A few thoughts on a memorable college football season

Packing away the college football season is a bit like taking down Christmas decorations. It’s a little bittersweet, especially when the season ends with one of the most dramatic college football games ever.

Here are some reflections on the season and thoughts on the game in general.

▪  The College Football Playoff system needs to stay just like it is. No system is perfect, but this is as close as it gets. The playoff was created to bring the best championship game possible and to reasonably ensure that any undefeated team (vis-à-vis Auburn, 2004) has a chance to play for the national championship.

It’s not to placate as many schools as possible. First of all, this isn’t T-ball. Secondly, no system can be all inclusive. Look at the men’s basketball tournament. Every year, there are a few teams with .500 conference records griping because they got snubbed. Memo to all of those teams: Want to play for the national championship? Win more games.

Here’s what an eight-team playoff would have looked like, assuming the rankings would have been the same:

Bracket 1 – No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 5 Penn State vs. No. 6 Michigan

Bracket 2 – No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Washington

Then Southern Cal at No. 9 would have been complaining, even though the Trojans started the season 1-3. Want to win a national championship? Don’t start off 1-3 as USC did or don’t quit as Florida State did against Louisville.

▪  Covering college football games is my biggest thrill. Three plays that I happened to see first-hand in some ways shaped the seasons for their teams.

The first was at Auburn, when LSU appeared to have won on a last-second touchdown, but the play was nullified after replay proved LSU failed to snap the ball before time expired. LSU fired Les Miles and Auburn revived its season and made it to the Sugar Bowl.

The second was Tennessee’s Hail Mary touchdown pass to beat Georgia. I really think that loss stuck with the Bulldogs for the rest of the season, certainly through the next week against Vanderbilt.

The third play was when Alabama’s Eddie Jackson returned a punt against Texas A&M and sustained a broken leg. It’s hard to say ’Bama would have beaten Clemson with Jackson playing free safety. But he was such a gifted player with a knack for making big-time plays in the clutch. It’s not a stretch to think Jackson could have made one play that would have changed the game.

▪  The problem with the Heisman voting is it has become a race more than an award. Voters feel compelled to start forming their lists in the first few weeks. I’m convinced Lamar Jackson won many first-place votes with his play against Florida State. He was impressive. But so were a lot of Louisville offensive players. Florida State basically quit when it got behind early.

▪  So much has been made of Georgia “snubbing” Deshaun Watson when he was in high school. The Bulldogs definitely whiffed on Watson. But snubbed? That’s a bit much. Clemson offered Watson when he was a sophomore, which was risky. And Georgia didn’t choose Brice Ramsey over Watson. Ramsey was a year ahead of Watson. They did sign Jacob Park (coincidentally, out of South Carolina), but Park failed to develop.

Also, it’s not like Watson is the only great player to go out of state. What if LSU had signed Dak Prescott? The Tigers might have won a national championship. Georgia’s top three quarterbacks recruited by Mark Richt were Matthew Stafford (Texas), Aaron Murray (Florida) and Jacob Eason (Washington).

▪  Rhett Lashlee’s decision to leave Auburn for Connecticut as offensive coordinator hints of trouble at Auburn, no matter how much they want to spin it. When is the last time you heard of someone making a lateral move, in terms of job descriptions, from a major program to an obscure one? Lashlee left for one of two reasons, neither of which is encouraging if you’re an Auburn fan. It was either because Gus Malzahn did not want to give up control of HIS offense or because Lashlee knows Malzahn is one disappointing season away from getting fired.

▪  Can we pull the reins back on projecting Georgia as a playoff contender for next season? Let’s see the Bulldogs get through the Florida game undefeated before we declare them national, or even SEC, contenders.

Signing day is in 17 days, spring games in about three months and 227 days until the first Thursday night games.

This story was originally published January 14, 2017 at 2:37 PM with the headline "A few thoughts on a memorable college football season."