As we approach the end of the 2014 calendar year, we’re looking back at the top 50 stories in college football for the year. Today, we finish up our list with the top story of 2014.

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NO. 1 — Jameis Winston

If you thought 2013 was the year of Jameis Winston and the Florida State Seminoles, you were wrong. Sure, Winston won the Heisman after an outstanding season and led FSU to the national title with a win over Auburn in the BCS Championship. That was nothing compared to Winston’s 2014.

Winston’s start to the year was just like how much of the 2014 season went: the quarterback led a last-minute, game-winning drive to defeat the SEC’s best for the final title of the BCS era, which he capped off with one of the most legendary post-game interviews of all time.

Things got dicey for the Heisman winner, though. He was caught stealing from a local grocery store, another off-field blemish for a player who stood accused of sexual assault. For his crime, Winston earned a suspension — from the FSU baseball team — and  crab legs jokes that didn’t end all year.

During the season, Winston earned himself another suspension, this time for standing up and yelling an obscene phrase in the middle of Florida State campus. He was initially given a half-game ban, extended to a full game shortly thereafter. The Noles pulled out a tight win over conference rival Clemson without Winston, but his presence still loomed over the game, as he stood on the sideline wearing his uniform top.

Through it all, Florida State kept winning, running their unbeaten streak to 29 games by the end of the ACC title game. There were six single-digit margins of victory, comebacks needed against teams like Boston College and Miami, and a lucky break against Notre Dame.

At the end of the season, the Seminoles still stood at 13-0. While being the lone undefeated team would have made FSU the No. 1 team in the country under most circumstances, the College Football Playoff selection committee wasn’t impressed. Despite Winston and the Noles keeping with their winning ways, the committee moved FSU from No. 2 down to No. 4 before settling them at No. 3 heading into the first playoff.

Winston certainly wasn’t the same player in 2014 that he was for the 2013 season. With at least one game to go, Winston has thrown for 500 fewer yards and 16 fewer touchdowns while tossing seven more interceptions than he did a year ago.

Through it all, Winston’s sexual assault allegation loomed over everything. Information from Winston’s side came out throughout the fall and winter, with the quarterback standing up for himself. Eventually, he was given a student conduct code hearing, where he was cleared of the charges. The quarterback didn’t testify on the two-year-old allegations, instead reading a statement on the alleged incident. It is still a hotly contested issue, with the accuser’s lawyer calling the entire process a sahm.

While he wasn’t invited back to New York as a Heisman finalist this year, Winston still finished sixth in this year’s voting. The chances of Winston repeating as a winner with his off-field issues were slim to begin with, and diminished performance sealed that fate.

Winston is eligible to jump to the NFL after this year. Scouts and talking heads have debated his potential as a player while weighing it against the potential off-field headaches that could come with drafting him.

For now, though, Winston has the playoff ahead of him. His Seminoles take on Oregon in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, with a trip to Dallas and the first College Football Playoff Championship on the line.

If Winston has proven anything over the last calendar year, it’s that he doesn’t hear the storm around him. Blame Jameis all you want, he’s just going to go play football, and more likely than not, he’ll come out a winner.