Georgia Bulldogs

Sources are telling multiple news outlets that Alabama sophomore Keelon Russell will be the starting quarterback when the Crimson Tide takes on the East Carolina Pirates at Bryant Denny Stadium on September fifth. Senior (redshirt junior) Austin Mack was the other possible choice as Alabama gears up for the season. Overall, the Tide’s path toward a possible CFP Championship could hinge on what happens on October tenth on Nick Saban Field.

Blame Alabama and Georgia. Point fingers at Auburn, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, too. The Southeastern Conference, once the most dominant league in the land, lost its stranglehold on college football over the last three years.

Ohio State and Oregon are 1-2 in the AP Top 25, giving the Big Ten Conference the top two teams in the preseason rankings for just the second time ever. Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas round out the top 5. The bitter pill for Alabama is its slot at number thirteen. The last time the Crimson Tide failed to make the top ten in the AP preseason was 2008, one year after legendary coach Nick Saban moved to Tuscaloosa.

Three months after Alabama narrowly squeaked into the College Football Playoff despite a Southeastern Conference title game loss, athletic director Greg Byrne is calling for an end to the 34-year tradition.

Alabama’s loss to Georgia during the SEC Championship did not cost the team its shot at the championship. The College Football Playoff Committee put the Tide at number nine against Oklahoma.

Alabama is forcing the committee that will set the College Football Playoff bracket to revisit an old question: Should a 12-team tournament to determine the national champion include a program with three losses? And Duke is bringing up a new head-scratcher that nobody really thought of before: Could a team possibly make the playoff with five?

Gunner Stockton threw three touchdown passes as No. 3 Georgia solidified its position for a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff and beat Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game for the first time, pounding the 10th-ranked Crimson Tide 28-7 on Saturday.

That “pins and needles” feeling for fans of the Crimson Tide may not end with today’s SEC Championship against Georgia at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. On Sunday, the teams who will compete in the playoff games for a shot at the championship will be announced. The world of college football is also remembering the man who that system going.

After number three ranked Georgia closed an 11-1 regular season with its eighth straight win over Georgia Tech last week, coach Kirby Smart was asked about his senior class dominating its top rivals through four seasons. Smart replied with a reminder that Georgia Tech, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee do not form a complete list of the Bulldogs' biggest rivals. Tuscaloosa, for instance.

The New York Jets are making what’s considered to be twin blockbuster trades. One of which involves a former tackle for Alabama, who made two key plays in the Crimson Tide’s defeat of Georgia to win the 2018 national championship at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.