Championship Week
PAC-12: (10) Oregon 10-38 (14) Utah
Look, I only saw Oregon three times this year and they lost all three times, so I saw nothing that would suggest they could even come close to Ohio State and I have no idea how they won that game. But make no mistake: beating the Buckeyes was the only thing they did all year and it kept them in the top 10 into December even though this team was never very good. Watching them get housed by Utah (for the second time in a month) was not interesting, not surprising and only confirmed all my darkest thoughts about Oregon. Utah, on the other hand, looks like a tough squad, man, I don't know who they'll be bowling up with, but I wouldn't wanna play them.
Big-12: (9) Baylor- 21-16 (5) Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State gifted Baylor two 1st quarter interceptions that both went for TD's. If not for the Cowboys' QB making a coupla sloppy passes, I think OSU wins this game by three TD's! Oklahoma State was the better team in every way--save those two bad throws--and should've dominated the shit out of this game. But somehow they didn't. Instead, they dug themselves a hole and couldn't wriggle back out of it even though they were the better team throughout. (Maybe just me: but I would've replayed that lunge at the goal line early in the 4th quarter that eventually led to an OSU FG, I think it was a TD and it was worth a replay, even if 1st down and goal inside the 1 feels like easy money) Great W for Baylor, really disappointing loss for Oklahoma State.
Mountain West: Utah State 46-13 (19) San Diego State
Apparently SDSU (I didn't see them at all this year) had serious injuries all over their roster and were basically playing a skeleton crew. Well, whatever transpired, Utah State got to kick some fuckin' ass on this Saturday and go home champions (good for them).
Sun Belt: Appalachian State 16-24 (20) Louisiana
I saw none of this game or any Sun Belt games all season long. Louisiana got their coach poached by the SEC, so must've been a good year for the Cajuns.
SEC: (1) Georgia 24-41 (4) Alabama
We wondered what would happen if UGA's QB had to make plays against a good squad...then we wondered if Alabama was actually a good enough squad to make him work. Well, Bama was good enough and UGA's QB was not up to it. Nor was UGA's vaunted defensive line and LB's, who mostly got routed. This year I saw Bama lose to A&M, pull out lucky wins against Auburn and Florida and stomp Ole Miss; they clearly were not particularly consistent this year, weren't really sure if they were good enough (but all the time we knew deep down that they were). UGA struggled with Clemson and then breezed through the rest of their schedule (toughest game was Kentucky...no, I'm serious--they really didn't play anyone better than Kentucky all year!), so while they looked dominant, they weren't really much tested. Okay. Georgia has been tested and Alabama has shown that they really do belong at the top of the table. So can Alabama do it again? Will Georgia get smacked around like that again? We're gonna find out...
Conference USA: (16) Houston 20-35 (3) Cincinnati
Cincy is for real, man, this team is good, they play tough defense, they've got a stand up QB and a solid attack. They haven't played any SEC-ish opponents and they may well get dusted off in a bowl game, but I don't think they will. I think they're really good and are gonna hang just fine in the playoff. As for Houston, well, they had a good season, made a game effort of it, good run.
ACC: (17) Pittsburgh 45-21 (18) Wake Forest
Wake was up 21-14 at the end of the 1st quarter and it felt like we were gonna get the shootout we'd been promised. But, no, Pitt kinda flexed a much better than expected defense and smooshed Wake for the rest of the match. You knew both of these teams had offense, but Pitt had more than that. Really a hell of a good W for the Panthers. Still a great season for Wake Forest.
Big-10: (2) Michigan 42-3 (15) Iowa
Yeah, Iowa has a nice defense but that offense was never gonna compete with Michigan. Michigan busted open the playbook, really wanted to scorch this championship and they did. Good run for the Wolverines, they deserved the B-10 championship and they got it. So...do they get Georgia or Alabama next?
My final rankings:
(1) Alabama, (2) Georgia, (3) Cincinnati, (4) Michigan, (5) Notre Dame, (6) Ohio State
Bama dropped 41 on the #1 team (and #1 defense) and only had 1 loss, they deserve to be #1.
UGA is still better than most everyone else, took a tough L to a tough team, not a bad loss.
I've been impressed with Cincy all season long, they handled their business at every stage and deserve the #3 spot (and I wanna see a rematch with Georgia--they just played last year, let's see what that match looks like now).
Michigan did what they needed to do to get to this point (and I wanna see them against Bama--I can't recall Alabama and Michigan ever playing each other, I wanna see it!)
Notre Dame started slow (and lost their coach along the way) but they were really ballin' by the end of the season.
Ohio State also started slow but had that offense humming by season's end.
...And for what it's worth:
(7) Ole Miss, (8) Baylor, (9) Michigan State, (10) Utah, (11) Pittsburgh, (12) Oklahoma State, (13) Brigham Young, (14) Oklahoma, (15) Louisiana, (16) Iowa, (17) Wake Forest, (18) Houston, (19) Oregon, (20) North Carolina State, (21) Clemson, (22) Texas A&M, (23) Kentucky, (24) Penn State, (25) San Diego State
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