Just like that, another year is in the books.

Well, sort of. While 2018 is over, we obviously still have that whole national championship thing. If you’re reading this before New Year’s Day, we still have some New Year’s 6 Bowls, as well.

But with the calendar year over and the vast majority of the 2018 season in the books, we can look back on some of the things that defined college football in and around the SEC.

So let’s do just that.

Preseason take that was squashed in Week 1 — Texas is back

So all the talk about how Tom Herman was going to have a Kirby Smart-like Year 2 was cool. Many got on board with it.

Then Maryland showed up.

The Terps, led by interim coach Matt Canada, stunned the Longhorns for the second consecutive year. It was the ultimate bucket of cold water to throw on one of the hottest preseason takes. In Texas’ defense, it did turn it around after that and earn a New Year’s 6 date with Georgia (which I’m sure will go well). Texas beat Oklahoma in the regular season and can win 10 games for the first time since 2009.

But yeah, to be “back,” you can’t derail your preseason hype train by losing to Maryland.

Week 1 take that we got too carried away with — Auburn is a Playoff contender

Auburn had, in my opinion, the best win of Week 1. I had Washington as a Playoff team, which subsequently meant that by beating the Huskies, the reigning SEC West champs were Playoff contenders. After all, the Tigers were a top-10 team with an elite defense and one of the nation’s better quarterbacks.

And about a month later, all of that went out the window. After Auburn beat Washington, it finished the regular season by going 3-5 against Power 5 teams, including a pair of blowout losses to Alabama and Georgia, AKA the actual Playoff contenders. Gus Malzahn’s $32 million buyout become the top topic of conversation on The Plains as Auburn stumbled to mediocrity instead of a Playoff berth.

Best Tom Rinaldi cry-your-eyes-out story of the year — Purdue super fan Tyler Trent

Trent, the Purdue fan with terminal cancer, was my favorite story of the year in college football. Watching him become Purdue’s rallying cry before, during and after that Ohio State game was the stuff of legend and of course, it all started with Rinaldi making us sob uncontrollably (via ESPN).

I loved that Trent actually called his shot and then Purdue went out and delivered one of the most out-of-body performances we’ve seen in sports in recent memory. Whatever you believe, all I know is this. There was something bigger going on in West Lafayette that night.

The Rodney Dangerfield team — Kentucky

“Hey, I don’t get no respect.”

You might as well have tattooed those words on to Benny Snell’s chest. Oh wait. You can’t do that because he already has a massive tattoo there with the words “SNELL YEAH.”

Boss.

From Snell’s soundbites after the Florida and Mississippi State wins to Kash Daniel basically being a WWE wrestler in a Kentucky uniform, the Cats were all about that underdog narrative in 2018. That started with Mark Stoops, who earned SEC Coach of the Year honors for leading Kentucky to its best season in decades after some of us (me) had the team predicted to win 5 games.

Here’s your respect, Rodney. Er, Kentucky.

Targeting call that broke the internet — Devin White vs. Mississippi State

Remember this? Of course you do:

https://twitter.com/SDS/status/1053828704772784128

It would have been one thing had White, LSU’s leader, been simply been ejected for the rest of the game for that hit. But by rule, that call meant that White was suspended for the first half of the following game, which happened to be against Alabama. James Carville led the conspiracy theory charge and riled up LSU fans in a unique way (I realized that’s saying a lot).

You had Louisiana pastors referencing the targeting call, and billboards across Birmingham urging the SEC to overturn the ruling. That didn’t work, and without White, LSU watched Alabama jump out to an early lead that it didn’t look back from.

White’s targeting ejection became the gold standard for the non-calls the rest of the year. It was the ultimate play where if a player didn’t get ejected, the first line was “wait, that’s not targeting but Devin White’s was?”

Never change, college football fans.

The weirdest person/story — Zach Smith, ex-Ohio State WR coach

What started as an oddly-timed offseason headline quickly turned into the most bizarre story of the year in college football. Thanks to Brett McMurphy, we got the report with quotes from Smith’s ex-wife about his long history of domestic abuse and that Urban Meyer had known about it while Smith was on his staff at Florida and Ohio State.

That led to Smith’s firing and Meyer’s near-firing after an internal investigation revealed that the Ohio State coach didn’t take proper action. Had the story ended there, we probably aren’t still talking about it in the same fashion that we are now. That didn’t happen, though.

Instead, Smith did a strange ESPN interview to try and salvage his shattered reputation, and then went on random Twitter rants in an attempt to take everyone and their mother down with him. The most notable one came when he fired at former co-worker Tom Herman and his unfaithfulness in his marriage dating to their recruiting trips together.

While the story qualified as mostly sad/bizarre/pathetic, it did yield one of the top lines of the year when Smith told Herman he was going to put him on blast.

“OK, cool. Hook ’em,” is perhaps the best thing Herman has ever done.

The “that’s not fair” development — Alabama produces the greatest show on turf

Everyone who watched Alabama in that opener against Louisville probably had the same thought.

“Oh, come on. Now they have a passing game, too?!”

The Crimson Tide did indeed have passing game, which fueled the SEC’s best single-season offense ever. Tua Tagovailoa essentially took care of the only thing that Alabama didn’t have, and did so at a historic pace. The guy didn’t throw an incompletion in the fourth quarter all regular season because of how dominant he was.

The weapons who were limited with Jalen Hurts as the starter took off with Tagovailoa. Jerry Jeudy won the Belitnikoff Award while the likes of Henry Ruggs III and Jaylen Waddle made highlight-reel play after highlight-reel play.

Alabama’s high-flying offense basically sent a clear message to the rest of the country.

“You thought we were dominant before? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Most egregious premature celebration — LSU vs. Texas A&M

In LSU’s defense, everyone thought the game should have been over. Had Kellen Mond not somehow accidentally gotten his knee down, it would have been.

But poor Ed Orgeron got a Gatorade bath for seemingly closing out his 10th win of the season:

One miraculous touchdown drive and 7 overtimes later, Orgeron was sticky and without his 10th win. The fact that there were 3 or 4 instances in which it looked like the Tigers had won probably only added to what had to be one of the toughest endings to any game ever for a coach.

What’s the moral of the story? Don’t give the coach the Gatorade bath until you’re either kneeling or the clock hits zero and the refs are running to the locker room (especially on the road).

The “don’t leave the room” player of 2018 — Rondale Moore, Purdue WR

I could’ve easily given this to Tua Tagovailoa or Kyler Murray, but that felt like the easy way out. I went with Moore because as a true freshman, he made plays that just left you shaking your head. The All-American was a revelation in West Lafayette, where he thrived playing in Jeff Brohm’s system.

In that aforementioned win against Ohio State, it was Moore who went crazy with nearly 200 yards from scrimmage. The fun thing about Moore is that he lines up anywhere and can make an impact doing pretty much everything on the football field.

No, he wasn’t enough for Purdue to stay in the same galaxy as Auburn in the Music City Bowl, but college football fans would be wise to park themselves in front of their couches and watch Moore every time he steps on to the field.

Favorite GIF — Arkansas sums up its 2018 season

I like Chad Morris. I think if Arkansas is going to be a contender in the SEC West, it’ll be because his system keeps the elite defenses in that division off-balance.

But in a 2-win season, this play was the lowlight of all lowlights:

On the bright side, Morris is in position to sign a top-20 class. And hey, after 2018, the only way to go is up!

Biggest disappointment — Miami

So, um, y’all remember when “The U” was back? Like, a year ago? Wasn’t it fun when Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez were being shown on TV every 2 seconds after a Miami turnover and Paul Finebaum wore the turnover chain?

Ah, memories. Distant, distant memories.

Miami’s fall from its magical start to 2017 was loud, quick and baffling. The Canes kicked off the season with a loss to LSU, but that was far from the low point of the season. Somewhere between losing 4 consecutive ACC games and getting its teeth kicked in by Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl, it probably sunk in — the Canes were about the biggest disappointment possible in 2018.

Go figure that Mark Richt announced his retirement Sunday. Amazing it was that 4 months ago, we were talking about Miami as a yearly Playoff contender with the re-energized Richt.

“The U” is back alright. Back to mediocrity.

Team nobody had in a New Year’s 6 Bowl — (tie) Florida, LSU

To say that there were some questions surrounding Florida and LSU this preseason would have been an understatement. One had a new coach trying to rebuild a 4-win team while the other had what looked like one of the toughest schedules in America with a first-time starter at quarterback. That’s why I had the Gators and Tigers with 8-win ceilings.

I didn’t raise that ceiling high enough.

Florida already has its 10th win and New Year’s 6 Bowl victory in hand, which came in convincing fashion against Michigan. As of the time of this writing, we don’t know the result of LSU-UCF. But even if the Tigers somehow do the unthinkable and fall short, this is still a team that hadn’t been to a New Year’s 6 Bowl in the Playoff era. The fact that LSU reached that milestone after an offseason of questions about Orgeron as “the guy” says a lot.

Both programs have two of the nation’s top coaches, which was shown by how well they played away from home. This is probably the last time for a long time that Florida and LSU will qualify for this made-up award.

The underrated play of the year — Chase Brice saves Clemson after Trevor Lawrence goes down

Clemson has been so dominant since Trevor Lawrence took over that I feel like we forgot how close the Tigers were to potentially missing out on the Playoff (what a fascinating debate that would have been with how down the ACC was).

In Lawrence’s first start, he made that freshman mistake of taking an unnecessary hit, which sidelined him in a tight game against Syracuse. That, of course, was days after Kelly Bryant transferred midseason.

No need to worry. Third-stringerChase Brice had it all under control.

The redshirt freshman promptly stepped in and saved the day, If not for Brice’s 4th-down toss to Tee Higgins in the final 3 minutes, Clemson loses and has to sweat out a Playoff spot. Instead, he delivered a dart that ultimately led to a game-winning score.

What. A. Throw.

https://twitter.com/seldomusedrsrv/status/1073535057044873216

Brice might not ever start a game at Clemson considering Lawrence is a freshman. But man, that guy deserves praise forever for stepping up in that spot.

The “sign of the times” trend — 5-star quarterbacks transferring

Justin Fields’ reported exit from Georgia continued what has been a major trend in the sport. He became the 11th 5-star quarterback since 2010 to transfer. The list includes Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray. For some context, there were only 19 5-star quarterbacks in that stretch. So yeah, it’s definitely a thing.

The likes of former Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson, former Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason and former Clemson quarterback Hunter Johnson were part of that club in 2018. Blake Barnett was technically already part of that club, but the former Alabama quarterback transferred a second time this offseason.

It’s a thing, and fans hate it. At the same time, the “what about loyalty to the team” preaching is a bit of a one-sided argument when there are millions to be made at the next level. With transfer rules and NCAA waiver policies looser than ever, this trend isn’t going away.

Favorite press conference soundbite — interim Temple coach loves Shreveport more than all of us

Every once in a while, we get a gem of a soundbite from an interim coach trying to make his presence felt. This, from Temple interim coach Ed Foley ahead of the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, looks like a “Saturday Night Live” sketch.

Oh, we found out about Temple.

The Owls allowed 56 points and Shreveport was treated to a dud of a bowl game.

But hey, maybe they were the “finest group of young men that Shreveport has ever seen.”

The ultimate Nick Saban moment — Maria Taylor learns what happens when you ask about the quarterbacks

Speaking of great soundbites, we didn’t have to wait very long into 2018 to get a classic Saban moment. After Alabama blew the doors off Louisville in Tua Tagovailoa’s first start, ESPN’s Maria Taylor got the wrath from Nick Saban after asking the Alabama coach about his quarterbacks.

“So why do you continually try to get me to say something that doesn’t respect one of them? I’m not going to, so quit asking.”

For what it’s worth, Taylor rolled with that like a true pro. Was Saban probably a bit over-the-top to bark back like that? Yeah, but more than anything, that moment showed how sick he was of talking about his quarterback situation — and how much respect he had for Jalen Hurts. The fact that it was one of the most unique dynamics we’ve ever seen from a quarterback battle clearly weighed on him.

If only we could have gotten Saban that angry on a weekly basis.

The team we wanted more of — Washington State

I’ll be honest. I argued against Washington State having a legitimate Playoff argument because it didn’t face a single Power 5 team in nonconference play.

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about the thought of Mike Leach in the Playoff.

The world needed that. In a field that’s become so top-heavy with the nation’s elite, Leach would have been like, well, Rodney Dangerfield in “Caddyshack.” His soundbites leading up to a potential game against Alabama would have been priceless.

Perhaps we could have heard more about Leach’s thoughts on marriage, pirates or the art of the forward pass. I don’t know. Leach was far more than the weird guy on the sidelines during #Pac12AfterDark games that the degenerates bet on to salvage their Saturdays.

Go figure that it took Leach until 2018 to coach the quarterback he was meant to have. The mustached Gardner Minshew was wise to turn down third-string duties at Alabama in favor of a year at Washington State.

Those two were such a perfect match that College GameDay made its historic first trip to Pullman. They tried to give us more Washington State. Unfortunately, Washington ruined any chance of Leach crashing the Playoff party.

Oh well. At least we’ll always have this:

The buyer’s remorse coach — Gus Malzahn, Auburn/Willie Taggart, Florida State

Take your pick. One was given a $49 million extension only to have his $32 million buyout discussed less than a year later while the other was given $30 million despite the fact that he had just 1 season of double-digit wins in 8 years as a head coach.

It probably wasn’t the best sign when both Malzahn and Taggart had GoFundMe pages started to cover their buyouts.

One could argue that Malzahn has a better chance of looking like the smarter investment after he won his eighth game of the year in convincing fashion against Purdue in the Music City Bowl. Taggart, meanwhile, started as a top-20 team only to miss a bowl game. FSU had the longest bowl streak in college football history before he got to Tallahassee.

Whatever the case, both have pressure-packed seasons ahead.

The “too unbelievable for Hollywood” moment — Jalen Hurts leads SEC Championship comeback

Nick Saban even admitted it. You could take that script to Hollywood and they wouldn’t believe it.

For Hurts to come full circle like that and replace Tua Tagovailoa in the SEC Championship against the same team and in the same building where he was benched in the National Championship was the stuff sports movies are made of. The obvious joke was “the 30 for 30 on Jalen Hurts is gonna be awesome.”

The only way it could have been better is if it happened in the National Championship Game again. Still, though. That sequence will forever make Hurts an Alabama legend, regardless of whether he transfers for his final year. That’s the type of thing that we’ll talk about 20-30 years from now, especially if the Crimson Tide win another national title.

Hurts’ comeback was so special that it got Saban choked up just talking about it. If that doesn’t describe the magnitude of that day, I don’t know what does.