After taking 11 weeks off to focus on school and other things, I’ll be back writing a column a week throughout December.  I’ll, for now, be mostly geared towards college football.  The weekly column will touch on one subject, and one subject only.  I hope everyone begins to read me again, as I work to gain back what I had.  I will let everyone know on any future ventures that are possibilities.  Until then, enjoy what I’ve got for you.  Thanks. -Hunter (contact links will be at the bottom of the column.).

How nice is it to be back, aye?  With all the bowl selections complete, and the final set of Playoff rankings out (for now), it’s time to go bowling.  But let’s back-track for a bit, and complain about, and praise (I guess you have to do a little bit of that, too) the committee.

So let’s go through the latest rankings, and see how long it takes before I get mad.

The Top Four:

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Michigan State
4. Oklahoma

I loved all the people who thought Alabama deserved to be No.1 overall.  It’s the biased SEC people who, for some reason, thought the Crimson Tide were better than the only undefeated team left.  Oh, and the team that beat a super-sneaky-good North Carolina squad (who’s much better than Florida) to win their conference.  Florida never had any shot in the SEC Championship with the way their offense was playing.

Really, I had no problems with the top four, probably because there wasn’t any controversy about who should be in.  I also had no strong opinion on who should have been given the No.3 ranking, though I did guess on Twitter Sunday morning it’d be Oklahoma.

We really need eight spots:

5. Iowa

6. Stanford

7. Ohio State

8. Notre Dame

Stanford won their conference, Iowa lost a heartbreaker, Ohio State is a media darling (so is this next team), and everyone loves to put Notre Dame in the spotlight.  See, committee, two of these four teams are your favorites!  Why aren’t they in the playoff? (I’m making fun of people now…).  Anyways, this is basically the part of the rankings where the committee has no real explanation.  Hey, at least they got the order right.

Best two-loss teams:

9. Florida State

10. TCU

11. North Carolina

I thought the committee got the order here right too.  However, TCU probably got the nod over the Tar Heels due to A) History and B) The tougher conference.  TCU’s and North Carolina’s bowl matchups are awesome.

Solid…

12. Ole Miss

13. Northwestern

14. Michigan

15. Oregon

16. Oklahoma State

17. Baylor

18. Houston

These were teams that dreamed, literally, about being in the Playoff.  They’re the teams everyone thought had that outside chance halfway through the season, Oklahoma State especially.  It just never truly worked out.  Houston was killed by the non-Power 5 factor (I’m surprised they were this low.)  Oregon and Michigan had serious lows and highs throughout the season, while Oklahoma State and Baylor were caught in the cluttered, and very competitive Big-12.

Weekly opinion changing

19.Florida

20.LSU

Florida and LSU have always had the high expectations, and since that’s the case, they’re media darlings and devils.  It seemed every week through this regular season, opinions changed on these two.  That’s not surprising for the Tigers, who’ve been sketchy for awhile, and have under-performed for the 2nd straight year.  And Florida, I don’t even wanna talk about them after the crap-fest that was the SEC Championship Game.

Wait, why aren’t you higher?

21. Navy

22. Utah

I really feel like these two should have Florida’s and LSU’s spots.  Navy and Utah didn’t quite have the record or resume, but these are two talented teams who never quite seem to hit the expectations.  Maybe that hurt them?

Bottom feeders

23.Tennessee

24. Temple

25. USC

Don’t go back and look at where I had USC this year.  Seriously…

---

 

I’m gonna do a bowl picks and New Years Six preview column eventually, but for now, I just want to gloat about some of these bowl games.  Here’s my favorites:

Favorites: BYU-Utah (Las Vegas Bowl), Toledo-Temple (Boca Raton Bowl), North Carolina-Baylor (Russel Athletic Bowl)

As you noticed, none of these are New Years’ Six bowls.  They’re all the lower ones that typically no one cares about, but these matchups are dandies.  UNC-Baylor could be a 77-70 final, BYU-Utah is a rare rivalry matchup in a bowl game, Toledo and Temple were two of the best mid-major conference teams in the country, and both had appearances in the top 25.

Final Heisman ballot: 

This is just unfair.  Look at these candidates:

• Deshaun Watson
• Derrick Henry
• Christian McCaffrey

I’ve struggled mightily with this.  The Heisman typically means the best, or the most outstanding player in the country.  In my opinion, that’s been Christian McCaffrey.  There have been only three games this year where he has rushed for less than 100 yards, and has an insane average of 5.8 yards per carry this season.  He broke the record for most all-purpose yards ever in a season, and he still has a game left.  He has done everything for Stanford this season, and it’s why they’re playing in the Rose Bowl.

However, there’s gonna be people who treat the Heisman like a MVP award, and in that case, it’ll be Derrick Henry.  Yes, Deshaun Watson is the quarterback, the most important position, for the best team in the country, but take away Derrick Henry from the Crimson Tide, and you’ve got just another mediocre SEC team with a good defense.  That guy has been this team.

The case for Deshaun Watson is there and is simple.  I already pointed that out.  It won’t surprise me if he’s picked, but I do think it’ll be one of the running backs.

If I had a vote…

1. Christian McCaffrey
2. Derrick Henry
3. Deshaun Watson

We’ll see Saturday.

---

 

Contact links:

Email: hunterhippel@gmail.com