Ten Top Tens For College Football: The Season Finale

Top Ten Teams

1) Utah—We had them No. 1 for months, not sure where all the Ute backers were then.

2) USC—If titles were won on talent alone, here's the title winner.

3) Texas—Same criteria I used all season, this is where the Longhorns are.

4) Florida—Congrats on winning trophy No. 3, the only thing missing now is a perfect season.

5) Oklahoma—A fine season for a fine program.

6) TCU—Solid defense and a win in one of the best bowl games of the season.

7) Boise—Lost in the end, but nothing to be ashamed of.

8) Oregon—The Ducks showed athleticism and pure guts.

9) Alabama—Exceeded every expectation.

10) Penn State—The Rose Bowl wasn't as close as the score and no one was fooled by it.

Top Ten Things That Made College Football Great in 2008

1) Tim Tebow—The poster boy for all that is right with the student athlete.

2) Joe Paterno—He's still got it.

3) Utah—Gave the BCS even less credibility.

4) The Red River Rivalry—Lived up to expectations.

5) Conference Championships—Made for a nice weekend of games.

6) The Freshmen—They were playing everywhere, and contributing as well.

7) The Cinderellas—From East Carolina to Buffalo, they struck every week.

8) Gameplan—When too much is just enough.

9) Bleacher Report—And a good time was had by all.

10) The College Football Place—This made it extra special for me.

Ten Things We Could Do Without From 2008

1) FCS Opponents—These shouldn't count at all, ridiculous.

2) Pointless Reviews—Does it take 10 minutes to confirm a catch or a fumble?

3) Bad Officiating—On more than one occasion, we saw incorrect ball spots which cost teams games.

4) Charlie Weiss—I am no fan of the Fighting Irish, but I think College Football is better when Notre Dame is good.

5) New Clock Rules—The 4th quarter is gone and the spread offense is in.

6) Teams with no defense—It's the public's obsession with offense which gives us so many over rated teams.

7) Fluff Articles—Can we limit these to one a month and at least have them actually be about football?

8) Hate—Way too much of this going around, and way too many people making personal insults.

9) 6-6 Bowl Teams—How is this a good season?

10) Sideline Penalty- The call in the SEC Championship was one of the worst timed all season.

Top Ten Things I'm Doing This Off Season

1) New Sites—I have several new sites on the way and I'm looking for good writers. Right now it's college hoops, pro football, and baseball. If you are interested get in touch with me, I'm not too tough to find these days.

2) Getting Some Sleep—While it doesn't always show, I've been doing 20 hour days since August.

3) Learning How To Spell—May have something to do with No. 2.

4) Writing Two Books—This is for me, if other people enjoy them than even better.

5) Learning How To Text Message—Maybe someday.

6) Getting Back Into Shape—I eat a ton of Pizza during football season.

7) Connecting More With The Blogging Community—I'm a football guy, they're Bloggers, somehow it works.

8) Improving My Video Quality—Who ever knew they would be popular?

9) Going to Manny's Fights—May 2, 2009 vs. Ricky Hatton

10) Doing Everything I Have Put Off  All Season—There's plenty.

Top Ten NFL Players We Saw In College This Year

1) Terrence Cody—He was College football's player who made he biggest impact.

2) Knowshon Moreno—The guy is a highlight reel, prefectly suited for the NFL game.

3) Ray Maualuga—A Pro Bowl regular.

4) Aaron Curry—Can lead a defense.

5) Percy Harvin—Will have a bigger impact than Devin Hester did.

6) Graham Gano—Will be in the league for 20 years.

7) Michael Crabtree—Randy Moss without the baggage.

8) Mike Mickens—Should be a star.

9) Beanie Wells—A lot of teams will be very interested.

10) Andre Smith—Instant starter.

Top Ten Reasons Matt Stafford Is An NFL Bust

1) Clueless—He always looks confused.

2) Loses Big Games—See Florida and Alabama.

3) Momentum Killer—Nothing kills momentum like a poorly timed time out.

4) Too Erratic—When he's cold, he's cold.

5) Bad Under Pressure—Seems to not know what is needed for a first down.

6) Plays Down To His Competition—Look at the games, the scores, and who the Dawgs played.

7) Doesn't Understand The Playbook—How else could you explain some of his actions?

8) Misses Open Targets—In bunches, a lot of those balls will be picks in the NFL.

9) Under Utilizes his Weapons—Georgia had no shortage of talent this year yet the Dawgs underperformed.

10) Can't Find The Open Man—Would rather throw to the guy who is covered for some reason. This is one guy who could really use another year.

Top Ten Things I Will Miss This Off Season

1) The Banter—while some take it way too serious, it's all in good fun on my side.

2) An Excuse To Be A Couch Potato—My wife let's me slide during college football, I see an art show or two in my future.

3) Pizza Being Delivered like Clockwork—I'm on a first name basis with the delivery people.

4) All Day Long Chats—We started the chats late in the season but most lasted all day and night.

5) Crunching The Numbers—Nothing better than when they all work out.

6) The Anticipation—I guess I'll be anticipating, it's just going to last a while.

7) The Routine—I had it down just right.

8) Picking Games—Next year I will be previewing and picking every game.

9) All Of The Fans—I know most people will hibernate until next season though I know a lot of us will still be here.

10) Game Day—Not the TV show (I never watch it), I mean the actual game day.

Top Ten Things I Learned This Season

1) There Are A lot Of People With A lot of Class All Over The Country—We don't always agree, but we love the game and would never use our disagreement to justify a personal attack.

2) What An Internet Troll Is—Defined by someone who doesn't use a name or picture of themselves and thinks that it gives them the right to spew hatred and lies about other people.

3) ESPN Makes Our Game Worse, Not Better—They cover a lot of games but their studio show has way more clout than it deserves and carries a lot more weight than it should.

4) HTML—Who would have thunk it?

5) I Can Watch 12 Games At The Same Time—That's how many commercials and stoppages there are.

6) Some People Can Dish Out Criticism But Can't Take It—I guess I knew that before.

7) Age Doesn't Make You A Better Writer—But the experience gives you much better first hand knowledge.

8) ESPN Cares A lot About My Prostate Health—What's with all these commercials?

9) Some Schools Really Want to Clean it Up—Discipline is back in style.

10) You Only Need 5 D-1 Wins To be Bowl Eligible—I am not going to stop talking about this until they change it.

Ten Great Moments From This Season

1) Crabtree's Catch And Run—We won't ever forget it.

2) Buffalo wins the MAC Title—Turner Gil proves a point in the process.

3) East Carolina Beats Virginia Tech And West Virginia—In back to back weeks no less.

4) Iowa's Field Goal To Beat Penn State—Changed everything.

5) Alabama Storming Into Georgia—Will go down as the greatest half of football in the history of the game.

6) USC-Ohio State—There should be an Out-of-Conference match up like this every week.

7) 19 Carries, 349 Yards—Two Words: Shunn White.

8) Colt McCoy's Completion Streaks—There were times he made us think he'd never miss again.

9) Vandy Goes Bowling—There were some other long droughts ended as well.

10) Joe Pa And Pete Carroll Side By Side—The all time winningest and the the best active winning percentage, quite a picture in Pasadena.

Top Ten Teams For 2009

1) Florida—They're on a roll.

2) USC—Any reason that says no?

3) Boise State—Young, loaded; did Utah break down a wall or two for them?

4) LSU—Too talented to not be in the mix.

5) Texas—May be higher than this in the polls.

6) Illinois—Wins the Big Ten going away.

7) Oregon State—If this was a rebuilding year, look out.

8) Florida State or Miami—The winner of this game will be in the hunt.

9) TCU—A young team who can play defense.

10) Rutgers—No team was hotter when the season ended.

Visit Mitch anytime at The College Football Place