Top 50 stories of 2014: No. 25-21
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 look at No. 25-21.
Previous Articles
- No. 50-46: McCarron, Saturday morning, Phyllis, Lattimore & Dillon Day
- No. 45-41: Penn St, Alabama flag at Kyle Field, SEC Network, DGB, Fournette
- No. 40-36: Kentucky’s collapse, Oregon, UNC academics, Michigan burns, Lutzenkirchen
- No. 35-31: Ohio State, Mizzou, Clowney/Manziel, Rushing Records, SEC Bias
- No. 30-26: Spurrier, Bielema, Reveille, SEC East, Coaches dancing
No. 25 – Steve Spurrier and Stephen Garcia reunite
The Head Ball Coach has coached few players as controversial as our own Stephen Garcia during his decade at South Carolina, and the two hadn’t seen one another since Garcia’s college career came to a close in 2011.
That changed at this year’s SEC Media Days back in July, when Garcia and Spurrier were reunited, this time as coach and media member instead of coach and player.
Garcia had a question for his former coach during Spurrier’s media day press conference, and as soon as Garcia approached the mic Spurrier exclaimed “Stephen’s here!” before comparing his former quarterback to a cast member from Duck Dynasty.
Relive their momentous reacquaintance with this video taken at the press conference last summer:
No. 24 – Tracking Foley, McElwain and planes in the air
If you thought Will Muschamp was at the eye of a media storm in Gainesville this season, you were wrong. At best it was a media rain shower, at least compared to the frenzy surrounding Florida’s pursuit and eventual hiring of new coach Jim McElwain.
McElwain coached at Colorado State last season, and when news broke that Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley had taken a plane to Fort Collins, Colorado, home of the CSU campus, the college football world erupted.
At that point it became apparent that McElwain was the Gators’ top choice to replace Muschamp as their next head coach, and they did very little to keep that a secret.
We’ve had very productive conversations with Coach McElwain and his wife Karen and those continue.
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) December 3, 2014
Photos surfaced of Foley meeting with McElwain in the coach’s Colorado home, and McElwain’s flight home to Florida was better-documented than his initial trip to Fort Collins.
“@Presto89: UF AD Jeremy Foley at the home of CSU Rams head coach Jim McElwain pic.twitter.com/YlR49MEU76”>Foley looks like Jack Kevorkian…
— Arran Andersen (@arranandersen) December 3, 2014
Just got a notification that the private jet the Florida UAA is flying on is estimated to arrive back in Gainesville at 7 p.m. EST.
— OnlyGators.com: Florida Gators news (@onlygators) December 3, 2014
Florida and McElwain’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, then waged in days of negotiations regarding McElwain’s buyout at CSU, exceeding $7 million. But eventually he was hired by Florida, and upon being introduced he gave one helluva press conference to begin his tenure in Gainesville.
No. 23 – Nick Chubb’s freshman season
Few freshman in the history of college football have accomplished what Georgia tailback Nick Chubb was able to accomplish as a rookie in 2014. Even fewer were able to do it with the limited workload Chubb received over the course of the season.
The freshman began the year as a relative unknown, backing up early season Heisman frontrunner Todd Gurley in Georgia’s deep stable of tailbacks. But just days before Georgia’s sixth game of the season, a road showdown with Missouri, Gurley was suspended indefinitely for receiving money in exchange for autographed items.
Chubb promptly stepped into the starting lineup and ran for at least 100 yards in Georgia’s final seven games. Out of nowhere, he elevated himself from a freshman with upside to one of the best backs in the nation, closing the year with 12,81 yards on the ground, the second-most in the SEC.
He carried the ball just 31 times in the first five games of his career, but handled it 155 times in Georgia’s final seven games of the season without ever showing signs of slowing down.
Chubb went from backing up the best back in America to being one of the best himself, and he did it in half a season as a freshman in the SEC. It’s safe to say there were few individual seasons more remarkable than Chubb’s was in 2014.
No. 22 – Oklahoma falls from No. 1 to unranked
It’s hard to believe that the Oklahoma Sooners began the 2014 season as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, but they did.
However, after beginning the year 4-0 the Sooners lost four of their final eight games of the year, falling from No. 1 to unranked by the end of the regular season. Instead of following up last year’s Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama with a run at a national title, Oklahoma lost all three of its games against ranked conference opponents, then lost its annual rivalry game with Oklahoma State to end the year.
The highlight of Trevor Knight’s season was a complement he received from Katy Perry while serving as the guest picker on College GameDay from Ole Miss. That didn’t do much to help the rest of his teammates or the OU program in any way (although it was pretty awesome).
The Sooners’ best win came against either West Virginia or Texas — take your pick, because both teams are pretty mediocre.
Oklahoma didn’t suffer an epic collapse warranting media attention from wire to wire, but it did quietly under-achieve more than any team in the nation in 2014. We didn’t let the story get lost in the end-of-season shuffle.
No. 21 – The TCU-Baylor playoff conundrum
Staying in the Big 12, the top storyline dominating the discussion surrounding the first ever College Football Playoff was the placement of Baylor and TCU in the rankings.
Both finished the season 11-1, and Baylor owned the head to head edge against TCU thanks to a 61-58 win in October. Some saw TCU’s body of work to be superior, namely its out of conference schedule. Others thought that with an identical record and a head to head victory, Baylor was the obvious team to earn a spot in the playoff field as the Big 12’s representative.
Ultimately, Ohio State of the Big Ten beat out both teams, and Baylor ended the year ranked ahead of TCU in the final CFP Poll (Baylor No. 5, TCU No. 6). But no two teams tested the CFP selection committee’s criteria for a playoff team more than those two Big 12 rivals.
Furthermore, the conference’s lack of a playoff team actually shined a brighter light on the Big 12 as a whole. The conference was the only power five league without a playoff team, and not coincidentally it’s the only power five league without a conference title game.
The Big 12 may need to change its process going forward, and Baylor and TCU helped prove that fact to commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Both teams showed the selection committee that it may need to change its tune as well.
But none of that will settle the dilemma caused by Baylor and TCU in 2014. Fans of the Bears and Horned Frogs may argue until the end of time over which team was more deserving.
Well, at least until the start of next season.
What’s Next?
As we continue our countdown, we’ll look at rushing the field, the death of UAB football, Laquon Treadwell and more.