In today’s Fact or Fiction National Columnist Mike Farrell looks at three big recent topics in college football and decides whether each statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.
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1. Bryce Young is worth seven figures in NIL money.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. Nick Saban said his future quarterback has nearly seven figures already in name, image and likeness deals and he hasn’t started a game. Talk about a great recruiting tool, right? But let’s be clear — this is Alabama and the Crimson Tide are coming off Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones as first-round draft picks.
So this is Risk Taking 101 in assuming Young will be the next one. He has the talent, if not the size, and I believe he will have a great career, but seven figures is a bit much for someone who looked average in mop-up duty last year.
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2. LSU has two championship quarterbacks.
Farrell’s table: FICTION. Ed Orgeron said as much when talking about the quarterback battle ahead between Myles Brennan and Max Johnson, but let’s be realistic. The saying goes if you have two starting quarterbacks you have none, so that means one will win the job and the other will sit (or transfer if Johnson loses out) and neither will win a national or SEC title this season.
They both have talent and potential, for sure, and I like Johnson better based on last season, but is Joe Burrow walking out of the tunnel? I don’t see it.
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3. There aren’t 12 good enough teams for a playoff.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. That’s what Dabo Swinney said the other day, but I don’t believe it to be true. College football is certainly different than college basketball, but I guarantee you that a team seeded from eight to 12 will knock someone off and make it to the semifinals in year one of the playoff.
The nature of college football is that anyone talented can beat someone else on any given Saturday, and the 12-team playoff may water down the field in talent but there is still plenty of talent to go around. For every average Arizona team that would have made the playoff there is a TCU or Baylor out there each year that is playing peak football at the end of the season and is dangerous.
