It’s January, which means the beginning of another semester, along with a brand new year in its early stages of development. I’ve always been told that in order to look to the future, we are to remember the past, but I don’t plan on going too far back, just far enough to make a point.

The college bowl season was a much different animal this past holiday season than last.

With a slew of bowl games starting a couple days before Christmas, until the national championship, almost each game had some sort of compelling story that could at least peak the average sports fan’s interest.

Although the NFL is the best of the best, the college game has the advantage of the rabid fan base, school bands and deeper rivalry’s than that of its multi-million dollar big brother.

Although I despise the BCS and can argue with the best of them as to why it deserves no credit for pitting its imaginary “#1” vs. “#2” match up in the championship game, the major bowl games this year, besides the Sugar, Rose and Orange Bowls, had very interesting match-ups with teams that probably would not have played each other otherwise.

There were the Florida Gators, a team that for a month straight heard from every media outlet that Heisman winner Troy Smith and the Ohio State offense was going to roll all over the Gator defense.

I’m sure it must be frustrating to hear people tell you that although you played in the toughest conference in the country, you still don’t deserve to be in the title game. But the Gators handled themselves with class, and in the title game, Buckeye fans were whiter than the tips of Kirk Herbstreit’s hair after a 41-14 defeat.

Is it a coincidence that LSU beat Notre Dame by the same score? I think not.

Last but not least is the Fiesta Bowl that re-wrote the Bible story of David and Goliath to Boise State and Oklahoma.

To understand why the Broncos won this game, we have to go back to the BCS selection show that aired on FOX. The footage showed a packed arena with a sea of orange and blue shirts backing their Broncos who knew they deserved to make a BCS bowl after another undefeated season.

Now, fast forward to the game. Boise State came out amped to be in the game, as opposed to the Sooners who must have read too many articles that likened them to “blue bloods” and to the Broncos as “step children”.

I actually wanted Oklahoma to win the game, but that’s because I had a friendly wager with a friend of mine that Oklahoma was the better team at the time.

Even when the Sooners were down by 18 points, I still thought they could win. I didn’t budge; I knew Oklahoma would make a comeback.

Then something happened, Bronco Jared Zabransky threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown in favor of Oklahoma. Then, winning a bet with a friend didn’t seem so fun.

For 59 minutes, I saw a Broncos team prove to the college football world, that it would not wilt at the idea of playing a school with a rich history as Oklahoma.

Little did I know two trick plays would change the way I look at college football forever.

Although the rest of the nation saw a fourth-and-18 standing between the Broncos and overtime, Boise State saw their season, and a lifetime of glory 50-yards away.

Then, like magic, a hook-and-ladder play that almost never works, ended up keeping the Broncos alive for at least one more offensive series.

The Sooners scored first, but Boise State countered with a score of their own. With everything on the line, Bronco’s head coach Chris Petersen went for the two-point conversion.

With the entire Oklahoma defense fooled, Zabransky faked a toss to the wide receivers on his right and handed the ball behind his back to running back Ian Johnson that went untouched into the end zone finishing what will go down as the greatest college football game of our lifetime.

Watching that game was like watching the first “Rocky,” and forgetting that five sequels were ever made after it.

For a single night the Broncos were on top of the world, not just the college football world, but the entire world.

Boise State showed that it doesn’t take a lot to overcome something, just a couple of tricks in the bag.