It's never too early to look ahead to the college football season. Just think about it. May is practically gone, so all we have to get through is June and July. Fall practice will be here before you know it.
As usual there are no shortage of story lines heading into the 2013 season.
1. Three in a row?
There is only one logical place to start when you are thinking about the 2013 season: Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide are trying to do something that hasn't been done in the modern age of college football. Since 1950, no team has won three consecutive consensus national championships. I use that phrasing on purpose, because if you look at wikipedia.com and see how many organizations used crowned a champion in college football each year, you will rethink your position on the BCS.
Bama will have to replace some key pieces on what was one of the best offensive lines in college football history. Bama also lost some defensive pieces, as well as stud running back Eddy Lacy. However, the Tide do return senior quarterback AJ McCarron and his lovely girlfriend, that Brent Musburger is still raving about.
The schedule for Alabama is intriguing to say the least. Bama opens in their home away from home, the Georgia Dome, against Virginia Tech. It is a good situation for Bama, because Virginia Tech is a big name, but there is no similarity in the talent levels of the two schools. After a bye week following the opener, Bama heads to College Station, Texas to face A&M in what should be a fantastic game. Other than the A&M game, Alabama's toughest road game will probably be against Mississippi State in November, and the Tide do close the season at Auburn. Alabama plays both LSU and Tennessee at home in 2013.
There is a reason that teams don't win three national titles in a row, but if any team, and any coach, can get the job done, it is Alabama and Nick Saban.
2. Do I hear 9?
The dominance of the SEC in college football is one of the most heated topics in recent history. It is amazing how many fans and coaches feel like the respect given to the SEC is unwarranted. Obviously I am a huge SEC fan, but I truly believe that I could respect what the league is doing even if I were a fan of another conference. With teams like Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and LSU there is no reason to think that an SEC school won't play their way into the national title game, and there is no reason to think, once there, they won't win the game.
In the BCS era only one SEC school has lost a national title game: LSU, in 2012, to Alabama. Be frustrated with the streak, be aggravated about the coverage the league gets on ESPN, be envious about the benefit of the doubt given to the league because of their reputation, but please, please, respect the streak.
3. If not the SEC, then who?
If the SEC's streak of national champions is going to come to an end in the 2013 season, who are the most likely candidates to end the streak? There are two types of candidates in my opinion, the teams that could be undefeated because they hardly play anyone, and the teams that are going to be very good but have to win some big games.
Ohio State, coming off an undefeated season where they were ineligible for the national championship because their players traded memorabilia for tattoos, would fall under the first category. With non-conference games against Buffalo, San Diego State, Cal, and Florida A&M, Ohio State only has to navigate through the meager Big 10 to find its way to the national title game. The Buckeyes two biggest road games will be at Northwestern (no that is not a joke) and to end the season at Michigan. Ohio State plays Wisconsin and Penn State at home and miss Nebraska entirely, though they might have to play Nebraska in the Big 10 title game.
Two teams jump out to me in the second category: Clemson and Stanford.
Stanford plays Washington, Oregon, and Notre Dame all at home this season, with their toughest road tests coming against Oregon State and USC. The Cardinal didn't miss a beat after losing Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck last season and there is no reason to think that they won't be right in the middle of the national title picture again this season.
If Clemson is undefeated at the end of the season they will have made it through one of the most difficult schedules in the country. Clemson starts the season at home with Georgia. They host Florida State and Georgia Tech during the middle of the season and finish up by playing at South Carolina. Two games that might be dangerous for the Tigers are against NC State in Raleigh and against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
If I had to pick one team it would be Ohio State. They will look good demolishing the Big 10, and Urban Meyer gives them more credibility nationally. As an SEC fan, I pray for Ohio State against an SEC team in the title game again. It worked out so well for Florida in 2006 and LSU in 2007.
4. Will the Luck of the Irish strike again?
Notre Dame fell back to earth hard in Miami against Alabama. It had been a dream season for the Irish, but just take a moment to think about how close that season was to coming off the rails. It took overtime and one of the most questionable goal line calls I can remember for Notre Dame to beat Stanford last year. The Irish should have lost to Pitt at home but the Pitt kicker missed a game winning field goal in double overtime.
This season, Notre Dame loses Te'o and his inspirational story... oh wait, yeah. Well they will have some holes to fill on the defense, and the schedule is pretty difficult. At Michigan at the begining of the season and at Stanford at the end of the season will be the toughest road games for Notre Dame, but the list of teams coming to South Bend this season will raise some eyebrows. Oklahoma, Michigan State, USC, and don't look past BYU who gave Notre Dame all they could handle last year.
Might be a tough fall for the Irish.
5. Here's Johnny!
On an individual level, no player has burst onto the scene quicker and with more flash than Johnny Manziel did last year. Johnny football took A&M to the top of the college football world in 2012, beating Alabama and thrashing Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl in the team's very first year in the SEC. Just think, if A&M could have held on to beat Florida in the second game of the season last year, then it would have been Texas A&M facing Georgia in the SEC title game, not Alabama.
The A&M fan base has huge expectations for 2013. They truly believe that the game between A&M and Alabama in the third week of the season is a defacto national title game. Other than the now traditional games against LSU (in Baton Rouge) and Alabama (in College Station) the schedule is manageable. The Aggies draw Vanderbilt out of the East along with their "natural rival" Missouri. Road games at Arkansas and at Ole Miss in back to back weeks could be a problem.
For Manziel, there is really no way to top the season he just had. Maybe he will win a second Heisman, but I doubt it. He has spent the majority of the off season enjoying being Johnny Manziel. He went to the Super Bowl, spent a lot of time at the beach and on other vacations, all the while taking online classes because it was just too hard for him to take class on campus, you know being Johnny Manziel and all.
Reality will hit Manziel and the Aggies this fall. You don't get your left tackle drafted #2 overall and not miss a beat. Not to mention that Johnny Football has now decided he wants to be a pocket passer, because he is eligible to enter the 2014 draft. On top of all of that, what do you think is the one thing that Nick Saban has been able to motivate his team with this off season? Perhaps it was the only loss that Alabama suffered last season? The Aggies are going to be very good in 2013, but they are looking at the Cotton Bowl again, not that there's anything wrong with that.
