So far, the 2015 college football season has not disappointed much. There have been plenty of exciting finishes an unexpected ending. There are a lot of teams having great success that seemingly came from nowhere (I'm looking at you, Oklahoma State and Iowa), and there are also some teams that seem to have vastly underachieved (sorry Ole Miss and Georgia, among others).
Even though we are going into the 11th weekend of college football this year, it still feels like it is just the beginning. We have reached that exciting part of the season when everyone starts to feel the pressure. Rivalry games are played. This is the time of the season that everything just gets crazy. As we prepare for the wild ride that the next month or so will bring, I thought I would highlight some of the feelings and events that college football fans experienced in the first two months of the season.
That moment when you're watching a Tuesday night football game and realize you have a problem...
Whether it's football or something else, everyone's been here one way or another.
Rationalizing staying in school an extra year so you can get another football season
Come on, everyone at a school with a major college football team has thought about it. It's about that time of year when people need to start declaring graduation dates. Sure, you couldn't finish out in the summer. But you know what's better than that? Football! Nothing feels better than being in the student section on a Saturday night. It'll be hard to part ways when it comes my time...That mini heart attack you get when your favorite player goes down
No one wants to see anyone get injured, but especially when it's a player essential to your team's success. I know that sounds terrible, but you were all thinking it... I just said it. There have been a few key players around the country (namely, Nick Chubb) that have gone down. In their absence, their teams have gone down as well.Your school has a football team???
This year, there seems to be a seemingly large influx of teams that are not traditionally very successful who have played very well. The main one that sticks out is Iowa. Even though they are from a major conference, they are never in the spotlight. There are also some mid-major teams having great seasons, one being Temple. I didn't even know they had an FBS football program before this season. Now they're ranked. Where
Ole Miss rose up.... and then crashed and burned
After rising up to number 3 in the country (and beating Alabama, nonetheless), Ole Miss traveled to Florida and was blown out on the road. With playoff hopes still hanging by a thread, the Rebels traveled to Memphis and lost to an underdog in embarrassing fashion. Since then, they have completely fallen off the map.Whenever you hit an all time low, anything is exciting...
I Iaughed at this meme before watching the Pigs whip LSU up and down the field on Saturday night. As an LSU fan in the stadium, there was not much to cheer about. If I remember correctly, I don't even thing the Tigers won the coin toss. This is really more descriptive of the start of Arkansas' season. At the end of the day, however, they still live in Arkansas...
Tennessee's relationship with winning: it's complicated
The Tennessee Volunteers are also a team that was hyped up before the season, and rightfully so. The team possesses a lot of talent, but they cannot win any big games. In games against Alabama, Florida, and Oklahoma, they have led by more than one score and lost on 4th quarter drives. Extremely frustrating for a Volunteer's fan base that hasn't had a good team to cheer for inBeating cupcakes early on in the season gives fans false hope
In September, Georgia looked like a promising candidate to win the SEC. Now in November, it seems like the fan base is asking for their coach (Mark Richt) to be fired. Georgia did have a rough October, losing 3 out of 4 games. The lone win in October came from an ugly 9-6 victory against Missouri. Regardless, the Bulldogs will make it to another 'toilet' bowl this year. The mediocrity seems to not be sitting well with the Georgia faithful.
What happened to Oregon?
Remember when Oregon made the college football playoff? Oh yeah, that was last year... This season, they have seemingly fallen off the map. Ever since they lost by 42 points at home to Utah, no one has heard much about them. To be fair, the Ducks have turned things around lately and are not having a terrible season by normal standards, but no one wants to be normal in college football. Maybe they're just depressed because they have no national championships.The announcers on CBS, what are they doing?
Over the years, there has been much groaning by fans over the announcers of the CBS afternoon broadcast. Uncle Verne and Gary can never seem to get much right and ramble on like many announcers do. Part of me wants them to hang it up, but they do kind of grow on you like that idiot friend you may have. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, the pair can be compared to Waldorf and Statler from the Muppets (they sort of look like them too).
Jim McElwain... chill out!
In his first year at Florida, Coach Jim McElwain already has a team that has won an SEC East division title. He has proven himself in a very short time to be an effective coach. His methods must be working, but maybe he should tone it down a little bit judging by this video of him
Still waiting for Texas A&M to stop somebody....
Ever since they joined the SEC in 2012, the Texas A&M Aggies have had a hard time adjusting to the new style of play. It seems as if their defense is incapable of stopping anybody. It seems as if there is some improvement after stealing LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis, but the Aggies are still number 71 in the country in total defense according to NCAA.com. In other words, their defense sucks.The excitement (or shock) you get with a crazy ending
There have been several crazy finishes this season. The excitement these wild games generate is why people love college football. One of the most notable is the ending of a game between two in-state rivals. Early this season, Michigan had Michigan State on the ropes at home with just a few seconds left in the game. All they had to do was get a punt off, and the game would most likely be theirs. That's when everything went wrong... The ending can be found here.That feeling you get when your undefeated team loses...
This happens to most college football fans at some point or another. Last weekend, it happened to TCU and Michigan State fans. And as much as I hate it, my LSU Tigers also lost their undefeated record last week in Tuscaloosa. These things heal with time, but for now, I'm still in mourning. Lou Holtz (an ex-coach and ESPN analyst with a slight lisp) knows how to deal with it.
The frustration you feel whenever the College Football Playoff poll comes out...
What kind of system are these playoff committee members going by??? Only two week in, it seems like they are drawing their rankings out of a hat. From the looks of the Top 4 this week (Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame), it looks more like the committee is going for TV ratings rather than objectively ranking the best teams. Time will tell who the best teams actually are (hopefully).