College Football's Final Rankings: Auburn Is the King
The 2010 college football season will be fondly remembered as the year of King Cam.
He came, he saw, he conquered.
Clues gave way to evidence of what Auburn was going to become early in the season when the Tigers displayed an indomitable will to survive in contests against Mississippi State and Clemson.
The skills of technique and execution began to materialize, as evidenced by victories over LSU and Arkansas, while a polished display of confidence would be apparent in wins over Alabama and Oregon.
A culture of perfection surrounded this self-proclaimed band of brothers. A responsibility to the team, as one feels toward a family.
Auburn is a team in the true definition of the word, all for one and one for all.
This is their year, their championship.
Welcome to their world.
The Top 10 Rankings: Final Edition for the 2010 Season
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When viewed from the conference perspective, these final rankings reveal three teams from the SEC, two teams from the Big 10, Pac-10, and Big 12, and one from the Mountain West.
Regarding regional identification there are no teams from the East, Mid-Atlantic, Rocky Mountains, or far Southwest.
Two schools each hail from the states of Oklahoma and Alabama. The same number call the West Coast and the upper Midwest home. Louisiana and Texas round out the regional outlook.
The diversity of location displays all of the best concerning what makes college football a national sport and not some local idea of how to pass the time each autumn.
The Top 10:
No. 1: Auburn
No. 2: Texas Christian
No. 3: Ohio State
No. 4: Oregon
No. 5: Stanford
No. 6: LSU
No. 7: Wisconsin
No. 8: Oklahoma
No. 9: Alabama
No.10: Oklahoma State
Say It Ain't So, Bo!
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A constant source of irritation among many fans concerns the blathering of conference rhetoric about who is the strongest and who is the weakest.
Large numbers of college football fans fall victim to the preference of regionalism when determining what schools are among the elite.
In past times, the Big 10 simply avoided going to any postseason event except the Rose Bowl.
This practice ended in the 1975 season when coach Bo Schembechler (see pictured) took his conference runner-up Michigan Wolverines to the Orange Bowl to challenge powerful Oklahoma.
The Atlantic Coast Conference struggled for years to obtain a "major bowl agreement" and was often passed over for a New Year's Day event.
The trifecta of Clemson in 1981, Georgia Tech in 1990, and Florida State in 1993 all winning national championships by defeating Nebraska in bowl games quickly greased the skids for an ACC arrangement with the Orange Bowl.
The Southeastern Conference, following Georgia's 1980 claim to the title, failed to produce another national champion until 12 years later, when Alabama upset Miami in the Sugar Bowl.
The storyline was the SEC was "too strong and they always beat each other," thus keeping any particular school out of the national title picture.
These examples are merely meant to demonstrate conferences have not always been able to face down each other in the postseason, where the "No. 2 selection from the PAC-10" confronts a similar opponent from the Big 12, and a measuring stick of performance can be directly applied.
Is the SEC the strongest conference? The league went 0-2 against the ACC. Maybe they are the weakest, or perhaps the ACC is the strongest.
The truth is we can only report the final results of how each conference performed in the postseason and determinations of who is the strongest may be purely a matter of conjecture according to one's particular preference.
Bleacher Report Bowl Prediction Results
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After weeks of Bowl projection input from readers all over the country, we have come to the end of the trail.
The challenge of predicting the winners of all 35 bowl games proved to be as difficult a task as can be imagined in college football.
Longtime readers such as Dan Boone and Zodiac each finished 17-18, while newcomer April Davis put on a great demonstration of knowledge as well, finishing 18-17.
April pointed readers in the right direction with her prediction of TCU over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
Dan, well known for his eclectic input and insightful remarks, is a longtime contributor of culture and entertaining information to the B/R. He is always a must-read, whether it be an article or comment.
Zodiac is known for accusations of regional bias while proclaiming all of the teams on the West Coast are the nation's best units.
Alabama sportsman Tim Croley, consistently at the top of predicting in 2008 and 2009, put together another impressive run with 19 correct this year. Tim is an inspiring individual who has brought a special talent for writing to the B/R and is much appreciated.
For a second straight year Brandon Hamblen muscled his way into the upper echelon with his superb knowledge of the ACC, SEC and Big 10. He predicted 20 winners correctly in the bowl games.
Brandon maintained all season Boise State would fall in the round he called and the Broncos did lay an egg in their late season trip to Reno.
A shocking individual performance was turned in by Jake Nazar, a fellow who tirelessly promoted his Maryland Terrapins during the late season.
Jake predicted 21 of the 35 games accurately. What makes this so fantastic is he is only 11 years old! He writes so distinctly we thought he was some kind of European Count!
Donnie called seven games with only two incorrect. He lead with his head over his heart when he went against his Missouri Tigers in the Insight Bowl.
Similarly, Brandon Cavanaugh had to watch as his Nebraska Cornhuskers were subjected to the torture of a dreaded bowl rematch with Washington.
Kevin McGrady, so knowledgeable and interesting, was able to see the Auburn Tigers fulfill his wish of a national championship this season.
As for Doc Masters, he fell over a four leaf clover and ended up 22-13.
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