As my heart has finally stopped racing from the last six minutes of the Rose Bowl, I decided it was time to reflect on the college football season.

This season had its highs and lows, both across the nation and here in Cyclone country. I don’t have a lot to say about the Cyclones that I haven’t already stated, other than in the case of the Houston Bowl: Our team isn’t good enough to overcome a good Mountain West team and bad officiating.

On a national level, there was plenty to talk about. First, why is Heisman Trophy voting done before the bowl games? I have never been a big fan of the Heisman, because it seems that every year it has me rooting against someone I would normally root for, because he isn’t the guy I am hoping will win. In this case, I was pulling for Vince Young, which had me rooting against Reggie Bush, which is just silly. That being said, I have this weird feeling Bush would not have won by the biggest landslide ever if the ceremony took place after the Rose Bowl.

Speaking of the Rose Bowl, that game was the first game I have seen since Miami vs. Ohio State at the Fiesta Bowl that had me saying afterward “I’m really happy to have gotten to see that game.” This game actually lived up to all the hype, and it was nice to finally see a Big 12 team look good in a national championship game. It might be a long time before we see three Heisman-caliber players in the same game, much less three guys who will go in the top five of the upcoming NFL draft.

The next biggest story this year, in my opinion, was the way the media jumped on the Notre Dame bandwagon. In fact, almost everyone jumped on the bandwagon, and it leaves me asking why? First of all, Notre Dame was invited to a BCS game, despite having a worse record than both Oregon and TCU – their selection was based solely on marketability. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they got beat-up by Ohio State and still finished ninth in the AP poll. That is a disgrace. Furthermore, Charlie Weis was named Coach of the Year. I have gone on record as saying I was impressed with the job he did this year, but I don’t consider his work as impressive as what Joe Paterno did at Penn State this year. Penn State was one play from being the team that annually rains on the BCS parade.

Ending on a low note was the collegiate career of Marcus Vick. I have to say good riddance. It has been a long time since I saw an athlete who seemed like such a spoiled punk. This guy was nothing but trouble in his time at Virginia Tech, and his little stomp against Louisville was all I needed to see. I hope Vick has fun with his fifth-round salary next year, while his brother makes over $7 million a season. I doubt he will deserve whatever contract he receives.

It was a fun season, and as a Texas fan, it was a good season. I am already contemplating what I am going to have to rant about next year. Hopefully with Vince Young gone, the Cyclones will be able to keep it close in Austin.

– Nathan Chiaravalloti is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Davenport.