It’s A Wrap: 2010 College Football Season Ends With A Bang

The college football season ended in dramatic fashion the moment Wes Byrum’s field goal sailed through the uprights with no time left Monday night. Auburn beat Oregon for the national championship, an amazing run for a team which had to rally to beat Alabama to get that far.[1]

This year, calls for a playoff season grew louder and were underscored by the tremendous run of one school, the TCU Horned Frogs, who also finished undefeated. In recognition for their stellar season, TCU finished the year ranked #2 behind Alabama and ahead of Oregon. TCU wasn’t invited to play in the championship game, but they did prove they belong with the nation’s elite teams when they dispatched Wisconsin 21-19 in the Rose Bowl.

Now that the season has ended, the following are some points we like to make:

Establish playoffs — The cash is certainly in the bowl games, but those games do not need to be scrapped for a 16-team playoff arrangement to be put in place. Hold the first games in early December with a two week break for exams. The quarter finals can be held near Christmas, the semi-finals near New Year’s Day and the championship one or two weeks later. The first games can be played at home with subsequent games played at neutral sites sponsored by the bowls, for a total of seven games.

New set up — The 2011 season will begin with Nebraska in the Big Ten and Utah and Colorado in the Pac 10. BYU is now an independent and TCU will be moving to the Big East the following year.[2] Other shifts may happen over the coming months, redrawing the college landscape once again.

Weak Big East — The SEC remains dominate, winning five straight BCS title games. On the other side of the spectrum, the ACC and Big East are weak with the BE looking especially pathetic. TCU’s move to the BE will help, but at least one more school needs to join to make the league a 10 team conference.

New coaches — The impatience of college football fans is made apparent when someone of the caliber of Rich Rodriguez is fired after just three seasons. The former West Virginia coach is now the former Michigan coach and has already been replaced by San Diego State coach Brady Hoke. Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh is moving to the NFL and Pitt fired two coaches within three weeks and has named Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley as replacement. UConn, Maryland, Virginia, Indiana, Temple and Miami are among the schools who have new coaches or are still looking for one. As the expression goes, “win or go home…” when it comes to colleges and their football coaches.[3]

Thanks for following us this football season as we covered the highlights (and lowlights) of the season. With the men’s basketball season approaching the half-way mark, we’ll turn our attention to the courts, carrying you through to Final Four action in April.