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. Georgia will beat Alabama tonight and win the CFB Playoff.
Farrell's Take: FICTION. I’m still not betting against Nick Saban. Georgia may have the better overall team and the Bulldogs are dealing with fewer injuries, but Alabama still has Saban and Saban doesn’t lose these games often.
Watch for Bryce Young to play out of his mind and for Stetson Bennett to make a couple of key mistakes. Alabama wins on Monday night.
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2. Gene Chizik can fix the North Carolina defense.
Farrell's Take: FACT. It’s a good hire. Gene Chizik was successful with the North Carolina defense a few years back and this program needs a shot in the arm on that side of the ball so his return to Chapel Hill will help. The question is, how quickly?
Mack Brown won’t be the head coach forever and the window for an ACC title is probably about four years for the Tar Heels before someone else takes over. This was a team that didn’t look close to breaking through this season. Improvement will come but a division title might not.
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3. North Dakota State needs to be FBS.
Farrell's Take: FACT. This is getting ridiculous. North Dakota State won its ninth FCS title in the last 11 years on Saturday, routing Montana State in Frisco, Texas. Certainly the Mountain West or someone could use this program as a step-up in its conference and perhaps watch it become a Boise State kind of success story.
I honestly don’t care much about FCS football and, yes, Nick Saban continues to win title after title in the FBS, but when you have horrible programs such as UMass and UConn playing at the FBS level, NDSU deserves to take the step up.
