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Top college football stories of 2021

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Both College Football Playoff semifinals are being played on New Year's Eve, so the biggest moments of the 2021 calendar year could still happen for the sport.

As we wait for the Cotton Bowl kickoff later Friday to get things going in the CFP, here are the top eight stories of 2021.

8. Cincinnati makes history

It took eight years, but this season's College Football Playoff will finally feature a Group of 5 team in undefeated Cincinnati. The Bearcats served notice that they could compete with the nation's top programs in last year's narrow bowl loss to Georgia, and they carried that through into the 2021 campaign. An undefeated season complete with an incredible road win at Notre Dame was enough to see Cincinnati crack the playoff. The present for qualifying is a date with No. 1 Alabama, but Luke Fickell's outfit is as equipped as any team in the country to take down the Crimson Tide.

7. Tennessee-Ole Miss nonsense

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Lane Kiffin returning to Tennessee will always come with some added intensity in the crowd. Still, things got extra heated when the former Volunteers coach played in Knoxville with Ole Miss this season. Following a controversial call in the dying minutes that gave the ball back to the Rebels, spectators littered the field with everything from water bottles and vape pipes to golf balls and ... mustard bottles? The game paused for over 20 minutes while the crowd cleared before Ole Miss finished off the win. Kiffin provided one of the highlights of the day as he left the stadium, snagging a water bottle from the stands with an incredible catch.

6. DeVonta goes off on Ohio State

DeVonta Smith's final collegiate game might be the most dominant individual performance we saw in the calendar year. The Heisman Trophy winner capped a brilliant collegiate career with a 12-catch, 215-yard, three-touchdown performance in the national title game versus Ohio State. One important note to add to those stats is that he compiled all of that in a single half. Smith was forced out of the contest in the second half, but the damage done in the first was enough to see Alabama comfortably win Nick Saban's seventh national title.

5. Student finally tops the teacher

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Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time, and the legendary figure reasserts his dominance annually whenever he plays a former assistant. Saban entered Alabama's October contest at Texas A&M with a perfect 24-0 record in those situations, but Jimbo Fisher wanted no part of 25-0. The Aggies pulled off the stunning upset on a last-second field goal to grab the biggest win of Fisher's tenure at College Station. However, Saban didn't lick his wounds for long, as the Crimson Tide head coach got the team back on track to win the SEC and secure their seventh CFP berth in eight years.

4. NIL comes into play

Name, Image, and Likeness came into law in 2021, clearing the way for collegiate athletes to cash in on endorsement deals. It didn't take long for the top names to earn some money, with Alabama's Bryce Young reportedly banking over $800,000 worth of deals heading into the season.

One contract that companies would likely want back is the lucrative deals signed by Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler. The quarterback entered the campaign as a Heisman favorite, but he was benched for star freshman Caleb Williams and eventually transferred to South Carolina.

Other notable deals include multiple teams' offensive lines partnering with local restaurants and the entire Miami roster getting a deal with a local MMA gym.

3. Riley, Kelly, Cristobal leave

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Despite the transient nature of college football coaching, very few people were prepared for the massive moves made following the 2021 season's end. Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley, Notre Dame's Brian Kelly, and Oregon's Mario Cristobal all fielded teams ranked inside the top seven at some point during the season. All three are now no longer employed by those programs.

Riley's move to USC kicked things off, with the news breaking shortly after the Sooners lost the Bedlam Game to Oklahoma State. Next was perhaps the most shocking, as Kelly left Notre Dame as the winningest coach in the storied program's history and headed to LSU. Cristobal completed the trifecta, going back to his alma mater of Miami to try to be the man to finally bring 'The U' back to prominence.

The three staffing changes will reverberate within college football for a long time regardless of how those coaches perform in their new homes.

2. Ed Orgeron done at LSU

It was less than two years ago when Ed Orgeron claimed national coach of the year honors with LSU compiling a 15-0 record and winning the national championship as one of the greatest teams the sport has ever seen. As the calendar flips to 2022, Kelly is the coach at LSU, and Orgeron is spending time in Destin, Florida.

Last year's 5-5 record wasn't well-received, but the COVID-ravaged season created some weird results across the sport. Massive overhaul to the coaching staff provided everyone with a fresh start in Baton Rouge for 2021. It didn't take long for Orgeron to wear out that welcome, with LSU announcing in October that the coach would leave the program after the schedule finished.

Plenty of reasons, both on and off the field, surfaced as to why the Tigers made the move, but it was shocking to see Orgeron go from legendary status to unemployed in less than two years.

1. Harbaugh finally beats Ohio State

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Michigan had been a solid but unspectacular team since Jim Harbaugh took the job prior to the 2015 season, and a winless record against Ohio State was perhaps the biggest blemish on his resume. Harbaugh took a significant pay cut after a dismal 2020 season to stay with the school, and now, just a year later, he's the toast of the Big Ten. The Wolverines finally took down the Buckeyes this season, physically dominating their opponent in an incredible snowy setting at the Big House. Harbaugh's first East Division title accompanied the win, and he added his first conference championship the following week. Next up, a College Football Playoff semifinal date with Georgia. Regardless of how that contest goes, Harbaugh flipping the script on Ohio State is our biggest college football story of 2021.

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