Well, folks – we’ve had over a week to digest the conclusion of another season of college football. Guys, I hate to say it – but it was kind of disappointing. The cupcake games were as bad as ever. With the exception of the SEC Championship, the conference championships were “meh.” The semi-finals and championship games were all blowouts. No real shocking games outside of Ohio State-Purdue. This season wasn’t exactly one that I’d show a non-football fan and say, “MAN – if THIS doesn’t make you love the sport, I don’t know what will!”
That’s going to happen from time to time. And, I’m sure none of this hurt the amount of money the sport generated. But, it’s merely an observation – a broad, over-simplified review of the year that was. Before we officially close the book on the season, I’m going to look at the biggest disappointments of the year as well as the biggest surprises of the year (stay tuned). Today, we’re talking about the disappointments.
The College Football Playoff
Without question, the biggest disappointment of the season. The CFP was awful this year – Clemson rolled over Notre Dame, Alabama rolled over Oklahoma, and then Clemson rolled over Alabama. There were maybe….what? Two entertaining quarters? Oklahoma pushing Alabama in the 3rd and Alabama pushing Clemson in the 1st. Otherwise, YAWN. Just a boring trio of games….maybe we were just spoiled from last year’s Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl and the Alabama-Georgia National Championship.
Wisconsin
So much for my Alabama-Wisconsin National Championship prediction back in August. The Badgers were easily the most disappointing team in college football in 2018. They were poised for a big, big run. Jonathan Taylor still pulled off a 2,000+ yard season, but with Alex Hornibrook coming back and the Big Ten West being down, this should have been a banner year for Badger football. Instead they finished with a 5-4 record in the conference. Their best win of the regular season was Iowa, and they couldn’t beat a single one of the big dogs in the Big Ten. Losses included Penn State, Michigan, Northwestern, Minnesota, and BYU. They got the big bowl win over Miami (another disappointing team), but it wasn’t enough to erase the stink of this season.
The ACC
Can I put the entire ACC in here? I mean, my God. I thought Miami would be a playoff contender, and they really fell off the wagon in Mark Richt’s second year at the helm. Florida State fans were calling for Willie Taggart to be fired at one point. Virginia Tech was never the contender we thought they would be. All in all, just a down year for the conference, despite Clemson winning the National Championship. Who was the second best team in the ACC? Syracuse? Duke? It certainly wasn’t an overrated NC State. The conference was so bad that I was foolishly saying, “Clemson won’t win a playoff game because they haven’t been tested at all in the ACC.” PFFFFFT
Oklahoma State
The Cowboys were positioned as the Big 12’s dark horse team, and that honor ended up going to Iowa State. Instead of ever truly contending for the Big 12 title, the Cowboys struggled just to reach a bowl game. They were 3-6 in conference play.
Florida Atlantic
The Lane Train was in full swing heading into the 2018 season. FAU was supposed to be that dark horse ‘Group of Five’ team that was going to push the likes of UCF and Boise State for that one New Year’s Six bowl slot. Instead, things never clicked as they were supposed to. They finished 5-7 and missed a bowl game.
Auburn
The SEC was supposed to be another three-horse race in 2018. Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn – just like 2017. After an opening weekend victory over highly ranked Washington, it looked like that was going to be the case. Then, Auburn lost a close one to LSU. Then, they lost consecutive games to Mississippi State and Tennessee. They never stood a chance against Georgia or Alabama. They may be the “best five-loss team in the country,” but that certainly wasn’t the expectation.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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