As the final days of the year tick down, we take a look back at the most memorable moments that came to define college football in 2014. This year of college football will go down as one of transformation, as the sport switched from its BCS bowl model to a four-team playoff that will kick off on the first day of 2015.
Florida State and ACC end BCS era and SEC Stranglehold
It was a truly happy New Year for the millions of college football fans who were suffering with “SEC Fatigue” when the Florida State Seminoles of the ACC rallied with a late TD drive in the final seconds to defeat the SEC’s Auburn Tigers 34-31 for the final BCS National Championship. It was the first time that an SEC team failed to win the BCS title since the Texas Longhorns defeated USC in 2005. It was a fitting end to the BCS era which, while controversial, also served to grow the game on a national level like never before.
Alabama and Saban enter Life in the Fast Lane
The college football world laughed out loud when Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban hired Lane Kiffin as his new offensive coordinator. Kiffin had been badly discredited as head coach of the USC Trojans where he was fired on the tarmac of LAX a few months prior. But Saban saw ability where others did not and Kiffin was a major contributor to the Tide’s 12-1 season and the development of first year starting QB Blake Sims. Kiffin has now partially rehabilitated his image and will soon again be a hot head coaching prospect.
Penn State Probation Ends as bright Future Begins
While the long nightmare of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal at Penn State is not fully over, the NCAA did lift scholarship and bowl restrictions on Sept. 8. The Nittany Lions will be a program to keep an eye on for years to come with dynamic head coach and recruiting machine James Franklin coming off a successful first season and berth in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Mississippi Burning
October saw the release of the fifth AP Poll of the season that had the Mississippi State Bulldogs ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time in school history with the Ole Miss Rebels ranked No. 3. For a state that has long suffered from mediocre football far more often than not it was a watershed moment. Ole Miss’23-17 upset home win over Alabama on October 4 was among the greatest SEC games in recent history.
Perine tops Gordon in Back to Back Weeks of Record Setting Performances
On Nov. 16, Wisconsin RB Melvin Gordon ran for a NCAA record 408 yards in the Badgers 59-24 blowout win over Nebraska which sparked the beginning of the end for Cornhusker head coach Bo Pelini’s regime.
The following week Gordon was topped as Oklahoma Sooners RB Samaje Perine ran for 427 yards in OU’s 44-7 pasting of the hapless Kansas Jayhawks.
Sorry, Charlie
The miserable experiment of Charlie Weiss serving as head coach of Kansas was ended after four games and a 23-0 home shutout loss to Texas. Weiss has been a miserable failure as a head coach both at Notre Dame and at Kansas and bombed out as offensive coordinator at Florida. He has now proven once and for all that he has absolutely no business anywhere near a college campus. The entire Kansas administration deserves to be fired for the stupidity of hiring Weiss in the first place. Meanwhile Weiss’ agent deserves props for having his client draw two multi-million dollar paychecks from Notre Dame and KU for doing no work.
Cardinal Sins of Holliman spark Second Coming of Petrino
Head coach Bobby Petrino returned to Louisville for his second tour of duty as the Cardinals began their first season as members of the ACC. Safety and ace Brinksman Gerod Holliman sparked The Ville to a 9-3 record with 14 interceptions that tied the NCAA record set by Washington’s Al Worley.
Florida State Hate and Comebacks that were Beyond Great
The tired antics of 2013 Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jameis Winston and his perceived coddling at Florida State caused an entire nation to revolt in disgust and root against the Seminoles with gusto.
But while a nation hated it also gave grudging credit and respect to a Seminoles team that showed unmatched steel and resolve in stirring comeback wins over Clemson, Notre Dame, Louisville, Miami, and Boston College.
Ohio State Bucks Up with Urban Renewal
There was no doubt that head coach Urban Meyer would elevate the level of athletes and play at Ohio State but this season surpassed all expectations as Meyer turned in perhaps the greatest coaching performance of his career.
When original starting QB and Heisman Trophy candidate Braxton Miller was lost for the season in training camp due to a shoulder injury the Buckeyes were written off for dead. As backup QB JT Barrett was finding his way a 35-21 home loss to Virginia Tech seemed to doom OSU and their playoff prospects that were already considered to be shaky. But Barrett rallied to become a Heisman candidate in his own right as Ohio State never lost again.
The Bucks were yet again written off as a lost cause when Barrett went down to injury prior to the Big Ten championship game but third stringer Cardale Jones sparked underdog Ohio State to a 59-0 win over Wisconsin which was a powerful closing argument that put the Buckeyes into the first ever Final Four Playoff.
Raging Playoff Controversy
Ohio State catapulted over Baylor and TCU in the final balloting of the first ever College Football Playoff Committee despite the fact that TCU was ranked third the week before and was coming off a blowout win over Iowa State. With current and former athletic directors that maintain close ties to their respective conferences and with the politics that go with that it should come as no surprise that the final rankings sparked a firestorm and rage that continues to burn.
Power Program’s Change Coaches
Such marquee name brand power programs as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Florida Gators, Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan Wolverines all made coaching changes this past month. With Mike Riley going to NU, Jim McElwain moving to UF, and Paul Chryst coming home to UW the biggest coaching splash of them all could yet be made as Michigan is in an all-out blitz for favorite son Jim Harbaugh as he wraps up a disappointing season with the San Francisco 49ers.
Fall of OBC and UGA-ly Underachievement in SEC East
For the second consecutive season the SEC East Division championship was captured by the Big 12 also-ran refugee Missouri Tigers as the South Carolina Gamecocks and Georgia Bulldogs could not capitalize on what should have been a highly winnable title.
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier and Georgia head coach Mark Richt are both falling stocks after a season of missed opportunities.
Spurrier became erratic and worn as the season went on and did not do himself favors in the locker room by frequently throwing his coaches and players under the bus with blunt and juicy quotes. The Old Ball Coach vows to return in 2015 but must do some soul searching as he plots a season of redemption.
As for Richt, he continues to be admired by the UGA faithful as a good Christian man but is also derided for not getting the most out of his talent rich roster.
The 2014 Game of the Year Winner
Notre Dame at Florida State: Florida State became so hated this season that they managed to pull off the impossible: They made fans who normally hate the Fighting Irish into converts, for at least one game anyway. On Oct. 18, FSU hosted the Irish in a dramatic heavyweight bout of name brand programs on prime time national TV. The game boasted the highest viewership of the season with a final 7.9 rating. The matchup exceeded its already high expectations as Florida State took its only lead of the game with 7:39 to play on a 1-yard TD plunge by Karlos Williams to go ahead 31-27.
The Irish rallied with what was thought to be a game winning TD pass in the final seconds only to have it called back on a questionable pick play violation. The controversial call could not take away from the fact that the Seminoles 31-27 win was indeed the best game of 2014 in a season with many fantastic matchups to choose from.
