Fact or Fiction: Two SEC teams will make College Football Playoff
National recruiting director Mike Farrell and national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney tackle three topics daily and determine whether they believe the statements or not.
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1. Two SEC teams will make the College Football Playoff.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Let’s face it, this is going to happen. One will come from the Big 12, one will come from the ACC and two will come from the SEC — one from the East and one from the West. With Ohio State not playing and Oregon and USC just dark horses to make it, the path is clear for the SEC once again. My guess is that Georgia and Alabama will be those two teams.
Gorney’s take: FACT. The SEC is so loaded almost every year with the West being outstanding but the East almost as good with Georgia and Florida leading the way. It will be Alabama and the Gators that get into the playoff.
I could see a scenario where Notre Dame battles Clemson hard in South Bend and the SEC teams beat up on each other and the Irish sneak in, but that has not turned out well for Notre Dame in years past. If I had to guess right now, the playoff is Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma and Clemson.
2. There will be as many coaching changes as usual this year.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Jay Hopson is out at Southern Miss after one week but that appears to be a situation where he and the athletic director did not see eye to eye. But for those who think coaches will get a reprieve this fall and spring, I don’t think so. What if Will Muschamp goes 3-7 at South Carolina? Or Dave Doeren goes 2-8 at NC State? Or how about Tom Herman going 6-4 at Texas? These things could happen and I don’t think the pandemic will give as much of a pass to coaches as people think.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. As the season goes on, getting through this year unscathed, healthy and intact is going to be the main focus and for those reasons I don’t think the coaching carousel is going to spin like normal. Interviews, search committees, search firms and the like will not be able to do their due diligence especially if lockdowns come back through the winter months and so my bet is a lot of athletic directors give these hot-seat coaches a pass and look forward to 2021.
There will be some firings and if teams completely collapse then some coaches will be replaced, but I don’t think Hopson being out this early at Southern Miss is a look into the future of what’s to come.
3. Sam Cosmi is the best OL playing this fall.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. Sam Cosmi is a good one and high on draft boards and with Penei Sewell opting out and Wyatt Davis not playing this fall, he’s up there. But give me Alex Leatherwood from Alabama as the top offensive lineman in the country ahead of Cosmi, Trey Smith at Tennessee and some others. He’s a potential top 10 pick.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Cosmi is very talented and could be a fringe first-rounder, but I don’t think he’s even the best offensive lineman prospect in the Big 12. That goes to Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey who could be an interior stalwart for years to come in the pros. After Sewell at offensive tackle it drops off a little bit and I don’t see Leatherwood as a top-10 pick, but he should be a first-rounder.
The kid who could blow people away at the combine is Minnesota’s Daniel Faalele. At 6-foot-8 and 400 pounds, he’s going to make the other offensive tackles look puny, even Sewell, as he’s three inches taller and 75 pounds heavier.