BY MATT PITCHFORD

Going into the 2009 College Football season, there were many expectations for an exciting year, and the season had many twist and turns that nobody were able to see coming. Some of those twists and turns included relatively unknown teams that came from nowhere to be in the Top 25, teams with high expectations who completely underperformed, one of the closest Heisman races in the 75 year history of the Heisman Trophy, and dramatic coaching changes that left many fans guessing. 

 
After Week 2 of the season, the University of Houston emerged onto the Top 25 scene with two dominant victories over Northwestern State, 55-7, and No. 5 Oklahoma State, 45-35. The Cougars finished the season with a 10-4 record and ended a great season with a 47-20 heartbreaking lost to Air Force in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.
 
Coming into the 2009 season Head Coach Pete Carroll and the Trojans of Southern California were predicted to achieve greatness once again. But in a game against the University of Washington in Week 3, those expectations came to a sudden halt when they were upset 16-13 and fell from No. 3 to No. 12 in the AP polls. That’s when their season really started to go downhill. They finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and failed to get their 7th straight Pacific-10 Conference title and finished a very disappointing 4th this year. But despite the poor season, the Trojans defeated the Boston College Eagles 24-13 in the Emerald Bowl.
 
On December 12th, 2009, the Heisman Trophy was presented to Mark Ingram the star running back of the Alabama Crimson Tide. He beat out Toby Gerhart from Stanford by receiving five more first place votes. Colt McCoy the quarterback from Texas finished in third place with 203 first place votes. 
 
One of the coaching changes that no one saw coming was Brian Kelly of Cincinnati leaving right before their huge bowl game against Florida in the Sugar Bowl to become the new coach at Notre Dame. Two other major changes were Pete Carroll leaving USC to take up the head coaching position for the Seattle Seahawks, and Lane Kiffin leaving the Tennessee Volunteers to take over for Carroll at USC.