I don't think ohio st, can beat Clemson.

i guess we'll see soon enough, should be exciting. keep in mind osu beat four top 10 teams, two of them on the road. i'd put my money on meyer before sweeney

I definitely think Ohio State can beat Clemson (and us). Clemson is NOT the team they were last year. Just watch them struggle against teams like Auburn.

But I agree dino, I know I'm biased of course but I have learned what beats Bama lately and that's the biggest factor. No turnovers and a top game from the opponents QB. Both those teams can do that though, so either are a threat IMHO. I still like our chances of course.

Ohio State fans (not talking about the sane ones) think they will be able to rip Bama apart like they did in the 1st playoff but our defense is WAY different than it was back then. Kirby Smart is gone which was the main reason we struggled against no huddle teams, and add to that we were "bigger across the board" personnel wise. We played 260lbs LB's back then and 230lbs safeties and that was the main struggle against no huddle teams. Yes we were just as fast with those guys, but they fell off quicker compared to leaner guys like we have now. Now we have CB's playing S and LB's that are 230lbs and we play more people compared to then.

I think this could be the best playoff so far I think and I think the committee made the right decision with this 4 and their ranking. Pedophile State had no shot and shouldn't have with 2 losses. If OSU had 2 losses as well then I would agree they should have jumped OSU, but no matter what when all the teams have no losses or 1 loss, you can't say a 2 loss team deserves to jump them even if that team beat them.

i love discussing college football with you dixie. i agree wholeheartedly. bama is the team to beat, no ifs andds or buts about it. my buckeyes are very green as we lost 12 to the nfl last year, so our team is a completely different animal thatn it was the last two years. that team that beat bama convincingly had about 10 guys who went in the first 3 rounds of the 2015 nfl draft.

Same here man. It's hard to find anyone to talk football with anymore without opposing fans mud slinging if you know what I mean. I just don't care for all of that and would rather talk football.

Penn State should have made the Final Four.

as a BUCKEYE fan, I could certainly understand your position. Penn State won the head-to-head battle and there is no denying that, albeit a fluke, yet I give them credit. The fact of the matter is that Ohio State beat four top 10 teams, two of them on the road, with 44 freshman on the team. How do you explain Penn State jumping ahead of Michigan when Michigan destroyed them?

Ohio State lost via blocked kick on the road to the No. 5 team in the country. but Penn State still lost twice, to the No. 6 team in the country (a team Ohio State beat) and to Pitt.

The Buckeyes played Oklahoma in non-conference play and stomped the Sooners in Norman. The Nittany Lions played Pitt and lost via last-second interception. (At the time, we thought that result was important because of how it pertained to Franklin’s employment prospects. It ended up deciding a Playoff spot.)

Ohio State is second in both the AP and coaches polls; Penn State is fifth in both.

The Buckeyes are third in S&P+, second in Sagarin, and ahead of the Nittany Lions in nearly every other computer ranking.

Scoring margin against six common opponents: Ohio State plus-149, Penn State plus-78.

That’s why Ohio State is in the Playoff and Penn State is not.

Agree with dino on this, Pedophile State did NOT deserve to be in. The major point being they had 2 losses, with one being to a not so great team in Pitt. IF they had only one loss, I could understand it. But with 2 losses, they have NO argument what-so-ever. The playoffs were not guaranteed to take the top 4 conference champs as every year the top 4 might not have a conference champ just like this year. Just like the BCS proved in the Bama/LSU rematch, you don't have to be a conference champ.

As much as I hate to say it, Michigan was more deserving as a two loss team than PSU for a 4th slot...I think Michigan is actually a much more solid and well coached team than Washington.

And USC has been one of the most dominant teams in the country after a few early slip ups. They have more 4/5 star talent on that roster than PSU had had in 5. years according to Scout.

I see the playoffs this way, Clemson over ohio st.

crimson tide over Washington, [ although COULD be a big upset]

to me looks like Alabama vs Clemson again,

Alabama broke Clemson last year with that punt runback.

alabamas special teams rose to the occasion last year.

Clemson will give them all they want, but, national champs, again ALABAMA...................

by the way dino, you got by Michigan by the skin of your teeth. you were lucky, and Clemson will beat you.

I guess we''ll see at the end of the month. Regardless if OSU got by Michigan, they're 13-2 in the last 15 years. And the fact is, Ohio State is built and has been built for the long term and Clemson doesn't even hold a candle to the recruiting that urban Meyer does. Clemson's talent isn't even close from a roster standpoint and they are not built for the long term. But I guess we'll see soon enough. How many top 10 teams does Clemson play in a WEAK ACC? How many good nonconference programs do they play outside of their shitty conference ?

Looks like Kiffin is gone, rumors are this morning Houston did hire him as head coach but he has said he wanted to stay through the playoffs with Bama. We also lost our 2nd scholarship QB this week, but both are expected to stay on as well. Good thing we have a 5-star and a 4-star QB coming in this month!

lane kiffin is average at best as a head coach. hes proven that with his tenures at USC and Tenn. i'll give him a pass with the raiders as al davis was no picnic to work for. kiffin is a great coordinator like his father was, houston could have him. sarkisian on his drunkest day was easily a better coach than kiffin. although i'd love to mucn kiffin's wife's box

just from a sec fan, kiffin got way to much credit for Alabama's success, alabams's special team coach, and their defensive back's coach, are the best in college football. but you never hear of them.

Well Kiffin and his wife are actually divorced, so you might have a chance....haha (well I think it hasn't totally went through but they have filed)

As for our coaching staff I agree Sark was the "real" brilliant mind behind the USC machine in the early 2000's without a doubt. Had he not been partying he is still coaching USC.

Binnie our DB's coach is Derrick Ansley, it is his first year here but Coach Saban has been the bonafide DB coach since he came here. As for our special teams coach, he is famed RB coach Burton Burns as you can imagine is well liked here. This is his first year coaching special teams as Bobby Williams (ex-Michigan State coach and assistant under Saban there) moved to an off the field job this year.

I firmly believe from a friend of mine who is close to the program that Lane & Sark in their early days partied and fucked like two frat boys. Who knows, but rumor had it that the wives were relieved when Sark went to Washington, having some distance between the two. I do believe Kiffin has been humbled and learned how to be a better coach and manager of staff and players. Kiffin won't have the insurmountable pressure of making the playoff and competing for a title year in and year out, it's the best job in college football. compete for a conference championship in a mid major conference, beat the occasional power five program and you have job security for a decade at least. Kiffin may have found
a place to be revered at Houston. with sark, he's only a year removed from alcoholic breakdowns and calling games shit faced. If Saban promotes him to OC, it means Saban believes he's making progress in his recovery from a severe drinking problem...but it's also much more pressure for somebody trying to repair his broken personal life with the kids, wife and family. The timing might not be right for Sark. hes a brilliant offensive coach and a hell of a recruiter. But with his infamous public drunkenness out there on line and on every social media outlet, i couldn't imagine him going into the family room of an inner city family and selling himself as a role model. CFB coaches are charismatic and pragmatic when selling themselves to the parents of recruits. If I were recruiting against Sark, I'd show every family a DVD of his drunken escapades and locker room antics. I think he could stay with Saban as long as Saban stays coaching, it could be enough time where the public will forgive him and he'll be a head coach.

taggart was a great hire at Oregon, rhule was a great hire at baylor, reports out of Columbus is that luke fickell may be headed there who I'm not sold on as a HC, I still can't believe Greg Schiano hasn't been aggressively pursued, I like les miles to purdue it's a good fit for him, no pressure and Indiana is open. lincoln riley will be a star when he gets a chance. lots of names out there. Charlie strong would also be ideal at cinch, he recruited that area well while 45 mins down the road at Louisville, it would be a new backyard brawl between he and petrino

oh yeah, i completely forgot about kiffin's divorce, I remember hearing about it. I wonder what went down???

Not sure but it's been tight lipped about the divorce. She has been spotted at games though with the kids so who knows.

Looks like the reports were wrong as Houston hired Major Applewhite. Looks like Strong will land at South Florida. I'm also surprised Schiano hasn't landed somewhere either, he proved at Rutgers he was a good coach and many think because he failed with the Bucs he sucks and that ain't the case.

Schiano is a great coach, but I've also heard from credible sources that he's a fucking tyrant. i know belichick loves him. He'd be great at Cincy or Purdue

Yea but they seemed to like him at Rutgers though so who knows. Of course I think him going to the NFL was dumb, he's like Saban in that he just ain't cut out for the NFL and nothing wrong with that. It ain't for every coach.

charlie strong to USF??????? what the fuck is that? with the buyout he has from texas, i can't even believe he wanted that job. i am shocked that cincinnati didn't peak his interest most due to his great recruiting in that area while louisville head coach. or sit out a year and collect the $10.7 million owed to him by texas.

He still collects off Texas no matter what. Plus in most of those high buyouts they require you to get a job or at least look for work. I think his salary owed from Texas is deducted and the rest is paid by Texas. Good move for him as he has always recruited Florida very hard as a DC and HC at Louisville. That move keeps him in familiar territory. Looks like Kiffin either goes to FAU or LSU at this point. Many here are saying he is gone for sure no matter what jobs are offered. Many here also are saying Sark is gone too and he won't get the OC job so who knows.

UF grad/fan....UF DC just signed up with Temple, big loss for Gators and their huge drop to mediocre under coach mac, cannot wait for the 5-5 gators next year and UF goes and gets chip kelley, long year watching the crap UF puts out there

Clemson is lucky to be in Final 4 and probably OSU too, but Penn St is not in the class either, SC will throttle PSU

Only way Bama doesn't roll to another title is if Joey Freshwater cannot handle working a double like kirby smart so professionally did last year

I'm not sure I would want Chip Kelly. Plus not to mention I think he has a show cause penalty still waiting for him for what he done at Oregon. Not sure I would want that kind of trouble honestly.

great point on the penalties....gators coach just cannot recruit the players to compete with Alabama, they are losing 4 * recruits to Tenn and North Carolina...Coach Mac at UF has been in bad spot due to Coach muschamp crappy offensive recruiting and the fact that the starting QB decided to take steroids or something and leave school but....I see a 6-6 season upcoming and a blowout to Michigan in the first game of the year

but can't wait for bowl season best time of the year with high scores and great gambling matchups

Give Mac some time, I think y'all will be happy eventually. Luke Del Rio is a good QB, there was rumors he was the backup here but once Kiffin was hired he skipped town. Still not sure why he left. If he can keep him healthy I can see UF being very good.

Del Rio is going to transfer is the rumors, gators are starting the other transfer appleby in the bowl game and then there are 2 RS fresh that will compete with this 4* fresh coming in next year from a big time program in S FL....gators have studs at WR but got to get them the ball

love college football..... love the finebaum show even though he does not like the gators

Finebaum is good when he isn't trying to troll people. When auBARN won 6 in a row he was Tubby's stooge and now he's all over Bama's junk like a 2 dollar hooker.

Appleby couldn't even beat out Del Rio though, so why on Earth would they start Appleby over a healthy Del Rio? Not many freshman no matter the stars are ready for SEC ball. Kids like Jalen Hurts are the exception. Remember, we had 5-star Blake Barnett start the opener against USC and he was a deer in the headlights out there and coaches even admitted as much. Hurts is thrown in there and the rest is history. Of course NOTHING seems to mess with Hurts, he can throw 3 picks in a row and come out and led the offense to 40 straight points.

agree on the del rio and not sure why he is not starting, the one UF writer I follow that is on SEC Country now zach alboverdi is kind of whispering that del rio is transferring, so we shall see....and the QB whisperer that you have down there with Kiffin has done pretty well with his past 3 QBs, i think he will do pretty well now that he has a 5* recruit at QB at FAU...not sure what the guys in the trenches down at FAU but if they are decent I am guessing that kiffin gets that squad bowl eligible...

Now will Bama cover the 2 tds against Washington....only thing that scares me is peterson and his crazy things he has amonth to set up to go against bama...38 - 7 is what score should be