Subscribe Feed (RSS)With the Alabama Crimson Tide’s smashing victory over the Texas Longhorns last week, the college football season has officially come to an end. Roll tide they did as Alabama quickly turned a close national championship game into a rout.
The 2009 college football season had its share of ups and downs including many surprises, which really is no surprise. Pete Carroll is gone as head coach of the USC Trojans, making his return to the NFL just as his team showed that they aren’t exactly immortal. Charlie Weis is out, but most surprising is that he was quickly replaced by Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly.
There is a lot to consider when reviewing the season just ended, so let’s take a look at fives stories with some not so well known components.
Tim Tebow – The charismatic leader of the Florida Gators ended his season with a career best performance, throwing 31 of 35 passes for 482 yards while rushing for 51 yards. Tebow will be heading off to the NFL, a godly young man with a promising future. The question about Tebow’s future is this one: will he continue to cite chapter and verse underneath his eyes when playing in the NFL?
Boise State – At some point, the Cinderella mantle will be no longer be mentioned when explaining the success of the Boise State Broncos. The Broncs proved in beating an excellent TCU Horned Frog team that they are among the best football teams in the nation and offer a compelling reason why a playoff system should replace the current football bowl system arrangement. Though I believe Alabama is the best team in the land by virtue of its signature wins over Florida and Texas, you have to wonder how Boise State would have fared against the Tide had they been given the opportunity to play each other. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
Go Navy – Navy certainly is not on the level of most college teams, but they proved to be resilient this year, finishing out at 10-4 with a convincing bowl win over the Missouri Tigers. There is something about Navy and their triple option offense that I love: the Midshipmen play it with precision, giving the smaller, but fast Middies a chance to match up against big time programs. For the second time in three years, Navy beat Notre Dame too.
Heisman Winner – Mark Ingram, Jr. of Alabama was the Heisman trophy award winner, who also was the MVP in the championship game against Texas. Ingram played the season under a heavy cloud as his father is sitting in a Queens, NY jail awaiting sentencing for money laundering and other crimes that will likely have him behind bars for at least seven years. The former NY Giants player has lost his way; let’s hope that he gets back on the right path and that his son stays focused.
Big Ten – This eleven member conference has taken its lumps over the years, mostly for fielding teams who choked in big games A number of important wins this bowl season has changed all that, but that wasn’t the main news item for the league. Instead, the Big Ten is openly talking about adding a 12th member, the first time since Notre Dame turned the conference down more than a decade ago. Missouri has been named as possibility as have several Big East schools. No matter, if/when the decision is made, expect that move to have repercussions across the college football spectrum.
The season is over and with it our coverage of all things college football. As the college basketball season heats up, we’ll discuss the same, but you will have to wait until August before the conversation returns to all things gridiron.
Tags: Alabama, Big Ten, Boise State, Crimson Tide, Mark Ingram, Texas
