Going into bowl week of the college football season, many surprises and disappointments have happened this season.
In the spring, Colorado signed Deion Sanders as head coach. Sanders helped lead Colorado to become just the fourth team in FBS history to follow up an 11 loss season with a 3-0 start. However, since the “magical start”, Colorado has struggled to find their footing and have lost eight of their last nine games, including losing their last six.
“I think [Deion Sanders] has been great for college football. I actually almost went out and bought a Colorado shirt, and I might still go and do that even though I have never been a Colorado fan. I just love the excitement and energy he has brought to college football. I think he is building something awesome. I think he made a not so good move when he demoted his offensive coordinator. I think that is the first bad move he has done other than that, he’s done great,” CTE teacher William Woolf said.
Sanders has not been the only big news in college football. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been in the headlines quite a bit this season.
The Wolverines scandal forced the NCAA to suspend Harbaugh from being on the sidelines for the final three games of the regular season for stealing opposing teams signs. Although Michigan initially tried to fight the decision in court, after they won their first game during the suspension, they dropped the legal challenge.
“The allegations aren’t true because the NCAA just hates Jim Harbaugh and wants him gone,” junior Keller Weaver said.
However, many non-Michigan fans feel as though the NCAA should have been more harsh towards the Wolverines.
“I think they cheated, and they should be banned from playing in the playoffs this year, and they probably should be suspended for several years to come,” Woolf said.
One huge surprise from this season was the decline of the University of Southern California (USC). USC started off the year 6-0 before their loss to #21 Notre Dame 48-20, sending them down a spiral that has left USC losing five of their last six games, landing them outside of the rankings, and leaving many CFB fans questioning who on the coaching staff will still be there next season.
“I could say Lincoln Riley could be on the hot seat. USC is expecting a lot from him and he hasn’t delivered as much as they wanted him to,” junior Tyler Rhoades said.
Many arguments have risen across the nation for who made it into the College Football Playoffs (CFP) because the committee chose a one-loss Alabama SEC conference champion and a one-loss Texas Big 12 Conference champion over an undefeated Florida State (FSU) ACC conference champion because of FSU’s quarterback Jordan Travis getting injured, and their weaker schedule.
“I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee’s decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games,” FSU head coach Mike Norvell stated about the CFP Committee’s decision.
One of the biggest awards in all of college football is the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman award is given to the best player across the entire country every year and is typically a quarterback. This year, unlike previous years, the “Heisman race” is closer than ever leaving no clear frontrunner for the award.
“I think what makes a player a Heisman caliber player is having a lot of passing, receiving, or rushing yards along with a lot of touchdowns and based on how their team has been doing this year,” Weaver said.
The Heisman race has come down to three players: Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
Only time will tell who will win the National title, who will win the awards, who will come up just short for their teams, and who will go down in the history books of college football.
