Stop me if you’ve heard this one before but: Nick Saban and the University of Alabama will enter the upcoming 2017 NCAA football season as the favorites to win the national championship.
There’s a reason why everyone says “Alabama doesn’t rebuild — it reloads.” Even with all the defections the team had to the NFL (Crimson Tide team also lost 10 players in the NFL Draft), they’re still going to be damn near impossible to beat this upcoming season, as evidenced by their 3-to-1 odds to win it all. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, the SEC Freshman of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year last year, gives Saban his first real quarterback to return after a full year of starting. And the defense? Don’t forget who’s coaching this team. There’s little reason to believe anything other than the Tide’s defense wreaking havoc on opposing offenses all year long.
And who might be the other three teams be, that’ll join Alabama in college football’s version of the “Final Four?” Let’s just say there are a few familiar faces there as well.
We’ll start with Ohio State University and the University of Southern California, both of whom enter the season with 15-to-2 odds to win the national championship.
The Buckeyes ended last season on the most sourest of notes, and you can be sure that the sting of their 31–0 defeat at the hands of the University of Clemson will very much be on their minds all year long. That was head coach Urban Meyer’s first shutout loss in the 67 games he’s been the head coach. He’ll lead the team through the avenging process, with a squad that has 15 of 22 starters returning this season, including Heisman Trophy contender J.T. Barrett at quarterback.
The Trojans will also feature a potential Heisman Trophy contender under center in Sam Darnold. Darnold’s ascension to one of the elite quarterbacks in the nation last year is the source of USC’s optimism heading into this upcoming season. They’re building off a thrilling victory in the most recent Rose Bowl, and will finally get a chance to utilize a pipeline of talent that they’ve been stockpiling for the last few years.
On the other side of the country, head coach Jimbo Fisher and the Florida State University Seminoles are coming off their own thrilling bowl game victory (a 33–32 win over the University of Michigan in the Orange Bowl), as well as a top-10 finish. At 10-to-1 odds to win it all, they’re another team that has continued to arm itself with incredible depth all over the team. Assuming they can overthrow the Clemson Tigers from atop the ACC, they’ll round out the four teams in the college football playoffs.
Originally written as a freelance article for gridironnow.com
