By Matt Smith
SouthernPigskin.com

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Despite it being the greatest sport in the world, every college football season, including 2014, has its cgiftsd we dont particularly enjoy 3 things that simply make us cringe.

Christmas 2014 has come and gone, and now the annual tradition of returning to stores to return gifts that we only pretended to like begins in full force.

Despite it being the greatest sport in the world, every college football season, including 2014, has its cgiftsd we dont particularly enjoy 3 (remember Clark Griswolds cJelly of the Month Clubd gift from Christmas Vacation?) 3 things that simply make us cringe.

Unfortunately, 2014 in college football had plenty of those disappointing moments. As the world prepares to exchange their unwanted presents, lets look back at 10 things from the college football season that wed like to return.

1. Weekly Selection Committee Rankings

Despite College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock initially saying otherwise, the powers that be ultimately determined to provide weekly selection committee rankings starting in late October. The dangers of doing so were obvious, but the desire for a made-for-TV weekly ESPN show ultimately won out over basic logic.

As expected, the rankings proved to be much more fluid than the traditional polls. That should have been a good thing, but it created unnecessary confusion, most notably in TCU dropping from No. 3 to No. 6 in the final week despite defeating Iowa State by 52. Baylors head-to-head victory over TCU was not deemed significant enough to jump the Bears over the Horned Frogs until the final week of the season, despite the game occurring eight weeks earlier.

These rankings arent going away, and future years may not provide such little separation as we had this year with Baylor, Ohio State and TCU, but this season proved that they do more harm than good.

2. Todd Gurley

We all anticipated that 2014 would be Gurleys final college season, but we didnt think the star Georgia running back would be limited to just six games. Gurley was suspended for four games for accepting payment for autographs, returning Nov. 15 against Auburn. Sadly, Gurleys return was short-lived, as he tore his ACL during the Bulldogs win over the Tigers.

While Gurley is certainly not alone in his dealings with autograph brokers, one of the slimiest demographics around, he deserved full responsibility for his actions. If Gurley plays against Florida, does Georgia win the game and go on to win the SEC East? Its very likely.

Regardless of your stance on the autograph issue, Gurleys knee injury was a devastating sight. His NFL future is now uncertain, with him now likely unavailable for all or part of the 2015 season.

3. Ohio State Quarterback Injuries

It began early in fall camp when Heisman Trophy candidate Braxton Miller underwent season-ending surgery on his shoulder. The Buckeyes were forced to turn to redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett, who suffered some growing pains early in the season, most notably in a bad home loss to Virginia Tech.

Head coach Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator Tom Herman (now the head coach at Houston) steadied the ship, however, turning Barrett into the Big Tens best quarterback, as Ohio State rolled to the Big Ten title. But Barrett was also lost for the season in the regular season finale against Michigan.

Third-string quarterback Cardale Jones was brilliant in the Buckeyes 59-0 destruction of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, but now Jones must face No. 1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Can Ohio State get off the mat one more time and shock the world?

4. Black and Gold Teams

From West Lafayette to Winston-Salem and from Boulder to Nashville, for teams whose primary colors were black and gold, it was a difficult fall.

Colorado, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest combined to win just 11 games this season. The Buffaloes and Commodores went winless in Pac-12 and SEC play respectively, while the Boilermakers and Demon Deacons each registered just a single conference win.

While great seasons werent expected from any of the four teams, the certifiable disasters provided little hope for the future. Another black and gold team, Iowa, which went 7-5, was a major disappointment with a schedule tailor-made for success.

5. The Ending of Auburn-Ole Miss

It was one of the most entertaining games of the season when the third-ranked Tigers and fourth-ranked Rebels went toe-to-toe in Oxford. A back-and-forth shootout saw Auburn clinging to a four-point lead in the final minutes, when Ole Miss receiver Laquon Treadwell fumbled as he broke his ankle while being tackled going into the end zone.

Auburn recovered the fumble and was awarded possession of the football as Treadwell was being carted off the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Injuries happen all the time in football, but to see a serious one happen to a star player on game-deciding play, it leaves you with a sour taste.

The ending sparked a bit of a controversy, when the Opelika-Auburn News ran this photograph with the headline cFinding A Wayd the following day, adding to a story that sadly overshadowed what was a classic game.

6. Notre Dames November

The Fighting Irish were nearly the toast of college football heading into the final month. Had the most controversial offensive pass interference penalty of all-time at Florida State gone Notre Dames way, it would have found itself near the top of the polls and sporting a viable Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Everett Golson.

The Irish would win just one more game the rest of the season, dropping their final four games, including an embarrassing home loss to Northwestern. The defense was decimated by injuries, and Golson turned into the turnover machine that predecessor Tommy Rees was throughout his career.

At 7-5, Notre Dame has a final chance to make amends for the late-season meltdown with a win over LSU in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. The Fighting Irish have not defeated an SEC team since 2005.

7. Brady Hokes Ignorance

The thought heading into the season was the Hoke was likely to return to Michigan in 2015 as long as the wheels didnt completely come off of the Wolverines. But after blowout losses to Notre Dame and Utah, they did just that during a late September home game against Minnesota.

The Wolverines were being pummeled by a team that it had lost to just once in 28 years when quarterback Shane Morris took a hit to the head from Minnesotas Theiren Cochran. Morris was noticeably woozy after the hit, but was not pulled from the game until after the next play.

Hoke and since-fired athletic director Dave Brandon apologized for the incident, saying no coaches saw the initial hit and that an ankle injury was to blame for Morris being unable to stand up straight. It shed more negative light on the control of Hoke, whose refusal to wear a headset during games has drawn heavy criticism. After a 5-7 season, Hoke was fired earlier this month.

8. The Saturday before Thanksgiving

This isnt a one-year problem, as it first came to be when the NCAA allowed 12-game seasons back in 2006. The SEC, which mixes in conference games during August and September, plays more non-league games in November than any other conference.

Many SEC teams have chosen to schedule FCS or low-level FBS opponents on the Saturday before rivalry games, rendering what should be a crucial day nationally irrelevant for most of the league. Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina all played overmatched non-conference opponents this season.

The worst news? Those same five teams, in addition to Kentucky, will do so again in 2015.

9. South Carolina

Item No. 9 is the team that started the season ranked No. 9 in the nation. That lasted all of three hours, as the Gamecocks were embarrassed on their home field on the opening night of the season by Texas A&M.

South Carolina never recovered, thanks to a defense that resembled a sieve, and the team that won 11 games in each of the past three seasons stumbled to a 6-6 season. For a team picked by many to win the SEC (my hand is raised), it was a meltdown unexpected of a Steve Spurrier team that been so consistent over the past few seasons.

Wins over Georgia and Florida saved the team from missing a bowl game entirely, but they did little to ease the pain for a team that started slowly and never seemed fully engaged. A loss to Miami (FL) in the Duck Commander Independence Bowl on Saturday would give Spurrier his first seven-loss season in 25 seasons as a college head coach.

10. Conference Championship Games

The seasons final weekend rarely disappoints, but the four major conference championship games produced three duds this year.

Oregon never let Arizona off the mat in exacting revenge for a loss to the Wildcats early in the season: Ducks 51, Wildcats 13. The next afternoon in Atlanta, Alabama turned it on in the second half to run away from a Missouri team that looked like an SEC division champion in name only: Crimson Tide 42, Tigers 13. The worst was yet to come, as that night Ohio State routed Wisconsin to earn a playoff berth: Buckeyes 59, Badgers 0.

Florida State and Georgia Tech played a competitive ACC Championship Game, but a .250 batting average for close conference championship games is not what weve grown to expect. Heres to better matchups and better games on Dec. 5, 2015.