Crimson Tide roll to top of poll again
Alabama will begin its quest for a second consecutive national championship with a rare three-peat.
The Crimson Tide is just the second team to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll for three straight seasons. Alabama received 42 of 61 first-place votes.
No. 2 Clemson received 18 first-place votes. Georgia is No. 3 and Wisconsin is fourth. The Badgers received one first-place vote. Ohio State was ranked No. 5.
The preseason AP poll started in 1950 and since then, only Oklahoma from 1985 through ’87 had started No. 1 in three straight years until now.
Ring up another milestone for head coach Nick Saban’s Tide dynasty. Alabama has won five national championships since 2009 and now has been No. 1 to start the season five times under Saban. Last season was the first time Saban’s team started and finished the season No. 1. Najee Harris hurting: Alabama running back Najee Harris has been sidelined for a week and reportedly is wearing a cast on his foot, according to media reports.
On Monday, AL.com noted that the sophomore from Antioch “wasn’t spotted” at practice again. On Thursday, 247Sports.com quoted Saban saying the issue was a minor one.
Saban said then that Harris “has a cast on his foot because he had a minor foot injury that our medical staff here felt like totally staying off of it for a week would be very, very helpful.”
“When he comes out of that, we’ll start rehabbing. He’ll be day-to-day. But this is not a long-term issue that we think is going to be a significant problem for him, even to be ready for the first game.”
Alabama opens its season Sept. 1 against Lousiville. Ohio State to discuss Meyer: Ohio State trustees set a private meeting for Wednesday to talk about the future of head coach Urban Meyer as the university seeks to quickly move past a scandal that has consumed the football program for nearly a month.
Meyer has been the subject of an investigation into the handling of domestic-abuse allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith.
The investigation centers on what Meyer knew and did about allegations of abuse against Smith, who was fired July 23 after his wife sought a protective order. Smith hasn’t been charged or convicted of abuse, but his ex-wife, Courtney Smith, alleged her husband shoved her against a wall and put his hands around her neck in 2015. New bowl sponsor: The Cactus Bowl is now the Cheez-It Bowl. The Cheez-It Bowl will be played Dec. 26 at Chase Field, home of baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks in downtown Phoenix.
The bowl game between Pac-12 and Big 12 teams has been played in Arizona since 1989 with a variety of title sponsors, including Motel 6, Buffalo Wild Wings and Insight.com. Briefly: Members of Maryland’s team will wear a helmet sticker with No. 79 to honor former teammate Jordan McNair, who collapsed during a practice session in May and subsequently died. In an announcement Monday morning, the school said no player will wear his number for the next three years — the time during which he would have been eligible to play . ... Authorities in Wisconsin have charged Badgers wide receiver Quintez Cephus, 20, with third-degree sexual assault and seconddegree sex assault of an intoxicated victim, both felonies.