th
spot.
Ryan King’s (Final) College Football Rankings
1. Ohio St.
2. Oregon
3. TCU
4. Alabama
5. 5. Michigan St.
6. Baylor
7. Florida St.
8. Georgia Tech
9. Georgia
10. UCLA
11. Wisconsin
12. Clemson
13. Missouri
14. Mississippi St.
15. Arizona St.
16. Boise St.
17. Ole Miss
18. Arizona
19. USC
20. Kansas St.
21. Auburn
22. Marshall
23. Utah
24. Louisville
25. Memphis
Way Too Early Predictions
My Way Too Early Final Four for next season is as follows, (please do not hold it
against me),
1. Ohio State (Duh)
2. TCU (Ehh, not bad)
3. LSU (Lots of young talent and Bama will be weak)
4. USC (Cody Kessler is legit and Oregon should be weak too)
My Bold Prediction for next season is:
The Alabama Crimson Tide loses AT LEAST three regular season games.
6. Thank you guys for reading and please continue to read me in the off-season!
God Bless!