Super Bowl XLI has come and gone, Signing Day is past us and the 2006-07 football season is now in our rearview mirrors.

There were plenty of storylines in prep, college and pro football this season, and I think we were all able to learn a few things.

With six months to wait before the next football game is played, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at the lessons we learned from football across the country this season.

4You can sign a Division I scholarship from a small school like Trinity, as Stevan Ridley proved Wednesday by signing with LSU.

4Returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown is apparently a death sentence in championship games, as Ohio State and the Chicago Bears learned in dramatic fashion over the last month and Trinity nearly learned during its state championship win.

4Peyton Manning and Chris Leak are, apparently, good enough to win the big one.

4Doing a stupid dance to celebrate a sack is apparently fair game, but having your opponents taunt you with that dance is a Class A felony.

4Running the ball and stopping the run aren’t quite as important as we all thought they might be, yet another thing the Gators and Colts were able to prove to us.

4Conditioning really can win football games, as the Franklin County Bulldogs proved six times this season with close, fourth quarter wins.

4The New Orleans Saints may actually be a winning franchise one of these days.

4Natchez High appears to be on the right track, although the rebuilding project still has a long way to go — longer than I expected to start this season.

4Following the Alcorn State Braves can be mind-numbing, but getting to cover a Capital City Classic delivers the goods.

4Apparently it is possible for Rutgers and Wake Forest to win 11 games, while at the same time possible for Florida State, Alabama and Miami to go a combined 20-19.

4Nick Saban will say absolutely anything.

4And all my predictions are 100 percent wrong.

What a crazy six months it’s been since fall practice opened across the nation. With one of the wildest recruiting years in memory now behind us, we can all begin looking forward to next season, and perhaps the promise of more Miss-Lou state championships or title runs from our favorite college and professional teams.

My life won’t be quite as bright for the next six months, but hopefully I can take what I’ve learned this year to be a better prognosticator in the future.

Tim Cottrell is sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached by phone at 601-445-3632 or by e-mail at tim.cottrell@natchezdemocrat.com.