College Football 2009: Year in Review

So long, 2009. And from a college football standpoint, frankly, good riddance.

The last season of the decade* made its biggest headlines for what its teams and players didn't do. LeGarette Blount and Oregon didn't keep their composure at Boise State in 2009's opening act. Defending Heisman winner Sam Bradford didn't make it out of his 2009's first half, effectively ending his (and the Sooners') season before it really began.

Tim Tebow and Florida didn't look nearly as good as previous incarnations, especially in their win over Tennessee when they didn't really make Lane Kiffin stop running his mouth. Of course, Kiffin and his Vols didn't exactly sing Rocky Top all night after beating the Gators as he had previous projected. And just this week, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy didn't last a full series in the title game against Alabama, while the Tide themselves didn't invoke memories of greatness in anyone who watched one of the ugliest championship games of the BCS era.

*(Is there a lamer argument than the "Is 2009 the end of the decade or 2010?" I think, deep down, this is many people's effort to channel the classic "Seinfeld" episode where Newman plans a major party for the "last day of the millennium," only to have Jerry deflate his plans by pointing out that he had booked December 31, 2000 instead of 1999. And to get further off-topic, how would Newman never realize he had booked the 2000 date? Did he never look at a contract? He sent out invitations, so wouldn't he have written or realized the date at some point?)

With all of the returning and new stars, there was potential for a great 2009 season somewhere. Unfortunately, it never showed up.

But instead, 2009 will be remembered as the year of overstayed welcomes. Bradford, McCoy (to a lesser extent), and Tebow (okay, to almost no extent) all spurned dates with Sunday football to try to reprise their brilliant individual 2008s. The trio went 3-for-3 in failing that task and getting hurt* in the process.

*(File this is in the 20/20 hindsight folder, but given how Oklahoma and Texas were ravaged by the injury to a single player, wouldn't you expect coaches to season their backup quarterbacks a little better? I'm not suggesting full-blown rotating quarterbacks, especially when your starter is a Bradford or McCoy. But teams rotate players in and out at every other position. Why couldn't Garrett Gilbert have gotten a dozen series mixed in during the first halves of run-of-the-mill Big 12 games? It seemed like Thursday night, especially in the first half, the Texas offense was a Bugatti Veyron broken down on the side of the road with a flat tire.)

Alabama and Florida unimpressively treaded water at the top of the polls through the regular season like two heavyweights dancing circles around each other in the early rounds. Given their top-shelf 2008 SEC Championship match, we waited all year for another better game. Instead, the Tide dusted the Gators early, leaving a Tebow-flavored trail of crocodile tears in their wake.

Mike Leach, Texas Tech's unorthodox swashbuckler of a coach who earned a handsome contract extension for the Red Raiders' rise to prominence in 2008, was forced to walk the plank out of Lubbock after allegations he mistreated at least one player. Forgive me for multiple "Seinfeld" references in one column, but Leach should have taken a tip from George Costanza and left the room on a high note. It wasn't going to get any better than 2008 at Tech.

Fortunately, 2010 will be different in college football. For one, the game will shed a thick layer of old stars before kicking off next year. Four of the five Heisman finalists, plus the 2008 winner, will be gone. Sure, Mark Ingram will come back as a solid favorite, but consider that Bruce Feldman on ESPN.com placed Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers as his early favorite. That's how wide open it'll be behind Ingram.

But also gone, more importantly, will be our ridiculous expectations. This season fell flat because we wanted more from the teams and players after a mostly satisfying 2008. Hey, if 2008 Florida/Texas/Bradford was great, how much better will they be in 2009, right? So before our preseason magazines hit newsstands this spring and summer, it'll be a blessing in disguise to wonder about who we see on the cover. Jeremiah Masoli? Landry Jones? Dion Lewis? After Ingram, my guess is as good as yours.

And it's this dichotomy that separates college football from the NFL. The sport has a life cycle. We see players, coaches, and programs grow over time, succeed or fail, and eventually fade into the ether of memory or tattoo our recollections as legends. The 2009 season and most of its components will likely be soon forgotten in favor of its more enjoyable peers. I can't tell you why 2010 will be great — but that's exactly why I know it will be.