Folks, it's over. Time to put the grill in storage, place the face paint back under the kitchen sink and it's time to begin to wait for 8 months to pass. College football season is over. No more ramblings by Verne Lundquist, no more spittle ejections by Lou Holtz, no more destruction of the TV football format by FOX. Now we get to settle in for a few weeks of over-exposure of recruiting wars, followed by the total over analysis of recruiting classes. Then we'll see the spring games and over hype the fact that some fan bases are more excited than others solely because more of them went to their spring game than their rivals. But after that, we're devoid of any and all college football until July, when NCAA11 comes out so that we can complain about how "they got it wrong" on X team's defense or Y player on Z team is "wayyyyyyy overrated". Finally, in August, we'll get excited when we hear about depth charts being filled and schedules being over-emphasized.
September 4th. That's what we're waiting for. The only truly good news about the off-season is the Fulmer Cup on Everyday Should be Saturday wherein point are awarded to schools for arrests. A genius thing and entertaining. (PLS's preseason pick: Washington State).
So, here we go with the final word for college football, season 140, broken into a conference-by-conference capsule that will require 2 parts:
ACC:
The ACC, of all of the BCS conferences, is at a crossroads... though some may half disagree. On one hand we have seen Georgia Tech surge back to relevance, but also we've seen Florida State fade to black. Virginia Tech, as always, is going to be a favorite. The Hokies, in fact, have been in several top 10s for next year... even though those polls are as much of guess as anything. Elsewhere, Clemson proved to be solid under Dabo Sweeney although we'll see how they do when CJ Spiller bolts. Miami was a warzone-esque field away from a 10 win season and North Carolina is both up and down... up in that their defense is solid, down in that their offense was absent for several games this past season. Virginia, Boston College and Wake Forest both took steps backward, while North Carolina State made an about face and ran full sprint in the wrong direction. Lastly we come to Duke, who won 5 games, which for them is like winning 15 games anywhere else.
All in all, the conference is just kind of floating in the netherworld not going in a stronger or weaker position. We will have to see how Florida State recovers. We will also have to see if the trend of Georgia Tech getting blasted in their bowl game means anything.
BigXII:
In the south, Texas, in this one's opinion, is going to be the strong favorite in the Big12 next year. Oklahoma was certainly down this year, but it would be foolish to think they won't win 10 games next year. Oklahoma State was a disappointment this year in many respects, but 9 wins is hard to complain about. Texas Tech is probably going to enter a tailspin for obvious reasons while Texas A&M surprised many by actually being in a bowl game. Baylor did it's usual Baylor thing, but losing their everything-back in the first game of the season didn't help.
In the north, America as a whole must once again fear a powerful Nebraska team. The state of Kansas looks to have returned back to mediocrity and so has Missouri. Iowa State exceeded everyone's expectations by not going to a bowl game, but also winning it. Colorado is, without a doubt, a hopeless shipwreck of terrible proportions.
A powerful Nebraska team is as scary as even the most terrifying of birds: Cockatoos
Looking forward the BigXII looks to have Texas and Oklahoma do their usual fight for the south while Nebraska has re-acquired a nuclear powered defense and will own the north for quite a while. The BigXII, this past year, was a bit down thanks to losing Oklahoma. A powerful offense with a lack of defense was par for the course and only Texas, with a nasty defense, was the exception. Will we see BigXII defenses get better next year? For their conference's sake, they better hope so. As a result it should always be asked, are the offenses just that good or are the defenses that bad?
Big East:
This conference probably took the farthest leaps forward of any of the BCS conferences. Cincinnati is a power (despite their absence at the Sugar Bowl), Pittsburgh is respectable (yes I know what was just mentioned) and Connecticut and West Virginia are teams that are not to be messed with. South Florida and Rutgers showed life at times, though USF will be moving on at head coach for some reason. Syracuse improved, in a technical sense, but the Greg Paulus experience was not a fun one. Louisville, was vomit inducingly bad, and we wish Charlie Strong an infinite supply of good luck... it may not be enough.
The Big East is OK now, and if they stay OK if beyond anyone's guess. I vote that it will stay for a few years, until the BigTen pilfers Cincy of Pitt away from them.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's finale to this scintillating final word (no we won't be talking about the non-BCS schools).
/not looking forward to what you will have to say about the BigTen
ReplyDeleteOther than that, your thoughts on the Big12 are right. We don't know if the offenses are that good or if the defenses are that bad. I say it's both to be honestly speaking. If they wind up with "defenses", they could be scary good.