Aside from my team crumbling under pressure, at home, to two huge rivals. And my pickem performance. But I thought this season was Cool Football. It’s weird to say there were no Elite teams when four finished undefeated, but Millzners may be right in the traditional sense of the word (with apologies to Bama, whose top-down dominance is looking more old-school than modern ‘elite’). And I could care less about a relative dearth of ‘Heisman-worthy’ players, mostly cuz that designation seems so twwl of the past few years, and because it continues to ignore the best players on ‘the other side of the ball.’  What I liked about this year is what it reminded us about good football.

Look, I understrand it’s difficult to shake off the cerebral helmet the MSM has tried to place over our heads these past 5 years.  We get that scheduling is weird--a competition pool of 120 teams is ludicrous, and even more so when there are few rules about including (semi-including?) the other 100+ D1-AA teams. And most of us understand that it’s the Economics aspects that are the true rulers over college football’s structure, dictating the limits and boundaries of who can compete and who may have the best chances to win.

But it’s not a complete cage.  A maze, maybe, but there are exits!  Competition still exists. Old traditions still run head-on into new upstarts, allowing the landscape to remain organic, both on the field and in its coverage.  Fine players can still shine.  Good coaches can prove their worth, inspire young men and have success on stages big and small.  And even strong, independent writers, with astute insights and fresh perspectives, can have their thoughts and words consumed by an ever-growing (and ever-smarter) readership.

On the field, 2009 brought back some older ideals.  The importance of trench warfare caught up to the glamour of the ‘skill’ positions.  Penn State fans learned it again the hard way (tho many acknowledged it as a big concern in the offseason).  Our poor young Oline got mauled early and late in our two losses, and the week after getting schooled by Cam Heyward and Thad Gibson, we watched Iowa’s more-talented line hold up rather fine against the same squad.  It was the difference in our game, but not theirs.  The Big Ten showcased some unbelievable talent on Dline this year.  In addition to the aforementioned, Adrian Clayborn also dominated us and made one of the plays of the year to turn that game around.  Brandon Graham was a one-man (perhaps literally on that defense) wrecking machine, and Jared Odrick impressed enough coaches who had to gameplan around him that he was worthy of their vote as Defensive Player of the Year.  And that’s all just Big Ten.  Anybody who tuned in to the games yesterday saw one of the more dominant, if not the most dominant, individual defensive performances of the year.  Ndamukong Suh was a man among boys and he put on a show that was so impressive and entertaining, it just made me appreciative to be a college football fan.

The other seemingly long-lost art that made a return this year, at least to my eye, was coaching.  Both the presence and the absence.  That Bama victory yesterday was thorough, just like their coach.  It was physical and fundamental and poised.  Just like their coach.  There are probably very few aspects of football analysis that cannot be overstated, and Daniel-san and Drunken Verne did plenty of repeating it, but this is one: the importance of a running back falling forward upon being tackled.  Mark Ingram does this regularly, and it’s freakin studly.  Big portions of that are the kids’ DNA, but evidence of coaching is there too.  Their whole team is so tough, and mentally, too.  They were only up 19-13, when a big screen by Ingram led to a ridiculously difficult, roll-right, throw-left, over-the-shoulder TE catch thrown perfectly by Greg McElroy, another excellent example of top-shelf coaching.  There may be more than two dozen starting D1 QBs with more athletic ability out there, but he knew the stakes, knew he had to make plays, went out there and worked the gameplan (a dandy), and dropped a 12-18 for 239 w/a TD and no INTs on one of the most experienced and talented defenses this decade.  Then he took the mic in post-game interviews and demonstrated an understanding of what was needed of him physically and mentally, gratitude to his teammates and coaches, and an appreciation of his program’s history and the players that came before him.  Championship performance from top to bottom.

Bad coaching was aplenty as well.  Charlie Weis never learned how to be a leader of men, and the team’s on-field performance showed it.  Brian Kelly’s squad yesterday seemed underprepared, or at least out of focus early, and made mistake upon mistake to give up what seemed an insurmountable lead to a physical and focused Pitt squad.  Thing is, that’s a squad coached by Dave Wannstedt, who has a resume full of campaigns cut short by a lapse of mental stamina.  Kelly kept his men cool and composed, found ways to get his playmakers in the game and climbed back in.  Wannstache’s lads kept fighting, but their kicker of all people, took a page from his coach’s mental fortitude, and choked an extra point.  Epic Pitt.  Epic Wanny.  Epic fail.

I just felt that the games and personalities I saw and read about this year were compelling.  I really enjoyed watching the trench battles (even ones PSU was clearly losing) and really dug watching these coaches on the sidelines, both the good and the bad ones.  And a bunch of matchups were interesting too.  The Civil War was awesome, it’s fun watching Paul Johnson’s offense, early OSU/USC was good theatre.  OU battling through crippling injuries was interesting to me (even with, they nearly derailed the Horns in the Red River), and Iowa’s run (and awesome coverage) was maybe the most fun.  And I’m looking forward to the Bowls as well.  Being so familiar with hated Brutus, I’m extremely interested to see how these defensive studs and pressure fare against the always-entertaining Quack Attack.  The McCoy-McClain square-off will be fun to watch.  If Iowa gets Boise, the lead-up coverage is gonna be insane, and the game could possibly match.  I’m gonna do everything I can to peep TCU’s bowl game to see what they’re all about; everything I read indicates they’re wickedly balanced and superbly coached.  And whoever our own Penn State lads end up with is gonna be fun, be it the Sexy Bayou Bengals or the Wreck’s Triple Option.

Now I know this is all pretty rose-colored, and I kinda got lucky with the weather yesterday to end up watching ball for 12 hours and contemplating the season so positively, but I hope some of you can share some appreciation for another fine season of our favorite sport.  I know my buddy Rambler had a rough finish last night, and I can appreciate the frustration in some of this resultant predictability, but to borrow one of my least favorite cliches of the past few years, the situation is indeed what it is.  How we view it is our choice.  I hope some of you can join me on the sunny side.

Pax et amor,

jtothep