Name brand teams like Oklahoma, Iowa, UCLA, and Georgia were all touted as top tier contenders for their respective conference championships and the first ever Final Four playoff in college football history. They now stand as discredited fraud pretenders rather than contenders.
Sooners OU an Apology
The 2014 Oklahoma Sooners epitomize the word “overreaction.” The 2013 Sooners were a Big 12 also ran that got a Sugar Bowl bid based on their recognizable name and well traveling fans. They then scored a shocking 45-31 upset win over an Alabama team that had no desire to be there after blowing the Iron Bowl to rival Auburn on the famed Kick Six play.
Oklahoma QB Trevor Knight, who struggled with inconsistency all season, threw for 348 yards and four TD’s to spark the win. Based on that one game Knight was proclaimed an All-American candidate and the Sooners were touted as national championship material for 2014.
Now, OU enters the final week of play with a record of 8-3 and just 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners rank 74th in the nation for passing offense and 54th for total defense. Knight has a lackluster 14-9 TD-INT ratio. The Sooners offer a great lesson on how not to react to bowl games.
Black Eyes for Hawkeyes
Iowa seemed to be perfectly set up for a run at the Big Ten West Division title. The Hawkeyes returned an experienced lineup and had a schedule that was set up for success. Iowa had home games against top west division rivals Wisconsin and Nebraska and avoided having to play defending champion Michigan State and 2014 east division champion Ohio State.
Iowa blew this opportunity with a record of 7-5 and 4-4 in the Big Ten. Since posting three consecutive double digit win seasons from 2002 through 2004 head coach Kirk Ferentz has repeated the feat just once in 2009. Ferentz’s program was a renegade reign of terror in Iowa City when he was winning big and perhaps he has compensated too much in reaction to that. But the equity he built up with that run of glory a decade ago is now wiped out.
A Hurricane of Disappointment
Fourth year head coach Al Golden suffered a major setback of a season in 2014 as the Miami Hurricanes finished 6-6 after a 9-4 campaign last year. Miami was a pathetic 3-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and limped home with three consecutive losses including a 35-23 season finale home defeat to a mediocre Pitt team. It was a dispiriting performance that was played in front of fans disguised as empty seats. Golden will enter 2015 on one of the hottest seats in the land.
Another Letdown Bruin in UCLA
UCLA was a trendy pick among the national media to contend for the Final Four playoff. The problem is that UCLA has a history of letdowns in the face of great expectations and that was again the case in 2014. Needing a Senior Day home win in the regular season finale against a 6-5 Stanford team to clinch the Pac 12 South Division title the Bruins pulled a “UCLA” with a humiliating 31-10 loss to finish 9-3 overall and 6-3 in the Pac 12.
A defense that ranked 70th overall in the nation was the culprit in the Bruins ultimate failure. UCLA likes to brag that it owns Los Angeles based on their three straight wins over USC. What they don’t mention is that USC is still depleted of depth due to NCAA sanctions. UCLA rarely beats a fully stocked USC team.
Richt’s Mark of Mediocrity
Few programs in college football get more hype and love on recruiting day than the Georgia Bulldogs. And yet few programs continue to let down fans the way head coach Mark Richt’s Bulldogs do each year. UGA is a top tier contender for being the biggest tease in the nation and nothing more. Georgia was expected to win the SEC East Division but losses to SEC also-rans South Carolina (6-6) and Florida (6-5) ended those prospects.
A season finale 30-24 home loss to Georgia Tech epitomizes the Richt reign of letdowns. The Bulldogs avoided such SEC heavyweights as Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and LSU on the schedule this year to add to the frustration and sense of loss. Georgia last won the SEC title in 2005. Richt is loved by UGA fans for being a good and classy man but patience is running thin and rightfully so. Richt has one of the most fertile recruiting grounds to build from and the results are not reflective of that advantage.
