And that’s that.
It’s hard to call the inaugural 12-team playoff anything but a success. Maybe it’s a tad odd all of the top-four bye teams lost, but overall it was a ton of fun to watch. And once again, the Ohio State Buckeyes take advantage of a new playoff format to win a national title they otherwise wouldn’t have qualified for.
I finished with a 27-19 record in the bowl games, and the overall stats have been updated. I’ve been at this a long time. I will personally turn 40 years old soon, and it’s hard not to get reflective. I’ve been predicting bowl games since I was 14 and writing this site since I was 21. My life has changed tremendously since then (especially in the past couple of years). Sports have been a constant. I’m writing this during the Swiatek-Keys semi-final in the Australian Open (my favorite tennis tournament and one that I hope to attend someday). Last summer I finally attended an Olympics, visiting Lyon, Saint-Etienne, and Marseilles to see our national soccer teams.
I tend to think of the year broken up by whatever sport is on. January through the Super Bowl is playoff football, tennis, college basketball (at least in years where Tech is good, which, well, isn’t this year). March is… Madness. I love baseball, but I don’t start to get excited until Opening Day. Not much marks the time for me like a baseball season’s phases: the opening months before Memorial Day (the traditional mark where I start paying attention to the standings), the beginning of summer to the All-Star break, the dog days of August. College football is important, but in the current Braves era I don’t really get completely in until sometime in October. Fall Saturdays are huge for me, and though in recent years I’ve found it more difficult to just block a whole day (dang friends and hobbies) chances are my phone is streaming a game. (Obviously, Tech is still appointment viewing for me. It does help we’re a lot more fun to watch these days, I have to admit.)
Last season I wrapped up with a short paragraph about the change in the sport. Change it did. West Coast teams in the Big Ten may never not be weird. I’m joking a lot less than I’d care to admit when I say things like “Maryland is obviously still in the ACC”, and those four teams fit in much less well than the Terps. I may never get over Washington State and Oregon State getting screwed. And none of this really even approaches the Bay Area schools and SMU in the ACC, though at least we did get #CalTwitter exposed to a nationwide audience. (Also Cal-Miami may be one of the games of the year, even if it wasn’t the preferred outcome.)
There were good things, too. The Arizona schools being in the Big 12 feels spiritually correct, and Colorado re-joining most of their former Big 8/12 brethren is obviously correct. While too many rivalries are in peril, the Holy Way being a yearly game again is correct. The playoff, even with the whining about the byes and the first round games, was fantastic.
As usual, things will be slower around here these parts for next, oh, seven months or so. But look for me around August 23rd, as we’ll have at least two potential bangers out of Stanford at Hawaii, Fresno State at Kansas, and, oh yeah, Farmageddon live from Dublin, Ireland. See you then.