With Auburn knocking off Oregon to win the national title last night, here are my final thoughts leaving the year of college football.
1. In the “new Big 12,” Missouri and Kansas State will be fine. Missouri knocked off Oklahoma and Texas aTm, two of the best teams from the Big 12 South last year. Kansas State stomped Texas and played a great Oklahoma State team respectable and played Baylor tough. It’s unfair to expect conference title after conference title and the round robin play will be tough. However, both Missouri and Kansas State performed reasonably well against the South this year.
2. Oregon is now an elite program. They lost last night, but Oregon has entered the upper tier of elite programs, making back-to-back BCS bowl games and finally playing for a national title. Oregon is the program of the West right now, along with Boise State. They’ve always been solid the past decade or so, but Chip Kelly has taken that program to an elite level.
3. Nebraska had the most bitter 10-win season ever. The Cornhuskers lost to Texas, Texas aTm and Oklahoma – the three schools they wanted to beat the most this year in their final year in the Big 12. Then, they lost a garbage bowl game. Ten win seasons usually don’t suck. They do, however, if you are the 2010 Nebraska Cornhuskers.
4. Missouri took a step up this year despite the tough bowl loss. There’s a really good chance Blaine Gabbert and Aldon Smith will be drafted in the Top 20 for Mizzou this NFL Draft. Having multiple underclassmen come out and get drafted in the first round is huge for a program. Putting kids in the NFL after their junior year helps recruiting in a huge way.
5. How will Texas recover from a down-year? The team’s coaching staff was raided and the younger players down there just plain struggled during the year. It’s too early to assume the Longhorns will recover from this.
6. Oklahoma is the favorite to win next year’s national title. The Sooners were pretty young this year and uber-talented. Bob Stoops had one of his best coaching jobs this season and with Ryan Broyles coming back, the Sooners should be the big early favorite in the Big 12 and a huge favorite to make the national title game.
