The Season In Review
November 30, 2007
And so, think weekend, the college football regular season comes to an end.
Which means two things: First, life gets pretty boring in the months to come; second, TCFA is about ready to call it a day. Or, season, I guess.
I always find it remarkable how fast the season passes. It feels like just yesterday that I was driving down I-80, at 4 a.m., fueled by adrenaline and bad rest-stop coffee, headed west to Happy Valley for the Nittany Lions season opener. And now, here we are, four short months later, and the 2007 season is all but over.
But what a season it was.
Yes, I know I say that every year. But this year, well, I really mean it.
Has there ever been a crazier season in college football? TCFA Hall of Famer Beano Cook may remember one (the 1960s and early 1970s were an eventful time), but I certainly don’t. The 2007 season broughts us oddities and upsets the likes of which we've never seen.
A quick review:
Item: A top 10 Michigan team lost to something called Appalachian State, in the Big House, on opening weekend. Even more remarkably Appalachian State is not located in Kentucky, but rather in North Carolina.
Item: Notre Dame went 3-9. They lost to Navy. And Air Force. But no worries: Charlie Weis is bringing in a great recruiting class.
Item: Nebraska may have won more games than the lowly Irish but also may have been even more terrible—the once-mighty 'Huskers defense gave up 76 points to Kansas State, 65 to Colorado, 45 to Oklahoma State, 49 to USC and 41 to Missouri.
Item: Southern Cal, the college football darlings of our friends at YankeESPN, lost at home to a 40-point underdog Stanford team. Later in the season, that same Stanford team got smoked by that horrible Notre Dame team. And despite all of this, we still have friends at YankeESPN promoting the Trojans as “the best team in the country.” I will give USC this much: They are the best team in the country that has lost to Stanford.
Item: Penn State coach Joe Paterno outlasted yet another colleague, as Michigan’s Lloyd Carr stepped down after "just" 13 years in Ann Arbor. Meanwhile, Joe said earlier this week that he hopes to coach for another few years. Whether or not the Nittany Nation wants him to coach another few years, however, is a different story.
Item: Finally, just about every team who ever had a shot at the No. 1 spot in the polls blew it. Mighty LSU lost in overtime. Twice. Ohio State lost, at home, to a team coached by Ron Zook. Oklahoma blew it ... at Colorado. USC blew it, as noted above, against ... Stanford. West Virginia lost to an overrated South Florida team. Kansas had a great run, then blew it.
And this weekend, in the Big XII Championship game, Missouri is likely to blow it, too.
At least, that’s what everyone expects. I know I do.
But after the season we’ve just seen—a season in which Indiana earned a bowl bid, a season in which a quarterback from Hawaii earned legitimate Suzuki Heisman hope, a season in which when Pitt coach Dave Wannestache tore up his knee “while walking”—it only makes sense that, against all odds, the Tigers will pull this one out.
Besides, if Appalachian State (of North Carolina, not Kentucky) can win in the Big House, why can’t Missouri win the national championship?