Well everyone, I’m sorry for this being so late.
I’ve started taking a class in hopes that it will give me a promotion at work
and been a little down at the beginning of the year due to being a little
banged up but I’m back at it ready to blog again. I figure since National
Signing Day was this past Wednesday I give you a recap of this past college
football season’s great moments plus the teams I thought were great surprises
and some that were disappointing or didn’t live up to expectations. Also, I’ll break
down the Buckeyes season a little plus do some critiquing of the B10 conference
especially when it comes to that School Up North.
First
I’ll list the schools in each conference that I thought were a surprise or a
disappointment. Keep in mind these are coming off of my preseason predictions
I’ll start with the lesser conferences and move on
down.
Sun
Belt
Surprise Team : Texas State & South Alabama-
Both of them had programs that weren’t that old and took awhile to transition
to FBS but they finished with 6-6 records and they look to be competitive in
that league.
Disapointment Moment and not team:
Western Kentucky not going to a bowl
game- When you have a 8-4 record you have a good chance of possible going
bowling even in a lessor league like the Sun Belt if some of the BCS
conferences don’t get all of their teams bowling. Well I guess they would
rather take a 7-5 Ohio team that was a little down in the Beef O Brady Bowl
then Western Kentucky. This was Bobby Petrino’s first year back after that
Arkansas fiasco. (Remember “Let Him Live).
Their record wasn’t disappointing
just that with an 8-4 record no lower bowl game wouldn’t invite them. So
Petrino is back at Louisville and Western Kentucky is going to Conference USA
next year.
Mid
American
Surprise Team:
Akron- Heh after coming off a 2-10
record last year you have close games with Mac
Champ Northern Illinois, Sun
Belt Champ LA-Lafeyette, and of course one play from beating Michigan in the
Crap House then 5-7 isn’t that disappointing at all
Disappointment: Miami
(OH)- So Terrible 0-12 overall that they fired their coach
half way into the season.
Conference
USA
Surprise Teams: North Texas & Tulane-
North Texas has its first winning season since 2004 and won the Heart of Dallas
Bowl with a 9-4 record. Tulane had its first winning season since 2002 and went
bowling also.
Disappointing Teams:
Southern Miss & Tulsa- I thought
Southern Miss would be better after going winless in 2012 but they only got 1
win this season. Tulsa who won Conference USA in 2012 had a huge downfall and
not only lost players from that team but had a 3-9 record and missed going to
the post season.
Mountain
West
Surprise Team:
UNLV-
First time since 2000 they have gone to a bowl game finished 7-6.
Disappointing Team:
Air Force- Usually battles for a
bowl game but they finished 2-10 & winless in Conference play.
American
Athletic Conference
Surprise Team:
Central Florida- Led by Quarterback
Blake Bortles not only did they win the conference but were able to outscore
Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl.
Disappointing Teams:
The Entire Bottom Half of the
Conference- Not a great league with some Old Conference USA teams and new
Conference USA teams coming in to replace Louisville & Rutgers. Glad the
Non Football Catholic Schools took the Big East Name with them.
Atlantic
Coast Conference
Surprise Team: Duke-
My last year surprise team in the ACC does it again. Not only passing last
years win total but reaching 10 wins for the first time in their 125 year
Football History. Even though they got destroyed in the ACC Championship by
Florida State they almost beat Johnny Manzel & Texas A&M in the
Chick-Fil-A Bowl and David Cutchliffe earned Coach of the year honors by many
different publications.
Disappointing Team:
NC State- Started out 3-1 but lost
their last 8 games in conference play. David Doeren was in his first year of
coaching after coming from Northern Ilinois has his work cut out if they want
to get back to the middle of the road in the ACC.
PAC-12
Surprise Team:
Washington State- First time Bowl
Eligible in 7 years. Had a good effort in New Mexico Bowl vs Colorado State.
Disappointing Team:
California- It’s disappointing &
embarrassing Ohio State played them this year. 1-11 Worst season in 12 years.
Big
12
Surprise Team:
Baylor- I knew Baylor would be at
least an 8-4 football team but I thought Texas or Oklahoma State would compete
for the Big 12 Crown. They won their first outright Big 12 title and first
conference title since 1980 in the old Southwest Conference. They lost in the
Fiesta Bowl to Central Florida but coach Art Briles has done a great job with
this program taking them to 4 straight bowl games.
Disappointing Teams:
TCU & West Virginia- I thought
TCU would be a little more competitive with what they got coming back but had a
rough time with 5 of their 8 losses by 3 or less points. As for West Virginia they
seem out of place in the Big 12 to me. Starting 5-0 last year in 2012 they
dropped to 7-6. This year ended up 4-8 with the only bright spot beating
Oklahoma State. West Virginia is 6-14 the last 20 football games they played.
Big
10
Surprise Teams:
Michigan State & Minnesota- All
Michigan State needed was the right QB to lead them this season and they found
it in Conner Cook along with an extremely good Defense they finished 13-1 beat
Ohio State in the B10 Championship L and won the
Rose Bowl. Minnesota, I thought would have a rough time due to the health
problems of Coach Jerry Kill but railed after losing to Michigan midseason to
finish 8-4 and go to the Texas Bowl.
Disappointing Teams: Northwestern & Purdue-
If there were disappointing units I would say Michigan’s Offensive Line &
Ohio State’s Secondary but I’m doing teams so I choose Northwestern &
Purdue. Northwestern had a pretty unfortunate season after going 10-3 in 2012
expectations were high. Winning their first 4 games they had a huge home night
game against Ohio State but lost a close one. After that they got blowout by
Wisconsin then went on to lose 5 more games 2 of them by 3 points or less(one
of them on a hail mary GW Touchdown by Nebraska, video is below)
The other 2
games they lost in Overtime. Won against Illinois but missed out on a bowl
game.
Purdue just plain sucked going 1-11 and getting
killed in almost every contest after going bowling the year before. First year
coach Darrell Hazell(Muskingum Grad J ) has his work
cut out for him.
SEC
To the SEC. Both my Surprising team of the Year and
my Most Disappointing team of the year comes from this conference. First the
biggest disappointment.
Disappointing Team: Florida-
Some people think I would include Georgia but they had a tough schedule and
many injuries to deal with and 4 of their 5 losses were by 5 points or less so
8-5 wasn’t bad despite that. The Florida Gators on the other hand, lost their
last 7 games including one to Div 1-AA Georgia Southern to finish 4-8 first
winless season since 1979. Last year they went to the Sugar Bowl. They had a
lot of injuries too. 22 game win streak against Vanderbilt was broken also.
Florida fans don’t blame Urban for this one. Will Muschamp has been there for 3
seasons these are mostly his guys now. Coaching is a factor for success. The O
Line Coach & Offensive Coordinator were fired after the season. Most Disappointing
Team of the year.
Surprising Teams :
Missouri & Auburn- First I’ll
start with Missouri. After missing out on a bowl game their first year in the
SEC, Missouri was able to start off 7-0 with wins over Florida & Georgia.
They lost to South Carolina in double OT but won their last 4 games to go to
the SEC Championship. They lost but won the Cotton Bowl to finish 12-2. During
the season their starting QB James Franklin missed a few games but Ohio Native
Maty Mauk filled in nicely. They would lose in SEC Championship to my
Most Surprising Team of the year Auburn.
The Auburn Tigers were looking to return to a bowl
game this past season with new coach Gus Malzahn. They suffered their worst
season in 60 years in 2012 but had one of the biggest turnarounds led by QB
Nick Marshall & highly talented Running Back Tre Mason. Their only loss in
regular season was to LSU but they upset Texas A&M to go 6-1 and win their
next 3 games before playing Georgia where they produced a miracle to win.
If that wasn’t enough their next game against rival
Alabama had to have been one of the best College Football Games I’ve have ever
seen. It was on the same day as Ohio State's thrilling victory over Michigan 42-41. Just when I thought that game was great Alabama-Auburn topped it later.
With that victory they beat Mizzou in the SEC
Championship then having another close game in the National Championship but
lose to Florida State. Despite losing in the National Championship they are my Surprising team of the year.
Well that’s my year end College Football Entry.
Little late but better than never. I think for next college football season
I’ll do a weekly post on the best games to watch each week before the weekend
and give my prediction on who will win. Kind of like my fantasy of being a
College Football Analyst. What do you think? I choose the wrong career. LOL O
well. That’s my 2 cents GO BUCKEYES!!!!!
