The final rankings will look nothing like the first ones, of course. Even next week’s rankings will be full of major changes.
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The big game of the college football weekend features SEC rivals as No. 7 Alabama plays host to No. 4 LSU at 8PM ET on CBS. “I can only coach you so much.’ So both of them are not quite what they seem”. The Tide are a big athletic group up front. Considering the enormous profile of the SEC, that’s really saying something. There could be more pressure on Fournette, although he insists he doesn’t see it that way.
Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, who has coached for more than 43 years, recalled thinking Leonard Fournette was “absolutely one of the best running backs that we’ve ever seen” during the recruiting process. Brandon Weeden, that team’s quarterback, told the Daily Oklahoman this week, “I’m not joking when I say I still lose sleep over that game”. “They should relish it. It’s why you come to LSU, to be a part of this game”.
Tide running back Derrick Henry has carried Alabama’s offense with 1,044 yards and 14 touchdowns. He is 10-4 on both sides of the rivalry with an approach diametrically opposed to that of Miles. But the game may hinge on which quarterback has a better night. I’m picking Bama, 26-20. If LSU wins over Alabama this week in a tough SEC matchup, it should only help Fournette in the voting as the season goes on. Isn’t that kind of insane? “We wrap up and run to the ball and we’ll be successful”.
They get to 9-0 – by the skin of their teeth. No league is more fun at the top than the Big 12, whose best teams will battle it out all November long.
Verne Lundquist: “In the last seven regular season games, five of them have been decided by a touchdown or less”. An LSU win solidifies its spot among the top four teams in CFP rankings.
Added Reed, “That was other teams”. If Memphis navigates that stretch without a loss, the Tigers will have beaten American Athletic Conference teams that account for three wins over Power 5 schools. He was 3-0 from 2005-07 and 2-0 in 2010 and ’11 before the current four-game slide put him at 5-6. Sparty wins, 31-24.
Funny, Jarrett Lee was No. 1 in the SEC and No. 17 nationally in passing efficiency entering the Alabama game in 2011 with strikingly similar numbers and just one interception.
Clemson blew a huge opportunity previous year when it couldn’t beat Florida State when the Seminoles were without quarterback Jameis Winston, who was suspended for shouting obscenities from a lunch-area table top. This game does not come down to the offense, it comes down to our defense. LSU, not so much.
Arkansas will try to control the tempo and keep Ole Miss’ offense off the field, but it won’t be easy.
Where Alabama has the advantage is if they can stop, or at least slow down Fournette.
Alabama is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games.
Season: 43-15-1 straight-up, 29-27-3 vs. the spread. Henry is a little bigger at 6 -3 and 242 pounds. Travin Dural had a great game for the Tigers, pulling in five receptions for 132 yards and one TD. Georgia hasn’t posted such anemic offensive numbers since Herschel Walker was in junior high. The Blue Devils, who should have won last week’s game against Miami if not for miscues by ACC officials, will need to turn the page and focus on this week’s Tobacco Road showdown with the Tar Heels.
Dayton at Morehead State, 1 p.m.
The line: Wildcats by 2½. Alabama could’ve had a 13-6 lead in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers instead won, 9-6, in overtime. Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg is a terrific talent, but he has a tendency to hold on to the ball for too long and his wall of blockers isn’t the sturdiest. Coming off a bye week, things look promising.
The story line: We’ve been here before with the Irish, haven’t we? Notre Dame’s last visit to Pitt, in 2013, ended in defeat. Fournette’s immediate plan is to run over Alabama on Saturday, and that’s a super-sized challenge. “The whole state of Louisiana’s passionate about it, and we have to go out and fight for victory”. This is a risky game.
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Alabama invaded Patterson a year ago to sign four-star wide receiver Daylon Charlot.
