This is nirvana for any college football fan: Watching a black cloud of hysterical Louisville fans rock ultramodern Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium after beating West Virginia in the biggest game in school history, then driving to Tennessee where every game is seemingly the biggest in school history.
Florida might play Ohio State for the BCS championship Jan. 8, but so much happened before then…and not all of it good. After covering 14 games and visiting 14 states, I saw everything from Notre Dame playing beneath the Atlanta skyline to history’s worst officiating call in Eugene, Ore.
So before you take your power nap for that New Year’s Eve bash tonight, sit back and look out below at the good, the bad and the oh so very ugly of the 2006 season.
Best coach
Jim Grobe, Wake Forest. It’s not just that he led Wake Forest to its best season in 105 years of football and its first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 36 years. Grobe did it after quarterback Ben Mauk broke his arm in the opener and tailback Micah Andrews tore up his knee two weeks later.
Best player
Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State. There is a reason he won the Heisman Trophy in one of history’s biggest runaways. He not only had outrageous stats, he had outrageous stats against two teams ranked No. 2 at the time, Texas and Michigan. Case closed.
Most disappointing player
Kenneth Darby, TB, Alabama. With four starters back on his offensive line, the senior averaged only 64.2 yards a game, down from 103.5 a year ago. And he never scored a rushing touchdown.
Biggest play
Eric McNeal, LB, UCLA vs. Southern California. With USC all but passing out Arizona tequila bar guides to its boosters, McNeal’s spectacular interception of a John David Booty pass as USC drove for the potential winning score sent Florida to the BCS championship game in Glendale, Ariz. Not bad for a senior who lost his starting job.
Best game
No. 15 Rutgers 28, No. 3 Louisville 25, Nov. 9. Before a school-record crowd of 44,111, Rutgers rallied from 18 down to register its first win over a ranked opponent since 1988. Jeremy Ito kicked the winning 28-yard field goal with 13 seconds left – after a Louisville penalty negated his first miss – as Rutgers (??!!) stayed unbeaten and in line for a BCS berth.
Worst game
Louisiana-Lafayette 6, Florida Atlantic 0, Oct. 18. No touchdowns. Four turnovers. Only 9,827 fans. Wednesday night game. What’s more troublesome, this contest or the fact none of these people had anything better to do in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.?
Most surprising team
Wake Forest. Yes, Rutgers was the nation’s darling, but it went to a bowl game last year. Wake went 4-7 and was picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division this year. What odds would Vegas have given in August on Wake Forest going 10-2 and getting a trip to the Orange Bowl?
Most disappointing team
Miami. Remember when Miami was ranked 12th? No, that wasn’t three years ago. That was in September. Coach Larry Coker whacked half his staff in the offseason, then went 6-6 and only 23,308 showed in the Orange Bowl for the final home game. Doubt many ‘Canes fans will be in Boise tonight for his final game.
Biggest choke job
UCLA 13, No. 2 USC 9, Dec. 2. The Trojans needed one win over a 6-5 team they hadn’t lost to in eight years and had destroyed the year before, 66-19. One win and it’s a shot at Ohio State for the national title. But USC could gain only 55 yards on the ground, committed nine penalties and couldn’t find a way to get the ball to Dwayne Jarrett. Now USC has a shot at losing three straight in Pasadena.
Toughest player
Ian Johnson, TB, Boise State. Played with cracked ribs and a collapsed lung against San Jose State and still gained 149 yards. Wound up being hospitalized and went on to lead the nation in touchdowns (24) and finish second in rushing (146.64 yards per game).
Best story
Ray Ray McElrathbey, CB, Clemson. He played almost exclusively on special teams, but the redshirt freshman, with his mother addicted to cocaine and his dad to gambling, took in and supported his 11-year-old brother, Fahmarr. McElrathbey used Pell Grants, odd jobs and a small off-campus living stipend. The Football Writers Association of America awarded McElrathbey its Courage Award. Kind of makes Smith’s Heisman seem trivial, doesn’t it?
Best interview, coach
Ron Prince, Kansas State. He reads a book a week, and it shows. He can splice football philosophy with literature and historical anecdotes. What a masterful job this guy will do in recruits’ living rooms. He already has. The Wildcats went to the Texas Bowl in his first year.
Best interview, player
Tim Bailey, LB, Mississippi State. They say war makes men out of boys. Well, a year in Iraq made Bailey man enough to live in Mississippi and admit, “I don’t think we need to be over there.”
Best stadium
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif. From the press box, eucalyptus trees jut out from atop the stadium’s far side rimmed by the San Gabriel Mountains. With the bright green glass specked by the light blue and cardinal red of USC and UCLA, it was more a painting than a football venue.
Best band
Ohio State. Forget “Script Ohio” although the majestic dotting of the i, complete with the drum major pointing dramatically to the point of demarcation, isn’t child’s play. At halftime of the Michigan game, the band also did themes to “The Titanic,” complete with the ship diving into a blue tarp, and “Pirates of the Caribbean,” with a skull and crossbones and the formation bobbing up and down like a ship at sea.
Best pregame activity
Strolling Tennessee River, Knoxville, Tenn. The sun-splashed boardwalk is rife with fans sightseeing the 100-150 yachts docked outside Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium. Tip a couple at Calhoun’s on the River then chat up a yacht owner. He’ll invite you on board for a shot of bourbon or a beer. Or both. The Tennessee Navy is a friendly military, win or lose.
Best drive
Louisville, Ky., to Knoxville. Once south of Lexington, you drive through Daniel Boone National Forest. The windy, hilly road takes you past crystal-clear lakes, up hills with vast vistas and beautiful views of massive trees. During football season when the colors are out, the four-hour drive is well worth it.
Worst drive
Chicago to South Bend. You wind up in one of the nation’s ugliest college towns, and the drive getting there doesn’t exactly resemble the south of France. Don’t bother looking for quaint outdoor cafes in Hammond, Ind.
Best campus
Ohio. The rolling green hills of the Allegheny Plateau provide a pretty backdrop to a postcard-perfect campus on the banks of the Hocking River. Its brick buildings and ivory white towers should give it fame, more than its raging campus parties.
Worst campus
Tulane. This is highly unfair. The campus took a bit of a hit from Hurricane Katrina last year. But walk around campus and you’ll see the massive work that needs to be done. Then again, those cranes mean progress and they aren’t found in the more desperate parts of New Orleans.
Best souvenir
Alabama-Auburn print, Johnston & Malone Bookstore, Auburn. Birmingham artist Steve Skipper did a 30- by 36-inch print depicting all of Auburn’s 11 sacks on Alabama during the Tigers’ 28-18 win in 2005. Cost is $320. Too expensive? Buy a bumper sticker reading “Honk if you sacked Brodie (Croyle).”
Best facilities
Nebraska. In the arms race, Nebraska jumped to the top five. A sky bridge connects the new indoor facility to the new Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex, a 63,500- square-foot palace with a nutrition center, two hydrotherapy pools and a weight room the size of Scottsbluff.
Best meal
Roy’s, Chicago. Whoever thought you could get great mahi mahi in Illinois? They fly it in fresh daily from Hawaii, and it goes great with the long list of island drinks at the tropical bar.
Worst drink
Hand grenade, New Orleans. You can find it at the Island Breeze on Bourbon Street. They guard the ingredients with the tenacity of Louisiana sheriffs. That’s good. You don’t want to try it at home. Drink one and you feel like jumping on a live grenade when you wake up at 3 a.m. with no Excedrin.
Best day trip
Santa Barbara, Calif. It is 90 minutes from Pasadena up beautiful Highway 1. Have a healthy lunch at one of the plethora of natural-food restaurants and have a drink on the pier overlooking the cobalt-blue Pacific Ocean. Then check out the real estate prices and be glad you are only visiting.
Dumbest arrest
All-Big Ten cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu of Wisconsin and his twin brother, reserve safety Bill of Northern Illinois, 20, were arrested Nov. 25 after breaking into a residence in DeKalb, Ill., and stealing an Xbox. The owner returned home at 2 a.m. to see Jack allegedly holding the game system. He fled, and the resident called police after seeing him run into an apartment building. Police found him later walking outside, again with the Xbox in his hand, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Jack Ikegwuonu was suspended but reinstated Dec. 15 in time for Wisconsin’s Capital One Bowl game against Arkansas on Monday. His trial is set for Jan. 17. Bill, whose trial is pending, was injured and already out for the season.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
