Tag: Bama football news

247Sports places 2020 CFB contenders into tiers

247Sports placed the top 2020 CFB contenders into tiers, and created a tier specifically for Georgia.

247Sports recently placed their top playoff contenders for the 2020 college football season into tiers.

In tier one, considered the teams with the best shot of reaching the College Football Playoff, was Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State.

It looks like 247 added a tier specifically for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs, as UGA is the only team listed in tier 1.5.

From 247:

Tier 1.5: Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia is a weird team to place. The Bulldogs’ talent stacks up player-to-player with Alabama and Ohio State. Its history, three straight seasons with at least 11 wins, does too. But there are a few big-picture reservations with Georgia that the programs above it lack.

247Sports proceeded to discuss experience as a possible weakness on the 2020 UGA roster, noting the introductions of new quarterback Jamie Newman and offensive coordinator Todd Monken, plus the departures of four offensive linemen and Lawrence Cager.

The departure of James Coley, who has been replaced by Monken, is good news for Georgia in the long run, as 247’s Chris Hummer wrote. He mentioned, however, that given the nature of this restricted offseason, it may not yield immediate success. On that one, we’ll just have to wait and see. It can’t get much worse, though.

Oklahoma was alone in tier two.

You’ll have to scroll to tier three to find Florida, which is accompanied by LSU, Notre Dame and Penn State.

CFN predicts outcome of Georgia vs Alabama

College Football News predicts the outcome of Georgia vs Alabama in September.

Georgia vs Alabama will be one of the most anticipated games of the 2020 college football season, and certainly the biggest matchup in September among all FBS games.

If Georgia wins this game, the Dawgs might jump all the way to No. 1 in the rankings…they’d certainly deserve to. But a loss is not the end of the world for UGA either. Play the Tide close and Georgia will earn America’s respect. If we get blown out like we have in recent years on the road vs SEC West teams, Kirby Smart will have to run the table the rest of the way if he wants to get back to the College Football Playoff.

Pete Fiutak of College Football News previewed the September 19 game in Tuscaloosa, and gave reasons on why both Georgia and Alabama can win this game.

Why Georgia Will Win

Via Fiutak:

The defensive front seven should be in place to hold up against the pounding that Alabama is going to try to apply.

The Bulldog secondary, though, will be the strength early on.

It’s going to be one of the nation’s best defenses after getting dates against Virginia and East Tennessee State to tune-up.

To see Fiutak’s reasons for why Alabama will win, click here.

In the end, Fiutak has Alabama winning in a close battle, which would be ok with most Georgia fans. The playoff committee would have to gain a lot of respect for these Dawgs if they play the mighty Tide like that on the road.

Read Fiutak’s full prediction here.

Barrett Sallee picks Florida to win SEC East, projects Georgia record

CBS college football writer picks the Florida Gators to win the SEC East over Georgia football, as well as SEC records.

College football experts have already begun to submit their predictions for the 2020 season.

CBS Sport’s college football writer and analyst Barrett Sallee posted his SEC win total predictions for 2020 on Friday, via Twitter.

Sallee has Georgia as the 2nd team in the SEC East, with Florida as No. 1.  He also predicts the Dawgs to drop two games on the season, both being to SEC teams.

UGA has a rather tough schedule this season, playing Alabama away in Tuscaloosa. Georgia also has tough matchups against Auburn, Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky, all of which could be ranked meetings.

The Dawgs have won the past three matchups against the Florida Gators, and have a massive wave of new talent coming in with the No.1 recruiting class in the country for 2020.  Florida had the No. 9 2020 recruiting class.

The Gators and Bulldogs face off on Halloween (Oct. 31) this year in Jacksonville.

Athlon predicts Georgia record, final SEC standings — High on Florida

In Athlon Sports’ SEC season preview, the Florida Gators are 2020 SEC East champions over Georgia football. Details and the full list here.

Last week, Athlon Sports released a preview of its annual magazine, a look at the top 25 teams in college football and a prediction of the final college football rankings at the end of the 2020 season.

The 3-time defending SEC East champion Georgia Bulldogs didn’t get much love. Florida was projected to finish the season at No. 6, ahead of Georgia at No. 7.

“Georgia has an edge in overall roster talent,” Athlon Sports wrote. “But the Gators have a small advantage in crossover play (at home versus LSU compared to at Alabama for the Bulldogs) and coach Dan Mullen’s team has more continuity in staff and scheme.”

While I agree that at home versus LSU is not as challenging as Alabama on the road, “continuity in staff and scheme” is a reach. In 2019, Georgia rolled into Jacksonville with a new offensive coordinator and still scored 24 points and secured their third win in a row versus the Gators.

A new aspect of Athlon Sports’ magazine this year is its SEC season preview, and sticking with its previous predictions, Athlon has Florida as the 2020 SEC East champions over Georgia.

Athlon predicted the final SEC standings and projected each team’s overall record as well.

See here:

SEC East

#1 Florida, 11-2 overall, 7-1 SEC

#2 Georgia, 10-2 overall, 6-2 SEC

#3 Tennessee, 8-4 overall, 5-3 SEC

#4 Kentucky, 7-5 overall, 4-4 SEC

#5 South Carolina, 6-6 overall, 3-5 SEC

#6 Missouri, 5-7 overall, 2-6 SEC

#7 Vanderbilt, 3-9 overall, 0-8 SEC

SEC West

#1 Alabama, 12-1 overall, 7-1 SEC

#2 LSU, 10-2 overall, 6-2 SEC

#3 Texas A&M, 9-3 overall, 5-3 SEC

#4 Auburn 9-3, overall, 5-3 SEC

#5 Ole Miss, 7-5 overall, 4-4 SEC

#6 Mississippi State, 6-6 overall, 2-6 SEC

#7 Arkansas, 3-9 overall, 0-8 SEC

SEC Championship Game

Alabama over Florida

This year, Georgia has more offensive power behind transfer quarterback  Jamie Newman and new offensive coordinator Todd Monken, with a record-setting returning defense.

Georgia fans, don’t worry seeing Florida in the headlines. Jacksonville is our home-away-from-home and it always works things out.

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Ranking SEC head coaches heading into 2020 CFB season

We ranked all the SEC head coaches, from Georgia football’s Kirby Smart, to Arkansas’ Sam Pittman, to Florida’s Dan Mullen.

The SEC is loaded with head coaching talent as we head into the 2020 college football season.

You have your usuals – Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Gus Malzahn, Ed Orgeron, etc.

But then you have your familiar, or in some cases not-so-familiar, yet new faces: Lane Kiffin, Mike Leach, Sam Pittman, Eli Drinkwitz.

Ranking the SEC head coaches heading into the 2020 season is as hard as it’s ever been, and that’s because of all these new hirings. But it’s also because Jeremy Pruitt waited until October to start winning games in Tennessee last year. It’s because Ed Orgeron took a loaded roster and won a national title. Because Gus Malzahn and Auburn always have the talent but can’t seem to win the big ones. Or because, despite a 4-8 season, Will Muschamp was able to knock off Kirby Smart and Georgia.

Related: 2020 Georgia schedule with game-by-game score predictions

With all of this taken into consideration, here’s our SEC head coaching power rankings for the 2020 college football season:

14. Sam Pittman, Arkansas

I would have loved to get Pittman into a higher spot on this list, but what is there to go off of? His last head coaching job came in 1992 and 1993 when he led Hutchinson Community College to an 11–9–1 record over two seasons.

I am 100% rooting for Pittman to succeed in his first season as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. It won’t be easy, and this is a team that will likely finish with at least five losses for the first few years, but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing as long as they play hard.

Arkansas may not field the most talented teams in the SEC, but if there’s one thing I’m certain of it’s that the former UGA O-Line coach will make sure his guys fight harder than anybody.

13. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri

Drinkwitz gets the No. 13 spot because of what he was able to do at App State last year. In his first season as a head coach, he led the Mountaineers to a 12-1 record and a Sun Belt championship.

But that’s not the SEC. It’s going to be a rocky road ahead for Drinkwitz, as Mizzou will definitely not be one of the more talented teams in the league for a few years.

12. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt

I often find myself rooting for Vanderbilt and Mason.

He took over at Vandy when James Franklin left for Penn State, and though it’s been tough at times, you get the feeling that Commodore fans actually look forward to their seasons.

11. Will Muschamp, South Carolina

If Muschamp had not beaten Georgia last year, he maybe would not even be on this list at all.

But he won and that probably saved his job. He coaches up a good defense, but South Carolina will need to crank up its recruiting efforts if it wants to start contending in the SEC East. Another season with no bowl game may put an end to Muschamp’s head coaching career with the Gamecocks.

10. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss

Kiffin is a good football coach, there’s no denying that. No. 10 is pretty low for an offensive genius like him. But this conference is simply loaded.

Kiffin did a great job at Florida Atlantic, but I still need to see him win consistently at a Power 5 school.

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Athlon Sports releases 2020 CFB rankings: Projects Florida ahead of Georgia

Athlon Sports released its 2020 college football top-25 and projected the Florida Gators to finish above the Georgia Bulldogs.

Athlon Sports recently released its list of the top-25 college football teams going into the 2020 football season, saying the list specifically represents where they think these teams will finish the season.

From Athlon:

This is not a preseason ranking of teams going into the season. Instead, this ranking takes into account where we project teams to finish after the national championship in January

The SEC is represented six times. Alabama is at No. 2 behind projected national champion Clemson. LSU is at No. 8, Texas A&M No. 11 and Auburn at No. 13.

Most notably, Georgia, the three-time SEC East defending champion, is ranked at No. 7, behind Florida at No. 6.

Athlon Sports stated its reason for putting the Gators ahead of the Bulldogs, even though Florida hasn’t won in Jacksonville in three years, is because of the SEC crossover games and staff continuity.

“Georgia has an edge in overall roster talent,” Athlon Sports wrote. “But the Gators have a small advantage in crossover play (at home versus LSU compared to at Alabama for the Bulldogs) and coach Dan Mullen’s team has more continuity in staff and scheme.”

I suppose Athlon Sports has a point, a Joe Burrow-less LSU at home won’t be as tough as Alabama in Tuscaloosa. However, the SEC East runs through Jacksonville and Georgia has held the keys for the last three years.

And as far as continuity goes, the Bulldogs came into the 2019 season with a new offensive coordinator and still took care of business in Jacksonville.

Georgia and Florida meet this year on Halloween from TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida.

Here is Athlon Sports’ projected top-10 teams in college football for 2020:

Athlon Sports’ 2020 Projected top-10

#1 Clemson

#2 Alabama

#3 Ohio State

#4 Oklahoma

#5 Penn State

#6 Florida

#7 Georgia

#8 LSU

#9 Notre Dame

#10 Oregon

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5-star CB Ga’Quincy McKinstry, a Georgia target, releases top-five

5-star CB Ga’Quincy McKinstry, a big-time Georgia football recruiting target, released his top-five schools on Sunday.

On Sunday, 2021 5-star cornerback Ga’Quincy McKinstry took to Twitter to release his top-five schools.

Out of Pinson Valley High School in Pinson, Alabama, McKinstry tweeted a top-five of Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Clemson.

McKinstry ranks as the nation’s No. 23 overall player and as the No. 2 cornerback in the 2021 recruiting class.

According to 247Sports, Alabama is the favorite to land McKinstry, with LSU and Auburn also right there.

Georgia offered McKinstry in March of 2018.

A two-sport star, McKinstry is also a star on the Pinson Valley basketball team. He has won three state championships during his high school career — two in football and one in basketball.

As a cornerback, he earned Alabama Class 6A first-team all-state honors on defense as a sophomore.

Last season, he had 30 tackles, 12 pass breakups and six interceptions.

In addition to defensive back, he also plays wide receiver and kick returner for the Pinson Valley Indians.

Last season as a receiver, McKinstry finished with 47 catches for 700 yards and 12 touchdowns.

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Alabama QB Taulia Togovailoa makes transfer decision

Yesterday, Alabama football QB Taulia Tagovailoa announced on Twitter where he’ll attend in the fall. Details here

Alabama sophomore quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Crimson Tide legend Tua, has decided to transfer to Maryland.

Tagovailoa entered the transfer portal on May 8, per Matt Zenitz of AL.com, and posted his official statement declaring his signing with the Terps on Twitter yesterday.

Alabama still looks to be in good hands, though, with Mac Jones returning as a red-shirt junior. He was chosen to take the field over Taulia when his brother went down with the hip injury last season.

Why Maryland, though? The Terps went 3-9 last season, 1-8 in the Big 10, but head coach Michael Locksley spent three years under Nick Saban at Alabama before taking the Maryland job in 2018. It seems he still has some connections in Tuscaloosa.

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FootballScoop predicts Georgia will be featured in two College GameDay matchups

Georgia football is projected to be featured in two College GameDay matchups this 2020 college football season.

I know, you’d rather be reading about which early-enrollees are turning heads at Georgia workouts. I’d rather be writing about that. Unfortunately, that’s not the world we are living in right now.

Instead, we are in a constant state of speculation, which can actually provide some entertaining stories like the one Zach Barnett of FootballScoop posted this week.

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He wrote a story predicting where ESPN’s College GameDay show will visit during each week of the 2020 college football season.

In his predictions, he had Georgia being involved in two College GameDay matchups.

The first one is a sure-thing…Georgia at Alabama on September 19 in Tuscaloosa.

From FootballScoop:

Speaking of sure things, Georgia at Alabama is perhaps the surest thing of the entire season. A rematch of the 2017 national championship and 2018 SEC title game, this game comes three days shy of the THIRTEEN YEAR anniversary of Georgia’s last trip to Tuscaloosa.

The other one is on Halloween, where Barnett predicts College GameDay will visit Jacksonville for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Not a bad prediction, as both teams will likely be in the top-ten playing for a spot in the SEC Championship Game.

Florida has finished second to Georgia in the SEC East in each of Dan Mullen’s first two seasons and, with a returning quarterback in Gainesville and a new offense coming in Athens, there’s a belief that the Gators can climb the hump this year. Florida vs. Georgia will be the ultimate trick or treat for Mullen.

Athens, Georgia was also mentioned as a possible destination on October 6. The Bulldogs will be hosting Auburn in The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, but there’s also plenty of other top-tier matchups taking place that weekend.

October 6 matchups include: Texas-Oklahoma, Clemson-Florida State, LSU-Florida, Auburn-Georgia, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Iowa-Ohio State, Rutgers-Purdue.

Oklahoma vs Texas gets GameDay that weekend in his predictions.

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Watch: Kirby Smart, Will Muschamp recall hilarious old Nick Saban story

UGA football HC Kirby Smart & South Carolina Gamecocks HC Will Muschamp recalled a hilarious story of Alabama HC Nick Saban from LSU days.

Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp are two of the SEC’s brightest head coaches, and similar to a number of college football’s coaches, they both learned from the best, Nick Saban.

The two coaches previously spent time together as teammates in Athens and coaches at Valdosta State and then LSU, where they coached under Saban.

From 2000-04, Saban was head coach of the LSU Tigers. Muschamp was his linebackers coach in 2001 and defensive coordinator from 2002-04. Smart, who is four years younger than Muschamp, was with Saban for one season at LSU, coaching the defensive backs in 2004 before spending a year as running backs coach in Athens in 2005. After his year at Georgia, Smart would spend the next decade coaching under Saban, starting with the Miami Dolphins and then the Alabama job.

While being interviewed by CBS Sports this week, both Smart and Muschamp recalled a hilarious story displaying Saban’s lack of tech skills.

You’re going to love this one:

The Gamecocks’ head man provided a young Smart with key leadership skills in their lone season as Bulldog teammates. Muschamp later hired Smart as a defensive backs coach for Valdosta State, where the two extended a previous friendship.

Now, as both men are set to embark on their fifth seasons as head coaches of two SEC programs, they can only reflect on where they have come from.