Good Bye College Football, It Was A Great Year!
The 2014-15 college football season is over. The champion is crowned and fans across the country are now looking to ahead to the next season, though it is seven months away. With the Ohio State Buckeyes beating the Oregon Ducks 42-20 for the National Championship, we say good-bye to our beloved sport for another season. But fear not college football fans, we have a lot to look forward to!
UCLA Bruins
For all INTENTS AND PURPOSES, the inaugural College Football playoffs was a success. You throw a lot of money and hoopla at something and eventually it turns into what you expect it to (yay capitalism!). That was not the case with the BCS, as that seemed to be a platform to massage the egos of the SEC. But fortunately, the College Football Playoffs changed all that and it was way more exciting.
Not only did we get to see a proper battle royale amongst college football’s four best teams, but the subsequent bowls that surrounded the College Football Playoffs were just as exciting.
From a Pac-12 perspective, it was ultimately a disappointment with Oregon losing to the #4 team in the first ever playoffs, but the fact that Marcus Mariota and company got that far is beyond astounding. As a UCLA fan, I know just how great that team is, but unfortunately, it was not meant to be (again) for the Ducks. But in the big picture, it shows just how great Oregon and the rest of the Pac-12 teams are.
Sep 13, 2014; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) throws the ball before the game against the Wyoming Cowboys at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
But also, let us not take away anything that Ohio State did. They ran over Oregon with 296 yards on the ground behind third-strong quarterback Cardale Jones. They came out of nowhere to sneak into the top four spots and prove that they were THE best team in the nation. This after the entire college football world pegged their conference, the Big Ten, as one of the weakest of the Power Five. We now know that it is the SEC that is the weakest of the Power Five… hehehe.
But all that is over and the Buckeyes head back to Columbus, Ohio champions of all college football. Though OSU gets to revel in the fact that they are the champions of college football for another year, all that get wiped clean the moment we start up the next season.
Jan 2, 2015; San Antonio, TX, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley (17) carries the ball on a 40-yard run against the Kansas State Wildcats in the 2015 Alamo Bowl at Alamodome. UCLA defeated Kansas State 40-35. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
For Pac-12 fans, that means a entirely different outlook than what we have seen in the last five months. This past season, the Pac-12 was the “Conference of Quarterbacks”. That changes next season as some of the best QBs in the conference will be moving on. Thank you Marcus Mariota, Brett Hundley, Connor Halliday, Sean Mannion and Taylor Kelly, it has been a blast.
Though we had to trudge through the unknown of the College Football Playoff committee in the latter half of the season (buh-bye AP and Coaches polls), it was almost worth the drama. It kept us eager to know who this group of thirteen “experts” had as the best team in the nation every Tuesday. It was pure entertainment and they seems to have gotten it right. Seriously though, what else were we going to write about? The on-going soap opera surrounding crab legs? No thank you!
But you know what, Spring Ball is right around the corner, the summer will go faster than expected and once again we will all be back in our “comfy” seats in our respective stadiums to cheer on our teams before you know it. It will be great, as always.
Until next season, Go College Football!