Hog Tied* "Now I can't wait to see what all those 'Hog Tied' fans look like." That was not exactly the sentiment shared by the University of Houston, which went 12-1 overall, 8-1 in conference play, and earned the No. 2 seed for the AAC Championship. The Cougars were given a scare when they lost their season opener at home to Memphis, and then again in the second game of the season at Tulsa, but that was it. The only thing to slow down UH was a road-game loss at Memphis as the Tigers closed out the Cougars run. The Cougars will be waiting on the rest of the field to determine the conference’s representative in the College Football Playoff. Houston also holds a win in the CFP Playoff over a member of the UCF in 2013. The Cougars were given a 30-24 victory, which was followed by their first national championship appearance since 2004. They played their second national championship game in 2004 in Detroit, and fell a little bit short to University of Southern California. The Cougars will get a rematch with the Trojans in the Hyundai Sun Bowl. Another rematch from the 2017 season, the Cougars went into the Hyundai Sun Bowl with the most momentum they had had all season. They defeated Auburn and Texas A&M by a combined score of 48-34 in the previous two weeks. Unfortunately, they came up just short to Notre Dame 31-28 as it appeared UH was going to blow the game open early in the second half. The Cougars had a fourth-quarter lead of 32-28, but three unanswered touchdowns for the Irish, and the game would end with the Fighting Irish taking down the Cougars 31-28. UH did enough to win those three games, even though they were not pretty, and they were able to keep their run going with a record of 24-3 over the last two years. The Cougars have finished 12-2 in conference play the last two seasons, including three times winning the AAC Championship, and they played their best football of the season in the last two weeks of the season. The Cougars should be able to make a repeat trip to the national championship game. This is their third time being on the big stage. Wins this season: 9. Temple (7-5) The Owls started off 2017 on a very high note with a huge upset over Stanford in Week 1 that was a 30-27 victory. However, that was the only one for Temple as they took a loss at home to North Texas on a late field goal that would have sent the game into overtime, and then dropped a 51-34 loss at Texas in the final week of the regular season. The Owls were right in the mix for the AAC Championship as they finished the season at 6-6 overall, and 4-4 in conference play. Temple is not eligible for a bowl game this season because of the conference’s Academic Progress Rating penalties. Losses this season: 9. UAB (1-11) The Blazers had an atrocious 2017 season as they went 1-11 and set a program record for most losses since joining Division I in 1992. UAB went from six straight bowl games from 2010 to 2015, to not playing in any bowl games. The Blazers were given a 5-7 overall mark, and went 3-6 in conference play. UAB has not had a winning season since 2011, and a one-win season for 2017 just makes it five straight seasons without a winning season since the team’s last bowl appearance in 2010. The Blazers are not eligible for a bowl game this year because of the conference’s Academic Progress Rating penalties. T-8. UCF (3-8) The UCF Knights had a record that is really not that surprising considering that it was their first season as a member of the American Athletic Conference. The team went 3-8 overall, and they went 1-7 in conference play. One of their three wins was a 41-13 blowout victory over Western Kentucky, and it was a very dominating performance on the field and in the statistical categories. The Knights won their opener against Alabama in Week 3 by a score of 45-17, and then had three more blowout wins to start the season, including one against North Texas in the middle of the season. The Knights were blown out the final week of the season against rival South Florida by a score of 36-10. The Knights went into the final week of the season with two losses and two ties to their name, but UCF lost its season finale at home. The team is moving to the American Athletic Conference in all sports for the 2018-19 season. Award Finalists Johnny Manziel- QB, Texas A&M - A&M will fall to a 6-6 record this season, and the final three games of the season will determine the future of head coach Kevin Sumlin. Manziel threw for 2,416 yards and rushed for 1,410 yards with 31 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Texas A&M did win eight games last season, but they also did win in just five games this season. There is a strong possibility that Manziel could transfer out of Texas A&M if he cannot win more games for the Aggies. Marquise Brown- WR, Oklahoma - With OU being a one-loss team, and the season opener already in the books, there’s nothing left to play for for either team in that contest. Instead of going home for the offseason, OU coach Lincoln Riley will have the opportunity to see how Brown has improved since the start of the season. Brown will play in the NFL after he graduates, but he is a game-breaker at wide receiver and will give those watching the Big 12 Conference the best year in recent memory. The 2017-18 college football season was one for the record books, and the year left us with more questions than answers for the future. Many of these same questions will be asked again for a new set of student-athletes in 2018. As much as we wanted to wait for our weekly Wednesday NFL column to give you a rundown on some of the top award winners in college football, there is just too much going on right now to take a breath. Some things take precedence, and I feel like some things are more important than others at this point. The national media has had the spotlight on us for almost five weeks now, so I think it’s fair to take our turn and explain what happened to college football on the national stage. The first topic I feel like I need to address is the fact that the College Football Playoff committee has chosen to abandon the “eyeball test,” and has turned in to a points system for the selection of teams that will be awarded the four non-playoff spots. We have been watching college football for almost a decade now, and to change the criteria mid-season is not something we should expect to happen. It was hard enough to follow the process when the committee was giving us weekly information, but the lack of transparency that the college football world has grown accustomed to has been put to rest. The committee has done what is best for college football, and has made a list of four teams that they feel are deserving of being in a New Year’s Day bowl game based on these criteria. It was hard to see them do this just four days after the end of the regular season, and it comes as no surprise that most fans were displeased with the decision to abandon what college football fans think is the best part of the season. In the wake of them dropping the eye-test and switching to a points system, there were only two teams that were in the running for these four spots. The committee made their final four, and it had LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson to choose from. The committee made their decision, and it was Oklahoma who was selected as one of the four teams to participate in the College Football Playoff. What does this mean for Oklahoma? Oklahoma was one of the favorites to win the national championship. Everyone remembers the blowout victory against the Sooners in the 2017 Rose Bowl when LSU secured a spot in the College Football Playoff. That game was one of the best games of the season, and it gave LSU a chance to put up huge numbers in the box score. With that being said, OU was one of the favorites to win it all in 2017, but the Sooners lost a game in the Big 12 Championship against TCU before going on to lose to Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Both teams won their bowl games, and were both deserving of making the College Football Playoff. The committee has shown that they will stick with the favorites when needed, but it will be interesting to see if they go back to a favorite once they win their next game. Who are the most vulnerable to change? LSU and Alabama are the only two teams that appeared to have a great chance of making the College Football Playoff from the top-15, but have now been eliminated from the conversation. LSU could not secure the win in its second-to-last game of the season against Alabama, and fell two spots in the rankings to play the role of spoiler against Auburn. LSU’s ranking of No. 14 will be enough to keep it out of the College Football Playoff, but the