Tonight, the least favorite college football season of my life will come to an end.

I began the season unexcited and will end it that way.

I’ve tried to decipher why I was so ambivalent toward this season. There’s probably not one single reason. Of note, and I’m seeing this in college basketball this season too, the talent level is way down. Google “NFL Mock Draft 2013” and you’ll be introduced to a bunch of names you’ve never heard of. There isn’t a single draft-eligible skill player that I’d consider using a top 10 pick on in this upcoming NFL Draft (you know, if I was actually a front office executive and not some guy with a blog that 4 people read). I’m not even sure if there’s a skill player I’d want to take in the first round. There’s certainly no quarterback I’d want.

Another contributing factor? The crime. The general rule breaking. Look, I don’t want to sound like an 80 year old man recalling the days of college football players with nice haircuts. I have about zero desire to play that ridiculous card, as though the game used to be “pure (a word I hate in sports).” But I’ve grown tired of players getting arrested or suspended or kicked off their teams and transferring to the Alabama States of the world. The NCAA is to blame for some of the suspensions for offenses like “taking improper benefits.” College players should be paid. Period. The NCAA benefits financially entirely on the backs, arms, and ACLs of players who are restricted from using their exceptional talent to earn a living.

South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore shred his knee in a game this season after tearing an ACL the year prior. Lattimore, without those injuries, would have been a top 5 draft pick. Now, he’ll be lucky to crack the second day of the draft. He lost out on millions while the NCAA was capitalizing on his talent. This makes no sense. And it’s another issue I have with college football.

More blame though belongs to the coaches and the players themselves. The coaches, in many cases, let transgressions slide because winning is the end-all. Players will inexplicably serve their one game suspensions when Western Carolina is rolling into town, rather than when the bus is packing up and heading to South Carolina.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t blame youth and stupidity too. I don’t remember players getting arrested as often when I was a kid as they do now, but when I was a kid, it’s important to note, people paid $25/month to use the internet and you were fancy if you had a 56K modem. The point (if there is any) is that maybe we just know more than we do now. Regardless, knowledge isn’t always power.

I don’t mean to get into a rant here. I will say, I anticipate the start of next season already more than I did the start of 2012. Johnny Football will return with a shot at a Heisman repeat (he better hope that left tackle Luke Joeckel decides against being a top 3 pick in the NFL Draft), so long as he limits his experiences in Texas’ finer evening establishments. And the race for BCS supremacy will be wide open with Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia, Clemson, Louisville, Florida, Ohio State, Oregon, and Stanford with legitimate shots at playing in Pasadena in January 2014 for the BCS title.

All of this (actually, none of it) brings us to tonight’s BCS National Championship game and perhaps the number one reason why this season never stirred much emotion in me. It always seemed like a foregone conclusion that Alabama would win the National Championship. And I fully expect that to happen tonight.

Now, I don’t think Alabama is the best team in the country. I think that’s the team that beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa in November (Texas A&M). And I don’t think Alabama is the second best team in the country (that’s Stanford). But, alas, this is the matchup that our computer/human hybrid system has given us.

Notre Dame being here is less about how well they played and more about how lucky they’ve been. The Fighting Irish defense was the best in the country (allowing 10.3 points per game). The Fighting Irish offense was, well, just okay (75th in scoring offense). In finishing the season undefeated, the Irish had to beat Stanford in overtime (which they still haven’t done because Stanford RB Stepfan Taylor scored a TD that was incorrectly called), Pittsburgh (6-7 overall) in 3 OT, and then single digit wins against Purdue, Michigan, USC, and BYU. Notre Dame played one truly exceptional game (at Oklahoma).

Alabama comes in with the second best scoring defense in the country (10.7 ppg) but a markedly better offense (13th overall/38.5 ppg). Two single digit wins. Everything else was pretty much a blowout. But there is that loss to Texas A&M….

In short, because I don’t think this game deserves this much ink, I think Alabama’s offense makes Notre Dame look like LSU from last year’s BCS Championship. I expect Notre Dame’s Everett Golson to have a miserable night facing Alabama’s swarming front 7 and physical secondary. Maybe Notre Dame gets one into the endzone early. That’s going to be about it.

Notre Dame’s only hope is that their defense can do what LSU’s (better) defense couldn’t last year: stop Alabama. The Crimson Tide have had 5 weeks to prepare for this game. That’s 5 weeks to heal and 5 weeks for the game’s best coaching staff to prepare for every possible scheme Notre Dame will throw at them. AJ McCarron won’t make the mistakes that I expect the relatively inexperienced Golson to make.

And just because he’s one of my favorite players to watch in college football, look out for Alabama freshman TJ Yeldon. Yeldon might be Alabama’s backup now, but don’t kid yourself, he’s going to make a run at a Heisman next year. If the SEC Championship wasn’t his coming out party (25 carries, 153 yards, 1 TD), this will be. Even against Notre Dame’s vaunted defense.

Alabama wins by 17. It won’t be that close.