Alabama eyeing top prize
Expect the Crimson Tide to capture NCAA title, writes Todd Saelhof
So long … Deshaun Watson, Bob Stoops and Alabama’s one-year (!) title drought.
Hello … Ed Orgeron, Jarrett Stidham and the Big 12 Conference Championship Game.
The 2017 NCAA football season is already up and running.
And it won’t finish anything like last year. Well … maybe not. This time, the Alabama Crimson Tide will lock down that national championship — instead of having it snatched from their hands in the final second. And it won’t be a third-straight Crimson TideClemson Tigers college pigskin finale since Clemson’s heart-andsoul quarterback, Watson, is now chucking balls in the NFL.
Yes, ‘Bama seems oh-so poised for a fifth crown in nine seasons.
But in college football, anything truly can happen (see Watson’s winning two-yard touchdown strike to Hunter Renfrow with one second left in last year’s championship tilt).
So here we go … and it’s hot right off the top.
No. 1 Alabama plays the No. 3 Florida State Seminoles in a huge early test for both programs.
Some have tabbed it the ‘Greatest Opener of All-Time.’ Hard to argue when it’s No. 1 vs. No. 3.
That matchup certainly represents a threat to ‘Bama’s bid — possibly the only one of the regular-season unless you believe the arch-rival Auburn Tigers truly have the QB, Stidham, to compete against ‘Bama’s all-world defence. But it says here there’s too much pressure on sophomore Stidham (remember Auburn pivot Jeremy Johnson a couple seasons back?) and the Tide’s just far too strong to succumb to any SEC foes.
Even if Alabama loses to Florida State, it won’t keep the Tide from the title.
It’ll just fire them up more.
SECOND DOWN
With Stoops gone in Oklahoma, is that good or bad for a Sooners team that has stumbled recently when it counts most? Sorry, Sooner nation, even with a fresh-ish voice in new sidelines boss Lincoln Riley, there’s too much Bedlam (Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State) in your future, possibly two tilts this season against the in-state rival — one in the Big 12 schedule, and Bedlam II in the conference championship game … Yup, even with the addition of a conference final, the Big 12 still won’t find a way into the College Football Playoff. But give Riley a year at the helm in OK and Tom Herman some time as new head coach with Texas, and maybe next year’s the charm for the Big 12 … Here’s your way-too-early Heisman Trophy watch list: Penn State RB Saquon Barkley, USC QB Sam Darnold, LSU RB Derrius Guice, Ohio State QB JT Barrett (isn’t this his 15th year?), Washington QB Jake Browning, Florida State QB Deondre Francois, two-time finalist QB Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma and, of course, last year’s winner, Louisville QB Stanley Jackson. Discuss amongst yourselves — and over a beer, of course.
THIRD DOWN
LSU lost a whopping 11 of its roster players over the off-season, as they transferred to other programs with Orgeron making sweeping changes in his first full year as head coach … One of LSU’s transfers is starting QB Brandon Harris, who’s now the guy at North Carolina trying to fill the footsteps of NFL hot-shot draftee Mitch Trubisky … Remember Malik Zaire, whom Notre Dame fans anointed the next great QB two years ago? He’s now in the mix at Florida with incumbent Luke Del Rio and hot-shot redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks. Whoever does get the gig won’t have No. 1 receiver Antonio Callaway and fellow starting passcatcher James Robinson to target in Florida’s Week 1 game against Michigan after both were banned one game for marijuana possession … Meanwhile, Will Grier, who was once tabbed the next great QB at Florida, is now the man at West Virginia.
FOURTH DOWN
Hurricane Harvey did his best to mess with Texas, and because of it, three tilts in the great state have been affected, including moving LSU vs. BYU from Houston to New Orleans on Saturday night … Bonus Sunday football for Week 1: No. 22 West Virginia vs. No. 21 Virginia Tech in a bitter rivalry in D.C. (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and Texas A&M at UCLA (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX). Call the latter the Hot-Seat Bowl with both head coaches, A&M’s Kevin Sumlin and UCLA’s Jim Mora, playing for their jobs this year. And then it’s a Monday tilt with No. 25 Tennessee taking on Georgia Tech in Atlanta (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) … Here’s our final-four prediction: Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State and Washington.