Colorado's Ralphie the Buffalo is my favorite college football mascot. There's a simple, underlying reason for this beyond the typical majesty of a wild animal who weighs 2,500 pounds. You see, Ralphie is fast. You probably knew this, but it's not until you see her in person that you truly appreciate how much ground she's covering while looping around a football field pre-game. Speed, awareness, power, she's all 99 ratings. And her handlers, with their mere two legs, are simply along for the ride. 

In many ways, how I feel about covering college football is how Ralphie's handlers must feel. No, I'm not in perpetual awareness of being trampled at high speeds, but there is a thrill of the uncertainty. And I'm just trying to keep up with it all the best I can. You can't run with Ralphie if you're scared and you can't cover college football scared, either. It's why I pick upsets every week against almost everyone's better judgement. And it's why I write an overreactions column after every college football Saturday. We're in show business. It's for fun. Be educated as possible, but be bold. And, as I often am, be wrong. It's largely inconsequential and overrated anyway. 

With that said, I conclude the 2019 season with another set of overreactions. As always, some are merited, some are not. But all of them are feelings that exist in this weird, hilarious, sometimes cruel and almost always rewarding world we've given ourselves to. Agree or disagree, we take comfort in knowing that no one does anything in college football half-assed. That especially includes running with a buffalo. 

The College Football Playoff should expand to eight teams: If you're going to make that argument, you may want to shelve it this year. LSU, Ohio State and Clemson were clearly the three best teams all season and Oklahoma happened to win the fourth spot. An eight-team playoff would likely include: Georgia, which just lost to LSU by 27 points; Oregon, which has two losses, one of which is to Arizona State; Baylor, blessed with a charmed life; and Memphis. That's not to say those aren't good teams. They all are. They're also a step behind the four teams selected on Sunday. Now, would the discourse of an eight-team playoff be easier to digest? Absolutely. No argument there. I'll shamelessly admit said discourse is good for our business, and that's partly why I'm fine with four teams, but it's enough to make your head spin. We'll get to six or eight eventually, but I've yet to see a year in which eight would have been definitely better than four. 

Oh, yeah, and the Alabama dynasty is dead for real: Kidding! After five straight years of making the playoff, it can't be that stunning the Crimson Tide took a step back to a few other teams. It happens. And think of all the things that needed to happen for them to finish 10-2: costly injuries to linebacker Dylan Moses and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, LSU completely changing its offensive philosophy to beat Bama at its own game and Auburn squeaking out an Iron Bowl victory. That's a lot. That said, Alabama's vice grip on the rest of college football has clearly been loosening for a number of years. But Alabama is still very at the top of the mountain; it just shares the peak with a few other teams. 

Also, let's please get rid of divisions: Feast your eyes on this utter nonsense for a minute: 

If conference championships are going to matter in the playoff era as much as the committee says they do, then conferences need to do a better job pairing the two actual best teams in the game. Scrap divisions and go to a pods system (h/t Banner Society). If nothing else, it actually makes conference scheduling better (looking at you, SEC). 

The Heisman voting is too antiquated: Multiple members of our CBS Sports college football crew are Heisman Trophy voters. I can tell you first-hand it's an antiquated process. You only get three spots to fill out and you're not allowed to reveal who you voted for until after the trophy has been announced. I understand why the Heisman Trust does this -- it's to drum up as much drama and suspense as possible -- but how many recent Heisman races have been anyone's to win heading into the ceremony? Derrick Henry in 2015? RGIII in 2011? Not many. In that vein, we all know LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is going to win the award this year. He deserves it. And I have no qualms with the other finalists. They're all deserving. But if in most years we know who's going home with the hardware, bring more players to New York for the ceremony. Hell, bring 8-10. Tell their stories. Highlight their achievements. Get to know them. That's way more fun. 

Speaking of Burrow, LSU wasn't the best surprise team of the season: That would be Baylor. The Bears were 1-11 two years ago. Last Saturday, in a rematch against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game, they came within one touchdown of winning a conference championship for the first time since 2014. And with a third-string quarterback, no less. Still think the Big 12 doesn't play defense? Baylor finished 16th nationally in points per game allowed and 20th in yards per play. Coach Matt Rhule has done a phenomenal job and can secure a program-best 12th win in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia. 

Most disappointing? Stanford: There are always a handful of Power Five teams that fall short of expectations every year, but the Cardinal might be the most stunning. A program that had won 40 games in the past four seasons went 4-8 this year. Truly bad luck with injuries played a big role in that, but for the second straight year the offense failed to produce a 1,000-yard rusher. The eight rushing touchdowns ranked last in the Pac-12. Adjusting to a more pass-heavy attack while the defense continues to slip is not the Stanford we've come to know and love under David Shaw. 

Lane Kiffin was a home-run hire for Ole Miss: Oh, buddy, this hire feels like it has the most Freezing Cold Takes potential in recent memory, one way or the other. I like Kiffin a lot. He's a fun interview and honestly one of the smartest offensive minds out there. He'll make Ole Miss entertaining again -- and that's saying something considering its last game was lost due to a dog pissing celebration. Now, does Kiffin have the recruiting and play-calling chops to take an SEC West title? Considering he's the play-caller who took Alabama into the modern era of football, if anyone can squeak one out every so often, it's him. 

USC should have fired Clay Helton: As someone who is happily employed, I'll never advocate for someone to lose their job. I've been let go before. It's a bummer. And from all indications Helton seems well-liked. However, I will note when a change is needed and USC could afford to make a change. Obviously, firing the guy is easy, finding the upgrade is harder and I wonder if USC just didn't have an upgrade in its back pocket (i.e. Urban Meyer). But after four full seasons, USC knows what it has in Helton. He did a great job this year of winning five of his last six while patching together an injury-riddled team. However, Helton's teams don't play with any discipline. The Trojans ranked 124th in penalty yards per game. Astonishingly, that's 10 spots behind where USC ranked in Helton's first full season in 2016. Every year, they've gotten worse. You may not always lose games because of penalties, but the point is Helton has a ceiling. Is it good enough for USC? 

This was the best season ever for the Group of Five: At least that I can remember, yeah. Memphis finally broke through and won the AAC and has a real shot against Penn State in the Cotton Bowl. Cincinnati, SMU, Air Force, and FAU got to 10 wins. Appalachian State got to 12 and beat North and South Carolina. Boise State got to 12 wins, too, and beat Florida State in Tallahassee. Navy orchestrated one of the single best turnarounds of any team in the country (3-10 to 9-2 with a chance for a 10th win vs. Army). Central Michigan went from one win a season ago to the MAC Championship Game. Don't let the playoff suck all the oxygen out of the room, and don't forget about the not-so-little little guys. There have been some fun, quality teams this year from outside the power conferences. 

Mark Stoops should be the SEC Coach of the Year: Ed Orgeron already got the AP's vote, which I'm not going to complain about. But it stinks that Stoops gets overshadowed because he's in the same conference. Kentucky had to go back to the whiteboard when it began losing quarterbacks like Spinal Tap drummers and leaned on receiver Lynn Bowden the rest of the way. Not only did Bowden keep the ship afloat, he has a chance to break the SEC single-season rushing record for a quarterback set by Cam Newton. That the Wildcats have a chance for eight wins, in a reloading season, with Bowden at QB, is a testament to Stoops.