The Top-10 Games of 2014

  By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Ed. Note- We continue our look back at 2014 with correspondent Andy Dougherty's Top-10 games of the past year. If you must know, Andy had all this stuff ready in late December, we were just too busy opening gifts and drinking eggnog to post it. Our bad Andy.

-Joe

10. United States Men’s National Soccer Team defeats Ghana 2-1, World Cup Group Stage

Ghana had defeated the United States 2-1 in each of the previous two World Cups. The last loss, in extra time of the 2010 Round of 16, still stung. This time around, the Americans would turn the tables. Clint Dempsey started things off quickly, scoring within the first 30 seconds of the game, good for the fifth-fastest opening goal in World Cup history.

Pre-Bowl Season Winners and Losers

If you earn bowl eligibility in the MAC, you can either head to Detroit... Or here.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

We are about to achieve maximum football this weekend, as college bowl season kicks off to complement the final two weeks of the NFL season, as well as playoffs at both the pro and college levels.

The only days we won't have a bowl game between Saturday and January 4th will be December 21st, December 25th and December 28th, simply because college football can't mess with the NFL of Jesus.

But before bowl season even starts, we can pick out some clear winners and losers based on where teams are headed (ie, TCU and Baylor; losers. Ohio State; winner), so here are your Pre-Bowl Season Winners and Losers.

College Football's Final Four: Did the Committee Get it Right?

Ohio State grabbed the fourth and final spot in the College Football Playoff over Big 12 co-champions Baylor and TCU. Were the Buckeyes the right choice?

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The newly formed College Football Playoff committee announced the first four semifinalists in Division I FBS college football history Sunday, and the predictable outrage followed.

Nobody was praising the new system for allowing us to avoid an Alabama beat down of Florida State. Oh, don't kid yourselves, if this were a two-team gig, FSU would be No. 1 or 2. It's always an undefeated major conference champ against a 1-loss SEC champ. SEC teams get to lose a game when nobody else does because… SEC! SEC! SEC!

Anyways, instead of celebrating the fact that we're getting No.1 Alabama vs No. 4 Ohio State, featuring a match up of arguably the two best coaches of this generation in Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, people were arguing whether the Buckeyes belonged in the playoff at all.

Instead of getting giddy about a quarterback duel between last year's Heisman winner, FSU's Jameis Winston, and this year's eventual winner, Oregon's Marcus Mariota, the masses were mourning bloody Sunday for the Big 12.

Seriously, does nobody understand that under a system in place as recently as last year, Oregon would be playing Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, Baylor would be in Arizona while TCU would likely be headed to either Miami or New Orleans for some pointless exhibition?


Does nobody understand that there was NO wrong answer for picking the fourth playoff team, because all three teams were deserving, and at least the new system gives one of them a shot to win it all, unlike previous years?

Championship Weekend Wrap: The Big 12 Gets Snubbed

Coach Art Briles' Baylor Bears shared the Big 12 title with TCU, and beat the Horned Frogs head-to-head. Still, like TCU, Baylor was left out in the cold by the College Football Playoff Committee.

 By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

The nation’s top six teams all had a lot to prove on championship weekend. Unfortunately for the CFP committee, they all proved themselves admirably.

When the dust settled, a pool of six deserving teams remained, from which the committee needed to choose four. Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State qualified, while Baylor and TCU, the Big 12 co-champions, did not.

TCU’s Surprising Fall

The most baffling aspect of the committee’s decision was how it handled TCU. The Horned Frogs, ranked 3rd heading into the weekend, demolished Iowa State 55-3. They couldn’t have played a more complete game, yet they fell from 3rd to 6th in the final CFP rankings.

Week 15 College Football Primer (With Picks): Conference Championships

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota has the chance to avenge an earlier loss to Arizona, send the Ducks to the College Football Playoff and take another step toward winning the Heisman Trophy this weekend in the Pac 12 Championship Game.

By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10) with a cameo by Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Championship weekend has arrived, and seven teams still have a realistic chance to qualify for the College Football Playoff. They will all be in action this weekend, and six of them will face off against top-16 teams. Certainly, they will all need to work hard to stay in playoff position.

The Curious Case of the Big 12

The Big 12 is the only power conference in college football not to hold a conference championship game. Unlike the other power conferences, all 10 of the Big 12's teams play each other every year. The conference has “One True Champion” as its slogan, but Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has backed off from promoting that slogan in recent weeks.

Generally, the Big 12 uses head-to-head as a tiebreaker between conference co-champions to determine who will represent the conference in a bowl game.

But this year, the CFP committee has consistently favored TCU in its rankings, despite a head-to-head loss against Baylor. Conveniently, Bowlsby has stated that, in the event of a tie this year, the conference will simply name co-champions and leave the rest up to the committee.

Now on to picks!

NCAA Football Weekend Wrap: No Team is Safe

Auburn's playoff hopes are on life support after an upset loss to unranked Texas A&M.

By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Week 11 of the college football season came with a lot of hype, and it lived up to the billing. Six Top-20 matchups stole the headlines leading into Saturday, but other teams made noise as well. In all, 8 ranked teams lost, including four Top-10 teams.

Upsets

Unranked Texas A&M shook things up when rookie quarterback Kyle Allen led the Aggies to a 41-38 road win over No. 3 Auburn. In just his second career start, the true freshman threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns, paving the way for one of 2014’s biggest upsets. After being in the driver’s seat, Auburn will now need to win out and get some help to stay in the playoff race.

Another upset took place when the Ohio State Buckeyes traveled to Michigan State and won convincingly against the No. 8 Spartans. The win showed that the Buckeyes are the team to beat in the Big 10. They are back on the shortlist of playoff contenders, while Michigan State seems to have fallen off that list for good.

Long and Suite Preview: The Big 12

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder will look to shock the nation again with an offense rebuilt around returning quarterback Jake Waters (15) and three-time All-Big 12 center B.J. Finney (66).

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe) with a cameo from Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

While the Pac 12 challenged the SEC for total conference dominance last season, and Florida State delivered a national title to the ACC, the Big 12  quietly ended the year on a bit of a tear.

Baylor's fun n' gun offense helped it win the conference (though the Bears fell to UCF in the Fiesta Bowl), while Oklahoma earned a spot in the Sugar Bowl, where it blasted Alabama. Texas Tech and new coach Kliff Kingsbury knocked off Pac 12 South champion Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl, and Bill Snyder's Kansas State team rebounded from a rocky start to win six of its final seven, including a whooping of Michigan in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

Your College Football Weekend Primer: Saban vs Johnny

Striking the Heisman pose and beating Alabama made Johnny Manziel a household name in 2012.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

The college football season really gets going this week with, maybe, the most anticipated game of the year.

You just know Nick Saban, even with yet another crystal football in hand, has been sporting a throbbing hate boner for Johnny Manziel since he torched the Tide last year in Tuscaloosa. That means Bama will be even more focused than usual for A&M. Like, they're going to go from everyday sociopath focused, to American Psycho focused this week.

Your College Football Kickoff Primer

Jadeveon Clowney (leaping) and Aaron Murray (holding ball nervously) will each represent the SEC against stiff non-conference competition this weekend.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

You know, people love to hate on ESPN.

Fans and bloggers just love to beat up on the worldwide leader for its programming (TIM TEBOW HOUR) and its ability to control the sports landscape by acquiring the television rights to pretty much everything.

Well, ESPN is proving to be a benevolent dictator for college football (At least for fans watching at home), as the network is delivering one heck of an opening weekend. While there are certainly a lot of things wrong with college football, ESPN setting up marquee matchups to kick the season off isn't one of them. The network's pairing of Alabama and Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic is just one example of an ESPN ratings move that is beneficial to everyone involved.

Oh, and that night's late game between LSU and TCU in Dallas… Also an ESPN creation.

Anyways, here is what else you should be watching for on college football's opening weekend which, like every good college weekend, begins Thursday night.

Long and Suite Preview: The Big 12

TCU's Devonte Fields made life miserable for Big 12 quarterbacks in 2012.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Offense is king in America's heartland, and the Big 12 features some of college football's most explosive attacks.

Seven of the conference's 10 teams (Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia) ranked in the top-25 nationally for scoring offense, but does anybody play enough defense to win a national championship?

That will certainly be the big question for conference contenders this season, and with quarterback questions at Oklahoma, WVU and Kansas State, several offenses could take steps back as well. The conference may not have a bona-fide national favorite, but only Kansas looks like a lost cause, with nine teams all chasing a bowl game.

The 100 Best Coaching Jobs in Football: 26-50

TCU Coach Gary Patterson's job become a lot more appealing when the Horned Frogs joined the Big 12.

By Joe Parello

Today's group of jobs feature some of the more appealing NFL gigs, and we finally feature some college jobs where a coach can legitimately hope to win a national title. Still, nearly every one of these jobs could still be considered a "stepping stone" position for the most ambitious of coaches.

If you haven't read Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3, here is a refresher on our terms.

The "best" coaching jobs are ranked by:

1. General Prestige- The guy who coaches this team is a big deal.

2. Chances of Being Successful- In college this amounts to how well a coach can expect to recruit and level of competition. In the pros, it is determined by the competency of the ownership group and front office. Pro teams are generally lower in this category because a. the NFL is a league of parity (sorta) and b. you have to rely on other people to pick your players (most of the time). Not to mention, there is a draft.

3. Length of Leash- Can one bad season get you canned at this job? Or, is the administration/ownership group understanding of the team building process? A job where you can actually work through that process is obviously more desirable.

Two factors not used in coming up with these rankings were a team's current roster and compensation. Personnel and pay-wise, this is an "all things being equal" kind of thing. Think of it as the best places to build a team from scratch.

The rankings take college conference realignment into consideration, and include 111 possible teams from the NFL, ACC, Big East (though it will not be a BCS conference much longer), Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, SEC and Div. I independents.

So, without further ado, here is the next section of our rankings.

50. Georgia Tech: ACC

49. Illinois: Big Ten

48. Pittsburgh: ACC

47. Missouri: SEC

These four college jobs come with their perks and a realistic chance to compete for BCS bowls. Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh have each  been a legitimate national power at one point or another. The Yellow Jackets need to get back to dominating Georgia recruiting, and the Panthers have a ton of talent they need to keep in the 'Burgh.

Illinois and Missouri each have a decent amount of talent in their state, and administrations that will support national recruiting efforts. When both teams are winning they are recruiting neighboring states very well. For Illinois, that means snagging some Blue Chips out of Ohio, and for Missouri that means competing for top prospects in Texas. Being able to sell SEC football should help.

46. Indianapolis Colts: NFL

45. New Orleans Saints: NFL

44. Washington Redskins: NFL

43. Seattle Seahawks: NFL

42. Houston Texans: NFL

Four of these jobs have recently become more appealing, while the Redskins job has gone downhill since Dan Snyder came to town. Still, the Washington job comes with great prestige and a passionate fan base, not to mention a giant stadium. The Colts and Saints have developed a great fan following over the last decade plus and, along with the Texans, have some of the more underrated fan/stadium situations in football.

Seattle has, arguably, the best home field advantage in all of pro football. Also, with the Mariners not being a traditional baseball power and no NBA team in town (for now), the Seahawks play the majority of their season as the only pro act in town.

41. West Virginia: Big 12

40. Virginia Tech: ACC

39. Washington: Pac 12

38. Akransas: SEC

Virginia Tech edges West Virginia due to a better recruiting base, but a coach at either school will never be devoid of talent. Washington truly is a sleeping giant in the Pac 12. If the Huskies can keep the best players in Washington home, then pluck a few prospects out of California and Utah, there is no reason they shouldn't be able to compete for Pac 12 titles. Arkansas has historically recruited both the Bayou and Texas well, along with keeping in-state talent home.

37. Baltimore Ravens: NFL

36. Atlanta Falcons: NFL

Great fan bases and front offices make these two jobs very appealing, but a larger market gives Atlanta the edge.

35. Wisconsin: Big Ten

34. Michigan St.: Big Ten

The Badgers have had more recent success, but MSU is the Washington of the Big Ten. The Spartans have fertile recruiting grounds in their home state and nearby Ohio, along with an administration that is willing to spend as much as anybody in the conference (outside of Ohio St. and Michigan).

33. Clemson: ACC

32. Tennessee: SEC

31. South Carolina: SEC

These three southern schools all have their pros, and the state of South Carolina has powered both Clemson and South Carolina to recent success. Tennessee is still a very attractive job, but the in-state talent has fallen off a bit in the past decade, and there are plenty of other jobs in the SEC that offer a better chance to build a team.

Still, you could conceivably win a national tittle at any of these three schools.

30. Denver Broncos: NFL

The Broncos have one of the league's best front offices, a fan base that shows up, and a shiny new stadium. No wonder they were able to bring in Peyton Manning.

29. Cal: Pac 12

28. TCU: Big 12

27. UCLA: Pac 12

26. Penn St.: Big Ten

All four of these teams have great home states to recruit and can sell academics, as well as great campus life. Cal and UCLA, like Washington, Arizona and Arizona St. (sensing a pattern, Pac 12?) have underachieved, but there is no reason the Golden Bears and Bruins shouldn't be competing for at least conference titles.

The TCU job became one of the nation's best when the Horned Frogs made the jump to the Big 12. Major conference affiliation means TCU will get even more of those great prospects in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, along with the state as a whole. The Penn St. job has gone the other way of late, but the Nittany Lions, with fertile recruiting territory and money to spare, still represent one of the best chances to win big in the Big Ten. That is, once those scholarship limits run out.