Last night is over and done. Vegas is happily counting all of it's winnings, and a lot of people are now licking their wounds and looking for excuses. But that is all over now. It is time to march on. The good news is that many of the people who posted in here during the season will be gone now, leaving posters who really care about College Football and know what they are talking about to discuss the up and coming season.
First, the major changes. Everyone knows that a panel of 13 will seed the top 12 teams in the nation. There will be six Tier One (Formerly known as BCS) Bowls, with the Cotton and Chic-fil-A Peach Bowl being added to the existing 4 Bowls (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange). In the Semi's, 1 will play 4 and 2 will play 3. The winners will meet in the NC game. There will be one non AQ team that will qualify for one of the other Bowl Games if they do not qualify for the playoff games. UCF would have been that team this past bowl season.
The Big 10 expands to 14 teams with two common sense conferences. Gone are the "Leaders" and "Legends" Divisions, replaced by the "East" and "West". The "East" will consist of newcomers Maryland and Rutgers, and Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State. The "West" will have Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin.
Louisville moves from the AAC to the ACC to take the place of Maryland. The AAC loses it's AQ status, leaving 5 conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, and SEC) with that status. The AAC and Coonference USA continue to add teams, for no apparent reason other than to try and convince someone that they are conferences worthy of AQ consideration. Please.
The Big 12 will continue to examine the question of expansion, just a lot more quietly than they did in the past. They are the ONLY AQ Conference without a CC game. Will this hurt them? If history is any indicator, the answer is yes. It is tough to vote in an 11-1 Big 12 team over a 12-1 team who won their CC game from any of the remaining 4 AQ Conferences.
The SEC finished the Bowl Game season with a 7-3 record. The Pac 12 had a 6-3 season. No other conference was close to those two. The ACC was 5-6. The Big 10 was a terrible 2-5. The Big 12 finished at 3-3. The AAC finished at 2-3. Look for the "Panel of 13" to keep this in the back of their minds when determining SOS, a major plus for the SEC and Pac 12.
Big non-con games for the 2014 season include: Florida State vs Oklahoma State at Arilington TX. on 8/30. Notre Dame at Florida State on 10/18. Miami (FL) at Nebraska on 9/20. Michigan State at Oregon on 9/13. Va Tech at Ohio State on 9/13. Don't know how big of a game that one will be. Wisconsin vs LSU on 8/30 in Houston, TX. Texas vs UCLA ON 9/13 in Arlington TX. Notre Dame at Arizona State on 11/8. Stanford at Notre Dame on 10/4. Notre Dame at USC on 11/29. South Carolina at Clemson on 11/29. Florida at Florida State on 11/29. Notre Dame has the toughest schedule by far. I am sure there are others that I may have skipped over.