Unless you’re into the Senior Bowl, Shrine Bowl, or another college allstar game that melts your butter, college football is over, as is The Weekend That Was College Football. Four months ago, we decided to blow your collective minds with a weekly recap of the previous weekend’s college football action. We navigated our way through the entire college football season and have emerged on the other side with our mission accomplished – critics have acclaimed TWTWCFB as a critically acclaimed mind blowing!

So, without further ado jump with us into the final The Weekend That Was College Football…

Wait? What do you mean there wasn’t any college football last weekend to recap? I guess we’ll have to go through the final week of the season’s bowl games then.

Unless you’ve been asleep for the last week…you are most likely aware that Texas topped Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl last Monday to the tune of 24-21. Plenty has been said concerning the game so there’s probably no need in reminding you how easily containable the Big XII offenses were when they had to actually play a defensively formidable team or to bring back the notion that the Buckeyes and Sweatervest can’t win a BCS game…no need to talk about those things. Instead, let’s look at the stars for each team and their plans for Fall of ‘09. Texas: Colt McCoy has decided to return for his senior season and will have his favorite target, Jordan Shipley, back to toss bunches of TD’s (Shipley was granted a 6th year of eligibility). For tO$U, Terrelle Pryor will obviously be back for his Sophomore year. Unfortunately, his backfield mate, Beanie Wells has already declared himself available for the NFL draft.

Tulsa beat Ball State in the GMAC Bowl…blah blah blah. The only story here is why this game was ever played post January 1. Go ahead, justify that for us.

(Miz speaking here) It’s settled, it’s done, and it’s consensus…the Gators are champs; BCS AND AP national champions. And, rightfully so after legitimately working their way into the #1 vs. #2 game and winning that game against a legitimate opponent in Oklahoma. Since that’s finally out of my system, I can get back to normal…I HATE THE GATORS!! Now, the universe is back in appropriate alignment so I’d like to hand this part over to Trey, who witnessed the game live in Miami, for his unique perspective. Trey?

Why thank you Miz…I’ll try and get a little story together of my experience (with photos), but it will likely be Tuesday. What Urban Meyer is building at Florida could be what Miami was in the 80s. Lots of talent, lots of great coaches, and lots of hype to keep them near the top. The Gators will likely open ‘09 as the #1 team in the country, and with a light schedule, they could very well be playing in Pasadena on January 7, 2010.

Meanwhile, back in Utah…Sure they deserved to be a part of the discussion. And sure they are a very good team. But ask yourself this when declaring Utah as National Champions because they were undefeated. Five weeks ago, who was everyone saying got the shaft? Utah or Texas? Thought so…Those media types that are now declaring Utah your National Champs are the same ones that come off as if they don’t even watch college football (thinking of a certain PTI host), or just want to see the system go down (a certain Detroit columnist), or just from Utah (everyone from Utah).

As humble as I’ve been on here all year…Back on August 31^st, 2008 I was in New York City at the Ginn Mill on Amsterdam watching Hawai’i and Florida lock arms. During one point of the game I looked at my former roommate and fellow UF alum and said, “I always think my teams are going to suck, but I guarantee this, this Gator team will probably win it all.” Or something like that, I had a few. He was shocked that such a bold prediction came out of my mouth. Of course after the loss to Ole Miss I kinda’ doubted that statement, but it was still made.

There was no truth to the rumor that the seismic reading in Gainesville on Sunday afternoon stemmed from the Swamp...(Looking at you LSU) Because #15 has decided to pass up the NFL Draft to give it another go in college. After tugging at the heart strings of Florida fans for 5 minutes, Florida QB #15 began to walk off the stage, only to turn around with one more thing to say…he’s coming back. (miz note: damn.)

Our way way too early 2009 Top 5:

Trey:
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Virginia Tech
5. LSU

Miz:
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Virginia Tech
4. USC
5. Alabammer

Overrated/Underrated: One last time – Conferences.

ACC:
Trey: Underrated. So this conference didn’t have a dominant team, they did have a lot of solid ones. The ACC put 10 teams in bowl games. 10! You have to be doing something right. Look out for Virginia Tech next year.
Miz: Underrated. The ACC has been viewed as underperforming in recent years since the addition of some football powers. Based on that perception, there’s no question the conference was underrated by placing 10 out of 12 teams in 10 of the available 64 bowl game slots.

Big East:
Trey: Overrated. The Big East gets a bad rap, but league champ Cincinnati was taken to the shed by Oklahoma. With no real nationally prominent team in 2009, it should be an interesting year.
Miz: Overrated. There’s not a conference that has such a stark contrast between its members’ national relevance in the football and basketball conversations. The Big East will be lucky to have one team in the preseason top 25 polls.

Big Televen:
Trey: This is a tough call, but about right. The Big 10 is hurting on a national scale, and after a 1-7 bowl record they haven’t had it this tough in quite some time. I expect a rebound in 2009.
Miz: I think the Big 10 did a bit better than was expected. Despite losing their respective bowl games, Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan State, all had respectable seasons. It somewhat pains me to say this, but slightly underrated.

Big 12:
Trey: A tad bit overrated. A lot of people were a suspicious of the dominating Big 12 South, mainly because they were all beating the same teams. Then the bowls happened…
Miz: The 2008-2009 season for the conference as a whole was nothing short of excellent when it’s put into the perspective of the national attention it received. I’d say GameDay spent a straight month in Big XII country during the stretch of big games involving Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech; you can’t buy esposure like that. Now, as far as final results go, the conference was slightly overrated. Those dominant Big XII offenses didn’t fare quite so well against anything resembling a decent defense.

MWC:
Trey: Underrated, a big 2009 from the MWC could earn them a permanent spot in the BCS lineup when ESPN takes over in 2010.
Miz: Underrated, but largely because it’s a “mid-major” conference. The conference’s performance in out of conference games agaisnt some of the bigger-boy-conferences would earn their top team an automatic berth in a BCS game over the Big East.

Pac 10:
Trey: About right. After a dreadful start, the Pac 10 really got their stuff together.
Miz: Overrated. If USC wasn’t one of the 10, it’d be a dreadful conference on a similar level with the Big East.

SEC:
Trey: Underrated. The Bowl season showed, the SEC can still matchup with anyone. And they’ve won 4 of the last 6 National Championships.
Miz: To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. If you’d asked me prior to the SEC championship game, I would have answered overrated by a bit. Now, factoring in general bowl game performance and the national championship staying in conference, I’d have to change my answer to underrated when considering that end of season perception. But, considering the preseason conference perception, I’ll have to say the conference was just right.

In Closing…

Trey: It’s been a great season ya’ll (I know…”duh Trey your team won”) But honestly, college football is my passion. I can watch Ball State and Western Michigan go at it on a Tuesday night (at least for a little bit). Being able to relay the week, well, that’s just icing on the cake. I’d like to thank Sparty for giving me a shot at putting something together when I asked him last summer. Miz for emailing me with a small idea, that turned into some fun banter (This whole idea came from his idea for a back and forth UF/UT article). TWTWCFB will be back next summer, and better than ever.
Miz: As with Trey, college football is my #1 sports passion. Participating in The Weekend That Was College Football has been a great experience and priviledge and I’m already pumped about starting it up again next summer. The back-and-forth with Trey in the posts and the comment banter with everybody else has been excellent. While the official weekly recap part of TWTWCFB will be on off-season hiatus, we’ll still have a few special exclusives periodically. Stick around because, fortunately, college football never really ends!

GITC note: Here is Will Forte’s BCS song from Weekend Update on SNL this weekend. And yes, I have become the best at embedding video. Enjoy!

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