The season was once again exciting and entertaining, so let us take a look at my preseason predictions for the AQ conferences and you can have a good laugh at my stupidity.
SEC: The West is the best division in all of college football, but the SEC was not the best conference this year as I think the Big XII had the depth that the SEC just didn't.
Overrated: Arkansas, I'm not sure if I was right or wrong on this one on one hand Arkansas was better than I thought they would be, but on the other they weren't the dark horse contender many built them up as. I think they were what I thought they were and I call this one a push because I don't think you could say they were overrated or underrated.
Underrated: Mississippi State: This one bombed on me as Miss State never got much Quarterback play this season and it hurt the teams chances at success as they never really got any kind of momentum going. Their D was good enough but like a lot of the SEC the offense just wasn't much.
West Winner: Alabama: It was a 3 team race with Arkansas technically in it but LSU won the division on the back of an undefeated conference record that included a win on the road in Tuscaloosa.
East Winner: Georgia, I hit this one on the head as it was a two team race between the Bulldogs and the Gamecocks but the biggest help was the unfortunate injury to Marcus Lattimore.
Conference Champ: Alabama, they were the second best team in the conference just happened to be a little bit worse than LSU.
Big Ten: The Big Ten was indeed an exciting race especially in the Leaders division as the Badgers win over Penn State gave them the divisional title in the last game of the season. The Big Ten didn't have an elite team this year with Ohio State and Michigan in rebuilding type seasons, Penn State's sex scandal and Nebraska not being able to play D. Wisconsin and Michigan State are pushing on the barrier to elite and becoming much more ingrained in the national conscience.
Overrated: Iowa, Too many were way to high on this Hawkeyes team coming into the year for my liking and this team performed exactly as I expected a bad loss, a couple good wins and another infuriating season out of Iowa City.
Underrated: Ohio State, Unfortunately for my predictions the Buckeyes looked like a team that had lost it's starting QB, it's head coach and was in a quagmire of off the field issues.
Leaders Winner: Wisconsin, Behind Montee Ball and Russell Wilson the Badgers offense was again one of the best in the country, too bad the defense showed it's lack of depth and the loss of J.J. Watt so much. Two tough road losses in the waning seconds but the Badgers still managed to pull out the divisional title.
Legends Winner: Nebraska, the defense never came around for the Cornhuskers and the offense didn't gel like I thought it would. Michigan State turned out to be the most balanced team in the division and maybe the conference and took the divisional title by a game over Nebraska.
Conference Champ: Wisconsin, Delaney was more than likely pleased with the game in Indy and the Badgers did squeeze out a win for the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game.
Pac-12: Oregon and Stanford ruled this conference this year and the South was just horrible other than a post-season banned USC team. Oregon once again crushed Stanford for the second year in a row and took the North.
Overrated: Stanford, I still feel like they are overrated and I'm not sure that I can count this as a win but I see only one win that impresses me this season on their schedule and that is USC in 3OT on the road.
Underrated: Utah, well it turns out that if you injure your starting QB the rest of the season will be uphill that being said the Utes finished one game out of first place in the South and challenged for the Divisional crowd in year one of the Pac-12. All in all I count this as a push as well.
North Winner: Oregon, The Ducks did what they had to do to win the North and that was win on the road against Stanford. Oregon isn't as good as last years team but they are still top flight in the Pac-12.
South Winner: Arizona State, Note to self never try to be one year early on Arizona State.
Conference Champ: Oregon, best team in the conference wins this one not much else to say, other than UCLA made the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game, I mean come on, UCLA?
Big XII: The Big XII was better than just top heavy this year as the middle of the conference was laiden with inconsistency but talent that made them the best conference in the country in my mind this season.
Overrated: Texas: They made strides but unlike many thought Texas is not Texas quite yet and was undoubtedly overrated in my opinion this season. This is a team that should be back to prominence soon but it wasn't this year.
Underrated: Oklahoma State, they won the conference I think I was a bit ahead not that I was the only one touting them as real competition but they ended up being the best in the conference.
Conference Champ: Oklahoma: Most talented but injuries just blasted this team and key losses meant too many holes to stop the leak. Oklahoma State was the most consistent team in the conference and the best having beaten both teams that were next in the standings.
ACC: The ACC is mediocre but consistent, with no real top flight teams and a bottom that is really bad I think it would be the bottom rung on the AQ ladder if not for that wonderful Big East conference we'll talk about next.
Overrated: Clemson, I should have done the same with Arizona State above but I'm alright with not liking Clemson they ended up being a 3 loss team and that sounds about right for Clemson. I'm calling a push even with the division title because the division wasn't that good.
Underrated: Virginia, Second Mike London year turned out to be a challenge for the division year, kind of. They had a shot in the season finale but Va Tech is still ahead of them by quite a bit which doesn't say much about the rest of this division either.
Atlantic Winner: Florida State, I mean, I don't know what happened here.
Coastal Winner: Virginia Tech, "the most consistent team in the conference does it again." My initial statement said all that needs to be said here.
Conference Champ: Virginia Tech, Clemson was the best team in this conference which is all that needs to be said about this conference with the end of the season upon us.
Big East: The Big East is just bad, we were one Cincy upset away from 7-5 Louisville being the representative to the BCS.
Overrated: USF, Same old story same old song and dance at USF as they started out with a stunning upset of Notre Dame and then a collapse to mediocrity (which may be too nice of me).
Underrated: Rutgers: much like Virginia, Rutgers out did my expectations for their season being much better than even I thought.
Conference Champ: West Virginia, "I'm not big on this pick I think I could get trapped but Holgerson improves offenses as soon as he arrives on campus and that should help a talented WVU get instantly better on one side of the ball." Once again I think my quote from my prediction sums up what happened here along with WVU being woefully inconsistant throughout the year.
