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Lessons learned from 2022 college football season

Adam Luckettby:Adam Luckett01/11/23

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Kirby Smart
(Photo courtesy of Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

On Monday night at SoFi Stadium, the 2022 college football season came to an end with a fourth SEC becoming a multi-national champion in the BCS/CFP era. For only the second time in this 25-year period, we have a repeat champion.

Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs ruined college football’s cinderella out in Greater Los Angeles with one of the biggest beatdowns we have ever seen on the big stage. For one of the few times of the playoff era, we got some elite semifinal matchups, but that turned into a dud on Monday despite a historic season for TCU.

The 2022 season was a wild ride. Let’s dive into what this latest year taught us.

Georgia stole one

The Kirby Smart juggernaut in Athens is not slowing down. The Bulldogs recruit at a no doubt top-five level, have a terrific play-calling offensive coordinator and have shown the willingness to use the transfer portal to address holes on their roster.

However, all signs pointed to 2022 being a reset year for the Dawgs. The program lost 15 draft picks from last year’s roster and most of the playmakers from a generational defense. This forced UGA to start multiple first or second-year players on defense while the offense was being led by a former walk-on at quarterback without a true skill talent star other than tight end Brock Bowers.

Turns out none of those potential warts mattered at all. Georgia ran the table in 2022 finishing 15-0 becoming the sport’s first repeat champion since Alabama in 2011-12.

On paper, Alabama had a better roster this season, and Ohio State looked like the better for most of that matchup in the Peach Bowl. However, the Tide stubbed their foot multiple times in SEC play to keep Nick Saban out of the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, some key coaching decisions and some clutch playmaking helped get UGA over the Buckeyes.

Georgia passed every test in 2022 and finished 7-0 against top 25 opponents. Smart will have better teams on paper in Athens, but all of them will have a hard time putting together a better season than this group did.

Big Ten misses a golden opportunity

In the 25-year BCS/CFP era, we have only seen two Big Ten champions. Ohio State brought home the national title in 2002 and 2014. The league had a great chance to bring home another after getting two teams into the tournament.

Unfortunately, both Michigan and Ohio State lost games they should have won in the semifinals.

At the Fiesta Bowl, two pick-six throws by J.J. McCarthy ended up being the difference as Michigan had issues slowing down TCU’s spread attack. In the Peach Bowl, Ohio State blew a big lead to Georgia despite getting a superb performance from quarterback C.J. Stroud. During both of those postseason games, the Big Ten squads felt like the better team, and we seemed on our way to a Michigan-Ohio State rematch on the biggest stage in college football.

But neither could close the deal.

Now things get interesting. Jim Harbaugh is pursuing NFL openings despite saying he’s expecting to return to Michigan and Ryan Day is weirdly kind of on the hot seat after consecutive blowout losses to the Wolverines. With USC and UCLA making the move to the Big Ten in 2024, things are going to look different for that league very soon.

The Big Ten ruined a great opportunity in 2022.

The calendar must be fixed

The college football calendar is not sustainable. Most notably, things get unnecessarily chaotic in December. Championship weekend, bowl games, coaching carousel, transfer portal, and the early signing period all happen in the final month of the year. Everyone seems to agree that the current model is not sustainable.

Both SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops agree. Things must change, and they must change fast.

With the 12-team playoff set to arrive in 2024, look for some changes to be made very soon. Most notably, eliminating the Early Signing Period is the first task to take care of. Things are changing quickly in college football, and adaptation is required.

The sport seems willing to adjust after just dealing with a December that was unbelievably chaotic for no real reason.

Transfer QBs made their mark in the Pac-12

It’s very easy to make the Pac-12 a punching bag, but the fact of the matter is that this conference was one of the better ones in college football this past season. That had to do with high-level quarterback play.

Most of that star power is returning in 2023.

Bo Nix (Oregon), Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), and Cameron Rising (Utah) were former transfers who produced big offensive numbers for double-digit win teams in 2022. Each has announced a return for a super senior season where they will lead playoff contenders in 2023.

That’s not even including the most popular transfer quarterback. Caleb Williams brought home the Heisman Trophy in his first season at USC leading the Trojans to a New Year’s Six Bowl berth and an 11-1 regular season record. USC will have national championship buzz this offseason because of Williams.

Elsewhere, Oregon State brought in D.J. Uiagalelei, and Arizona State landed Drew Pyne. UCLA won a huge recruiting battle for five-star prospect Dante Moore. Former transfers Jayden de Laura (Arizona) and Cameron Ward (Washington State) are returning after solid debut seasons in the Pac-12.

Oh, California and Washington State just made a pair of Air Raid hires at offensive coordinator. Points will be scored in the Pac-12 next season as the ball will be tossed around the yard. This could be the most exciting conference in college football next season and that’s before even discussing Coach Prime’s immediate impact at Colorado.

The Pac-12 could have the goods in 2023 an outstanding 2022 campaign.

Kentucky must learn from mistakes made in 2022

Overall, the Kentucky football program is in overall good health. Mark Stoops has built a consistent winner that remains competitive in the Southeastern Conference. When looking up at the end of the season, UK faced four top-25 foes in league play and looked like they belonged on the field for most of the season.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things to clean up.

Kentucky just produced its worst offensive season under Stoops, and it occurred with a first-round talent at quarterback. The offensive line went from a consistent program strength to one of the biggest positional weaknesses in the Power Five. The kicking game was atrocious and made critical errors almost weekly.

Kentucky produced a top-10 defense in 2022 and did not take advantage of it due to the ineptitude in the other two phases. That cannot happen again.

Stoops has shown a willingness to make changes when things have gotten off the tracks in the past and he’s done it again this offseason. Kentucky is bringing in a position coach with extensive Power Five special teams coordinator experience and Liam Coen has returned as offensive coordinator. In the transfer portal, the coaching staff has addressed some critical needs.

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The right steps have been taken, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The 2023 season will be a very important one for the program as it could be very easy to take a step back facing a schedule that includes both Alabama and Georgia. Kentucky must show some resolve after not taking advantage of a good schedule and losing home games to South Carolina and Vanderbilt in 2022.

The 11th season for Stoops is one of his biggest yet at Kentucky.

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2025-01-31