Cam Newton, BCS Fraud and Conference Realignment Dominate the 2010 Season

The 2010 season was a crazy one with many different stories making the headlines.  Here are the top 10 in no particular order.

Cam Newton

Newton orchestrated the best season ever by a college football player.  He accounted for 4,300 yards of offense and 50 touchdowns while winning the Heisman Trophy and leading the Tigers to their first National Championship since 1957. 

When he wasn’t scoring touchdowns, he was fighting off the controversy surrounding his father’s alleged attempts to extort money from Mississippi State last year.  Investigations are pending, but this story continues to dominate the headlines.

Considering that his stock will never go higher, it is no surprise that he is turning pro.

TattooGate

Just three weeks ago, Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, Mike Adams, DeVier Posey and Solomon Thomas were suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for selling Big Ten Championship rings, jerseys, gold pants, pendants and receiving improper discounts on tattoos. Stupid mistake made by these young men. 

The NCAA stirred the fire when they ruled that all five play in the Sugar Bowl.  Fair or not, all of them delivered against the Arkansas Razorbacks giving the Buckeyes their first bowl win against an SEC team. 

Conference Realignment

Nebraska heads to the Big Ten, Colorado and Utah bolted for the PAC 10, Boise St. joins the Mountain West and finally, TCU leaves for the Big East.

All the moves are good for the conferences joined, but the Big 12 missed the boat with TCU.  A natural geographical and educational fit, the Horned Frogs belong in the Big 12, not the Big East. 

The re-alignments are probably not finished.  The Big East, Big 12, SEC and maybe the Big 10 are eyeing additional changes in the near future.

Pre-Season Poll Fraud 

Florida and Texas were both top five.  Nebraska, Virginia Tech and Iowa were all top 10.  Georgia, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Penn State, Oregon State and West Virginia were all in the top 25.  Not even close. 

Pre-season polls are never going away because there are too many egos out there trying to predict how the season will unfold—including me.  However, there is zero debate about the legitimacy of these polls.

BCS Fraud

Between the polls, the schedules and the non-AQ bias, the BCS gives us a paper champion year after year.  This is no fault of the teams who compete for the title.  They are legitimate winners based on the system, but a playoff is the only fair way to settle who deserves to be champion. 

Florida and Texas Downfalls

No one expected perfection from the Gators or Longhorns, especially after losing Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy.  No one thought they would go 8-5 and 5-7, respectively either.

Since they missed the post-season for the first time under Mack Brown’s tenure, the Longhorns’ fall was more significant, but the Gators were so inept offensively that one has to wonder if Urban Meyer really resigned last year.    

The tumultuous seasons led to major changes within both programs. This time Meyer did resign, and Texas Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp replaced him.  Additionally, longtime Texas Offensive Coordinator Greg Davis was sadly forced to retire despite generating some of the best offenses in college football over the last 13 years. 

Quack Attack

Darron Thomas and LaMichael James accounted for 5,100 yards of offense and 56 touchdowns in leading the Ducks to a 13-1 season, and a near upset of Auburn in the BCS title game. 

Despite being tamed by the Tigers on Monday, Oregon’s attack was impressive to watch throughout the season.  Scoring at will with amazing quickness, teams had to fake defensive injuries just to slow down its offense.

Chip Kelly will have to recruit bigger offensive linemen if he wants to win a championship.  Ohio State beat up on the Ducks’ line in the Rose Bowl last year, and Fairley was a one man wrecking crew in the title game.

Rich Rodriguez Saga

Rodriguez was on the hot seat entering the season, and he did little to take himself off of it.  The Wolverines started well again, but quickly faded in Big Ten play where the competition was much stiffer.

Many will put much of the blame on the defensive issues, but Michigan’s offense was hopeless against strong defenses.  Denard Robinson was a one man show, but good teams were easily able to stop him. 

After another blowout loss to the Buckeyes and an embarrassing loss to Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl, Dave Brandon finally showed Rodriguez the door.

Player Misconduct

From North Carolina’s woes to the Buckeyes to A.J. Green, the list of players getting in trouble is at an all-time high.  Perhaps the Internet age is revealing problems that were once swept under the rug, but it is hard to ignore the rise in off-the-field issues at the major programs.

The NCAA’s severe punishments might bring a slight improvement, but there are just too many athletes to monitor to expect anything substantial.  Furthermore, expecting coaches or the schools to police the players is absurd.  They have a vested interest in seeing these kids perform.  Only the egregious offenders will be disciplined.