College football kicks off
Alabama and Georgia will kick off their respective college football seasons today ranked among the top three teams nationally and with the shared objective of getting back to the championship game of the sport’s four-team playoff.
For Tennessee, today’s start begins from a more modest perspective and represents the first chapter under new coach Jeremy Pruitt.
The Vols endured their worst season in program history last year, losing eight games for the first time and suffering their first winless season in Southeastern Conference play. The 4-8 debacle resulted in the dismissal of former coach Butch Jones with two games left, and it was followed by a tumultuous coaching search that led to the ouster of former athletic director John Currie.
Former Vols coach Phillip Fulmer ultimately took over as AD and hired Pruitt, who spent the last two years as Alabama’s defensive coordinator. Pruitt’s first test will not be easy, as Tennessee opens at 3:30 this afternoon (CBS) against No. 17 West Virginia in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how well our staff has prepared our team,” Pruitt said this week at a news conference. “Is our team going to compete the way we want them to compete? We’ve been working for nine months trying to build a team, and this is our first opportunity to show who we are. “I’m looking forward to seeing it.” West Virginia quarterback Will Grier and receiver David Sills are preseason first-team Associated Press All-Americans, while Pruitt has yet to announce whether Jarrett Guarantano or Keller Chryst will be his starting quarterback.
Alabama is coming off its fifth national title in nine years, extending the Crimson Tide’s unprecedented run under Nick Saban. Ranked No. 1 for a third straight preseason, Alabama will open tonight at 8 (ABC) against Louisville in Orlando.
“This is obviously what we’ve been working for all year,” Saban said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to create an identity for this team. Nothing that has happened in the past will help us in this game.”
Saban has yet to publicly name Jalen Hurts or Tua Tagovailoa as his starting quarterback.
Third-ranked Georgia is opening against Austin Peay, a Championship Subdivision program with 22 fewer scholarship players, this afternoon at 3:30 (ESPN) at Sanford Stadium in Athens.
“We’re really looking forward to the opportunity to go out and play somebody besides ourselves like we have these last 20-something practices,” Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said.