The football season is over. Alabama’s dominating 42-14 win against Notre Dame in the BCS title game last night put an exclamation point on the 2012-13 campaign.

Unless, of course, you count the silly season, with coaching changes, which is ongoing. Or recruiting, which heats up over the next month. Or offseason conditioning, which leads right into spring football. And once you finish that, it’s only two and a half short months — full of conference realignment rumors, no doubt — to the ACC Kickoff. And by then the 2013 season is right around the corner.

So it’s not that far off.

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Anyway, Alabama’s overwhelming victory against Notre Dame gave the SEC its seventh straight BCS championship. It also kept the Fighting Irish from joining the BCS winners club. Notre Dame joins Nebraska, Oregon and Virginia Tech as teams that have made a title game in the BCS’s 15 years, but didn’t win (debate however you’d like how USC’s vacated title** should count on this list):

• Alabama 3-0
• LSU 2-1
• Florida 2-0
• Oklahoma 1-3
• Florida State 1-2
• Ohio State 1-2
• Miami 1-1
• Texas 1-1
• USC 1-1**
• Auburn 1-0
• Tennessee 1-0
• Nebraska 0-1
• Notre Dame 0-1
• Oregon 0-1
• Virginia Tech 0-1

You’ll notice Alabama at the top. The Crimson Tide has won three of the last four BCS titles, will be two-time defending national champs and presumably the top-ranked team in the nation when it takes on Virginia Tech in the season opener in the Georgia Dome on Aug. 31.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban, as you’d expect, was already thinking about next season shortly after the title game.

"Two days from now, we've got to start on next year." Nick Saban. #Hokies #Bama 8/31/13 in Atlanta

— VT Football (@VT_Football) January 8, 2013

Virginia Tech cornerback Antone Exum had a snappy response:

@vt_football: 1. He a couple days late. I already started working!

— Antone Exum Jr. (@IAmSwag1) January 8, 2013

Did the Hokies junior just tip his hand that he’ll be returning for his senior season? He’s still made no official declaration, although that tweet seems to indicate he’ll be in a Virginia Tech uniform when the Hokies take on the Crimson Tide 8 1/2 months from now.

Until then, I’ll keep the blog going throughout the offseason, so continue to check back frequently.

A pair of Virginia Tech wide receivers who just wrapped up their college careers are going to be able to show off their skills at a postseason showcase.

Marcus Davis and Corey Fuller are both on the rosters for the East-West Shrine Game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Jan. 19. They’ll play on the East team for head coach Jerry Glanville.

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Davis, despite receiving criticism for his lack of blocking late in the year, finished nine yards shy of Andre Davis‘ single-season Hokies receiving record. He had 51 catches for 953 yards and five touchdowns.

Fuller, the second oldest of his football-playing brothers from Maryland, stepped into a larger role after D.J. Coles went out with a season-ending injury. He finished with 43 catches for 815 yards and six touchdowns.

Linebacker Bruce Taylor previously accepted an invitation to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl at The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 19.

At the high school level, Virginia Tech commits  have also been playing in a number of all-star games. This weekend, cornerback Kendall Fuller and defensive lineman Wyatt Teller played in the U.S. Army All-American Game in San Antonio, safety Holland Fisher played in the Under Armour All-American Game in St. Petersburg and offensive lineman Braxton Pfaff played in the Semper Fidelis All-American game in Los Angeles.

Fuller, a five-star cornerback from Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Md., was presented with the American Family Insurance Defensive Player of the Year award at a banquet prior to the game.

As rumors circulated that Stanford offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton interviewed in Blacksburg on Friday — which nobody I talked to could confirm, making me wonder about their veracity — it’s becoming increasingly likely that wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman will be leaving soon.

At least according to his sports marketing agency.

Coaches, Inc., already has Sherman’s bio updated, complete with a Purdue logo, falling in line with Pete Roussel‘s report on CoachingSearch.com during the Russell Athletic Bowl that the seven-year receiver coach is moving on in the business.

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Sherman wouldn’t confirm or deny anything after the bowl game, although he did have an odd quote of, “I don’t know what you’re talking about just yet.” (emphasis mine) Virginia Tech has not confirmed the report either.

The holdup is probably on Purdue’s part. New coach Darrell Hazell is sticking with his old team, Kent State, through the Golden Flashes’ first bowl game since 1972, a GoDaddy.com Bowl appearance against Arkansas State in Mobile, Ala., on Sunday. Hazell has told reporters he’s worked on putting together his staff since being hired from Purdue. It would make sense that he wouldn’t announce them until his full-time attention is with the Boilermakers.

On a side note, Hokies secondary coach Torrian Gray is also a client of Coaches, Inc., although the picture they show is of Virginia Tech team chaplain Johnny Shelton. Somebody should alert the webmaster.

As the New Year winds down to its final hours, it’s time to take a look back at the last 366 days. We in the newspaper industry like to make lists of top moments from the last year. I’m working on a top five for Virginia Tech right now.

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Now, top moments doesn’t necessarily mean positive moments. Just big moments, whether good or bad, that shaped Virginia Tech football in the last calendar year. I think the biggest moment for 2013 will probably occur early in the New Year, whenever the Hokies’ coaching situation is settled (South Carolina offensive line coach/co-offensive coordinator Shawn Elliott is the latest hot rumor).

But that won’t count for the purposes of this list unless anything happens within the next half day (which it won’t). In the meantime, here’s some of the bigger moments from 2012 that I’ve pulled out. Which ones would you put in a top five and in what order?

• Missed opportunity in New Orleans: The Hokies missed their chance to break through on the BCS stage against a name opponent that Tech thoroughly outplayed for most of the night. Special teams mistakes, red zone troubles and Danny Coale‘s touchdown catch in overtime that was inexplicably overturned by replay made the Hokies uneasy in the Big Easy.
• New York state of mind: Running back David Wilson went to the New York Giants in the first round of the NFL Draft, the Hokies first first-round selection since tackle Duane Brown in 2008. Two rounds later, cornerback Jayron Hosley was taken by the Giants, reuniting the Tech teammates in the Big Apple.
• Kicker Cody Journell reinstated: The kicker who was arrested last December on a breaking and entering charge plead it down to a misdemeanor, completed 100 hours of community service and returned to the team in good standing over the summer.
• The Fuller family connection continues: It wasn’t a victory on the field, but it was on the recruiting trail when five-star cornerback Kendall Fuller committed to play at Virginia Tech, where his three older brothers had played. With Fuller, Wyatt Teller and Holland Fisher, the Hokies could have their highest-ranked recruiting class in the last decade.
• Journell comes to the rescue in the opener: At the time thought to give the Hokies a leg up in the Coastal (how untrue that would be), Journell made two late field goals against Georgia Tech — one to tie in regulation, one to win in overtime — to complete his comeback in the season opener.
• A no-show in Pittsburgh: The curtain was pulled back on the then-unbeaten Hokies, who were out-classed in all phases in a 35-17 loss the Panthers. It foretold problems that would plague Virginia Tech all season.
• Gio goes wild: Losses to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati could be brushed off as non-conference defeats. North Carolina was a league foe and ran all over Virginia Tech in a 48-34 win. Running back Gio Bernard ran for 262 yards, the most ever against a Frank Beamer-coached team.
• Biggest comeback for Beamer: Things looked bleak when Virginia Tech fell behind Duke 20-0 in the first quarter, but the Hokies scored the next 41 points. Receiver Marcus Davis had 144 receiving yards and two touchdowns and running back J.C. Coleman ran for 183 yards and two scores to complete the biggest comeback for Tech in Beamer’s tenure.
• Oh so close against Florida State: The Hokies were up 22-20 on the No. 8 Seminoles with 2:19 to play, but EJ Manuel drove FSU down the field, hitting Rashad Greene for a 39-yard touchdown pass with 40 seconds left to send Tech to another demoralizing last-minute loss.
• A scary moment for Michael Cole: In the third quarter of the Florida State game, safety Michael Cole stayed down at the end of a play, lying motionless on the field after attempting to make a tackle. He was immobilized and put on a stretcher, taken to a nearby hospital with what was later called a cervical neck sprain. He was released later that night but didn’t play again this season, with his football future uncertain.
• Bowl eligible … barely: The Virginia game will not be replayed on ESPN Classic anytime soon, with both offenses struggling to move the ball on a blustery, November day. But Antone Exum‘s interception set up another game-winning field goal by Journell — his second during the regular season — to give the Hokies a 6-6 record and get them into a bowl for a 20th straight year.
• Exum treats kids to a Best Buy spending spree: An underdog selection, but a good story nonetheless. With a $470 Best Buy gift card at his disposal, part of the Russell Athletic Bowl swag, Exum spent it on three kids he met in the story. The story went viral on Twitter and the cornerback was lauded for his generosity.
• Offensive issues on display in the bowl: The Hokies beat Rutgers 13-10 in overtime of the Russell Athletic Bowl, but the season-long offensive shortcomings were on full display, with Tech gaining only 196 yards. Players and coaches celebrated afterward, but there was a foreboding feeling regarding the future of the coaching staff, which could get an overhaul in the offseason.

Any I miss? Feel free to go off the board. Again, looking for a top five.

I’m about to jump a flight to Orlando today, which, based on this weather, is about the perfect time of the year to do so.

Before I head out, here’s a link to a story I wrote about today Cody Journell, who talked generally about his arrest last year at this time for the first time publicly. Here’s how the story starts:

BLACKSBURG – With the Virginia game in the balance, Cody Journell stood over a 42-yard field-goal attempt, knowing if he could push it through the cold, November air, it would all but certainly mean a win against Virginia Tech’s intrastate rival.

He tried to play the wind, aiming for the left goal post and wanting to fade it back in. But instead, he pulled it just wide to the left, keeping the game tied.

An interception by cornerback Antone Exum gave Journell another chance minutes later. With new life, he took advantage, drilling a 29-yarder as time expired, making Tech bowl eligible by the slimmest of margins.

Journell has made the most of the second chances he’s been afforded lately.

It’s been a year since the kicker made headlines in all the wrong ways, arrested and charged with breaking and entering after an alleged home invasion in Blacksburg just before Christmas.

He spent a week in jail, was suspended from the team, had the indignity of appearing in newspaper headlines across the region and waited months for a legal resolution in which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. He did community service and says he rejoined the football program in the summer as a humbled individual.

“It put a lot of things in perspective for me, being here and being as privileged as I am,” Journell said earlier this month in his first public comments about the ordeal.

“All this stuff around you, once you get that taken away from you and you don’t know if you’re going to get it back, it makes you appreciate everything that the coaches do here, what we have in front of us, the facilities and fans and everything.”

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Journell talked about a number of other topics, although the story was more focused about him reflecting on the last year. Here are a few things that didn’t make the story:

• Journell made big kicks in three games this year — Georgia Tech, Boston College and Virginia. Which one stood out to him the most? “I think Georgia Tech,” he said. “I’m kind of torn between the Georgia Tech and UVa kicks, really, but being able to come back that first game and everything in the offseason happening and being able to establish myself that, ‘Hey, I’m back and I’m ready to play and put all this other stuff behind me.’ But then again, the UVa game, we had a bowl game riding on it, with seniors, whether they were going to get to play another game or not in their collegiate career. I think sentimentally that one is probably more important to me than the first one.”
• The Boston College kick was probably the most difficult. There was a wind and the snap wasn’t perfect. Trey Gresh made a nice hold just to get the ball down. Journell barely sneaked it inside the left upright. Plus, the situation was tough. “It wasn’t if I missed, then we’re just going into overtime,” Journell said. “It was just kind of like, ‘We’ve got to make this or we lose.’”
• Journell didn’t make the All-ACC team or even get an honorable mention, but he doesn’t feel snubbed. “I didn’t really have any expectations,” he said. “Almost every team that we played this year had a really good kicker.”
• Which kick did Journell want back the most this year? “I think the one that kind of stands out the most is from the Miami game,” he said, talking about a 47-yarder late in the third quarter. “I don’t remember exactly how much we were down. We might have been down a touchdown or maybe four or something like that, but I could feel we had a little bit of momentum coming up and  I felt like we might have been able to pull it out, and I botched that one kick. And it probably didn’t have anything to do with it, because we lost by more than three, but I feel like it kind of offset the momentum a little bit. So I’d like to see what would have happened had we made that. I think we could have pulled it out.”
• Journell often spoke up in the locker room when times were tough this year, something he didn’t do much of his first few years. That’s not something kickers normally do. “I’m not sure how it goes in every locker room but I think me being so close with all those guys has helped a lot,” he said. “And they respect what I have to say. They know I’m not really one to talk up when it’s not necessary. If I have something to say, it’s usually something we need to hear. I think that helped the guys listen.”
• Journell, who is from nearby Ripplemead, grew up a Virginia Tech fan. He was also a big fan of Shayne Graham, who he had a chance to talk to after the UVa game. “The first time I heard his name really was in the West Virginia game. I think it was ’99,” Journell said. “Then I realized how close he grew up from here and then going through high school and watching him progress through the NFL kind of gave me some motivation, knowing that I’m not going to be the one to ever do this. It’s possible. And them giving me a scholarship out of college, it helped me compare to him a little bit. It was like, well, they have trust in me, I have trust in them. I think I can do it too.”
• There’s no special meaning to his No. 89. “It was the number that they gave me when I got here as a freshman,” he said. “I know a lot of the freshmen have 100-something as their number, because we were all on scout team still. There are more lockers than there are numbers and I was excited that I got my own number. And getting all the gear and stuff when you’re here playing the first year, I didn’t want to change it. I already had sweatshirts with No. 89 on it. I figured I’d just keep it.”
• His goals for next season? Lofty, but reasonable. “I really want to improve my accuracy from 45-plus,” he said. “We really didn’t get a chance to kick a lot of those this year. It kind of just comes with the situation. But I think the majority of the ones I missed this year were 40 and out. So obviously my goal is to go 100 percent next year. It’s a little far-fetched, but it’s been done, though.”