I was watching ESPN early Thursday morning, drinking a mug of hot coffee and nibbling on a link of Dixie Dandy sausage.
In between the hoopla of NFL coaching jobs and basketball highlights, I was pleasantly surprised to see a “Year in Review” segment for college football. It showed all of the season’s biggest moments. In the background jammed some inspirational music.
There were a few clips that gave me goose bumps. I closed my eyes in disappointment during others. But it was a great way to close off one of the most sporadic seasons of college football I think most of us have ever seen.
Triumphant comebacks, miracle plays and robbed wins happened weekend and week-out. The memories are fresh on our minds, those 15 weeks of pure BCS mayhem. Can another season this unpredictable happen again? Maybe. But I think it’s fair to say some of those moments were once-in-a-lifetime long shots that sports fans tend to dream of.
For a Georgia fan like myself, the season began with a botched field goal snap against Clemson, a win that could’ve locked the team into a top four ranking. Would they still have lost to Missouri, or even Vanderbilt, with momentum and a healthy team? I suppose we’ll never really know. The real question is: would that Auburn receiver still have miraculously caught a deflected pass for a game-winning touchdown? That will bug me for a little while, I think.
The Bulldogs were ranked the fifth best team in the country going into that Clemson game, before the missed field goal opportunity and before the plague of injuries. They ended the season with a whimper, ranked No. 22 and losing to unranked Nebraska in the Gator Bowl.
But it’s over now. The Bulldogs can rest, the Crimson Tide can rest, and the Trojans and the Blue Devils and the Longhorns can rest. All have been around the block this season, making headlines or falling hard. It’s over now. A new age can begin.
That “Year in Review” segment on ESPN was also a proper send off to the old era. The BCS turned 15-years-old this season. I’d say it’s only appropriate the last year of the BCS’ existence is also its craziest one.
Starting next season, NCAA will have a playoff system in place for the top four teams. It’s a slightly better opportunity for the best schools in the county to fight for a championship title.
It’s a fresh year full of fresh opportunities. At least, that’s the way I like to see it.
And with fresh opportunities come new experiences that make will makes us stronger, smarter and better versions of ourselves. That same idea applies to our favorite football teams returning to the gridiron next season.