(Photo: NCAA.org)
– Storied: When the Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida State Seminoles last met, it was in 2017 and the both teams were ranked in the top five to begin the season. Also, Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher were both the head coaches for their respective programs. Believe it or not, these two programs have met only four times and in week one, these programs will do battle to open up the season. I feel this is a make-or-break year for Mike Norvell whose Seminoles entered last season with such hype and lofty expectations and this will also kickstart the second season for Alabama Head Coach, Kalen DeBoer. This is a nice way to kick off the season if you ask me and Tallahassee should be alive and rocking for this game.
– Tiger Crawl: The LSU Tigers and Clemson Tigers last met in the 2019-20 National Championship game and that was a star-studded affair. Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson and Ed Oregeron was still coaching LSU and the Tigers capped off a perfect season with a win in the title game. Now, Brian Kelly is leading the charge in Baton Rouge and we’ll have a tiger brawl taking place. This will be another ACC vs SEC showdown and a matchup of this magnitude could tell me a lot about either team even after the first game. This will be the first battle between these two since that natty in New Orleans over five years ago. Two well-known coaches, two programs looking to get back to the elite level and be playoff teams this season.
– Revenge?: The Ohio State Buckeyes and Texas Longhorns are two of the blue bloods in our sport and many legendary names have played for both of these programs. These two met in January this year with a trip to the National Title game on the line and Ohio State stifled Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns. This was also a home game practically for Texas as the game was at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The game was decided by a Jack Sawyer strip, fumble recovery and 83 yard touchdown. Texas will get their chance a revenge when they travel to the shoe for an early season showdown with the defending champs. Arch Manning will more than likely be making his debut for Texas and the Buckeyes will begin their title defense.
– Rock N Roll: As many of you know, I love the history of this sport and one match up that took place in the late 80s was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Miami Hurricanes or, as the rivalry was commonly known as, “Catholics vs Convicts”. Notre Dame enters this year as the national runner-up and will look to build upon that while Miami is looking to maintain some consistency as a program. These two iconic programs will meet up in a prime-time game to cap off week one. I’m excited about this one and I’m anxious to see where both teams go from here. Both teams will be ushering in new Quarterbacks as both Cam Ward and Riley Leonard are now playing on Sundays. What a game this could be and think of all the legendary names that will be in attendance for this one in Florida that night.
– Blue Bloods Galore: The sport always seems to buzz whenever we have a matchup of the blue bloods. The last time the Michigan Wolverines and Oklahoma Sooners squared off, it was all the way back in 1976, so we’re talking close to 50 years ago. That was their first meeting between the two and for the first time since then, they will meet in Norman for just the second time. I’m excited to see Bryce Underwood for Michigan and I wonder what type of gameplan Brent Venables will have for a hopefully much improved Wolverines’ offense who struggled significantly in 2024. We could see fireworks in this game.
– Round I’ve Lost Track: The Alabama Crimson Tide have become a thorn in Kirby Smart’s side since he took the Head Coaching job with the Georgia Bulldogs. Also, these two always find a way to face one another whether it’s in the regular season or the SEC conference title game. These two met in Tuscaloosa last September and despite a Georgia comeback, Alabama prevailed and handed the Bulldogs their first regular season loss in nearly four years. This time, these two rivals will meet again, but this time in Athens. Georgia has dominated just about every other team in the nation except for one which has been the Crimson Tide. I expect this to be a physical game throughout and the ball will be flying up and down the field.
– Me & My Drink: The SEC is fun when there are multiple teams batting for that top spot in the conference. One team I’m excited to check out this year is the Florida Gators as Billy Napier is coming back for another year and he’ll have a Quarterback named D.J. Lagway under center. The issue with Florida has been their offense because they weren’t getting consistency from the most important position. The Georgia Bulldogs have dominated this matchup each year since 2021 and once again, these two will battle in Jacksonville for their annual showdown. This could be a key game in the SEC in the standings and potential playoff seeds.
– Triple Play: I had my first opportunity to preview the battle known as the “Third Saturday in October” between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers in 2022 and what a game that was. It was a shootout and Jaylin Hyatt had the game of his life picking apart the Alabama secondary. Since then, I’ve previewed this matchup two more times since, including last year’s game in Knoxville. As usual, they will do battle once again and Alabama will be looking for their revenge after losing a close game last year to the Volunteers. This is always an exciting matchup and I don’t expect any different here this time around.
– Three Piece: The Georgia Bulldogs and Texas Longhorns saw one another twice last year. The first time was in Austin and Georgia simply punched the Longhorns in the mouth handing them their first and only loss in the regular season. The second time they met was in the SEC title game where the Longhorns’ offense wasted a great effort of their defense. The game would end up going into overtime and Georgia would get by the Longhorns once again. These two will see each other again, this time in Athens with much on the line potentially such as positioning atop the SEC and seeding in the College Football Playoff.
– Think It’s A Game: Things have turned in this battle. For years, the Ohio State Buckeyes dominated the rivalry game against the Michigan Wolverines, then 2021 cam and since then, it’s been all Michigan. The best chance for the Buckeyes to snap that losing streak to their rivals was last year when they faced a Michigan team that had struggled throughout the year and they simply took their opponent a little too lightly and lost their fourth straight game to the Wolverines. These two will meet once again in a battle of the last two national champions. Will Ohio State break the losing streak, or will Michigan continue their winning ways against their rivals?
