In the interest of full disclosure, I would like to say that I went to bed during the 3rd quarter of last night's game. It was an anti-climatic way to end one of the best college football seasons that I can remember.
Each year it seems like the season goes by so fast, but when you think back on what we all thought in September, you realize how much has changed.
Remember when Geno Smith was the runaway Heisman trophy leader? Remember when USC was expected to play for the National Championship? Remember when no one knew who Johnny Football was?
The day after the National Championship, we now know everything.
After watching an entire season and way too many bowl games here is my final assessment of college football in 2012.
Alabama was, once again, the best team in college football. But more than Alabama being the best team, I am convinced that Nick Saban is the best coach in college football. Saban now has 4 national titles, which is tied for second all time only trailing Bear Bryant. I'm going to say right now, whether or not Saban ever gets to Bryant's six, Saban is the best college football coach ever.
Bear Bryant coached in what I like to call (appropriately) the Notre Dame Era of college football. This was the era dominated by the Fighting Irish, obviously, but its main characteristic was that it was all about tradition. If you were Catholic and you played football, you went to Notre Dame if they would have you. If you grew up in the south, and you were recruited by Bear Bryant, people would come over to your house to look at your phone, because that was the phone that Bear Bryant called. There was nothing wrong with this era, but the fact is that there was no where near the level of competition that exists today. You had a hand full of programs that were dominant, and that dominance begat more dominance.
Nick Saban is the best coach in college football because he is dominating what I call the Professional Era of College Football. Unlike the previous eras, the Professional Era's key characteristic is that money, success, and fame are it's driving influences. With almost every game televised either on cable or on the internet, there are kids from all parts of the country that have favorite teams on the other side of the nation. The college football world has become smaller and much more competitive. However, in this era of glitz, glammer, and all about me football, Saban has managed to sell his "program" to a group of talented players who buy in with completely. The Alabama football program, the way they recruit, the way they practice, the way they play, and the way they win is the envy of every other program in the country. It sounds simple, but if it were then everyone would be doing it. Saban's attention to detail and relentless pursuit of perfection drives the Alabama program daily, and his personality, while not fun at parties, is ideal for the profession he has chosen.
The second story line of the 2012 season is the SEC's continued dominance over college football. Seven straight national titles is unprecedented, but it doesn't tell the whole story. In the final AP poll of 2012, the SEC had 5 teams ranked in the top 9, with 7 teams in the top 25. If you want to know what makes the SEC the best conference in the nation you only have to think of one word: depth.
Depth of quality teams. In any given year, the champion from any other conference could beat the SEC Champion, but when you go team for team through the conference, the SEC is winning more head to head match-ups with the any other conference in the country. Just think about the stat I gave you earlier. 5 SEC teams ranked in the top 9.
Depth of quality coaches. We have talked about Saban already, but consider that Les Miles and Steve Spurrier both have national titles. Gene Chizik was just fired two years after winning a national title, because he couldn't keep up in the SEC. Contrast that with Mack Brown, who won a title in 2005 and played for a title in 2009. Brown hasn't won a conference title since, but his job is safe because in any other league in America, they have rational expectations about winning championships. Mark Richt is constantly criticized, not because he doesn't win games, but because he hasn't won a title. Kirby Smart is the best defensive coordinator in college football, and he could have had any open head coaching job he wanted this year, but he wants the right job (which is probably Alabama after Saban leaves) so he stays.
Depth of players is the real key. There are more current NFL players from the SEC than any other league. 10 of the first 32 picks in last year's draft were from SEC schools. Currently ESPN has 5 SEC schools in the top 10 in recruiting classes for 2013. It's not that the SEC gets all the great players, its just that the SEC gets more great players.
My third big observation at the end of this season is that ESPN has become too big for their britches. If I could, I would bring ESPN to court and charge them with over-hype. All you heard about before the national title game was Notre Dame. They did a PTI show that recounted all of the stories PTI had done on Notre Dame over the past 10 years. During the game last night, Musberger was basically begging Notre Dame to come back and make a game of it. I'm not saying ESPN was in love with Notre Dame, you just have to be aware of the unabashed way that ESPN reports "news." With shows like SportsCenter doing reports from games that ESPN will be broadcasting, you have to recognize that they have a financial interest in drumming up ratings for their own network. Ratings bring in advertising dollars, which is how ESPN can pay so much money to get games on their networks. It is a cycle of hype where "The world wide leader in sports" determines so much of what we care about. My goal from now on is to try to call ESPN out on the over-hype when it is happening.
We now have one more season under the current BCS system before the 2014 playoff occurs. The BCS has been the system in college football since 1998, which means that for most of my life, I have seen this system in action. The BCS was created because it was so much better than the alternative. Before the BCS we had a system where conference champions were slated to go to specific bowls and many times more than one team would be undefeated or there would be a legitimate question about who was the best team. The BCS was created to match up number one versus number two, and it has done that extremely well over the course of time. I can only think of two years, 2003 and 2004, when the system didn't work so well and in each of those years there were three teams with legitimate claims for being number one going into the bowl games. The looming playoff will be another step in the evolution of college football, but it won't be perfect. Just talking with friends, it's hard enough to come to any sort of agreement about who is the best team. I'm not sure how the proposed committee will do much better.
After watching all the games and seeing how the season played out here is my final Top 10 of 2012:
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Notre Dame
4. Georgia
5. Ohio State
6. Stanford
7. Texas A&M'
8. Florida
9. Kansas State
10. Clemson
There will still be a lot of players deciding to go to the NFL in the coming days, but here is my way too early Top 10 for 2013:
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. Stanford
6. Clemson
7. Texas A&M
8. Florida
9. Louisville
10. Notre Dame
Signing day is exactly 4 weeks from tomorrow and spring practice will start sooner than you think. College Football is now a year-round sport, but as the 2012 season comes to a close, shattered dreams turn to renewed hope.
GO DAWGS!
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