Saturday’s college football action in Florida is expected to leave fans of the state’s major football schools happy by the end of the day. Every one of them is favored to win today. The 14th-ranked Miami Hurricanes began the weekend on Friday by going to Duke and easily handling the Blue Devils 31-6.
Lane Kiffin‘s debut at Florida Atlantic lasted nearly six hours, featured three lightning delays and ended with almost no one left in the stands. It was unforgettable. It was also unsuccessful.
Brand-in-himself (and biggest celebrity football coach in our state) Lane Kiffin has hit the headline-grabbing ground running. Just weeks on the job at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Kiffin is providing elite sportswriters and citizen journalists with reams of revealing insights into the mind of the young genius chosen to channel FAU’s “unbridled ambition” into a winning season at the jock palace formerly known as GEO Group Stadium. The ink was barely dry on Kiffin’s $950,000 contract when he struck a blow…
Steve Sarkisian has been cramming for a final exam he didn’t know he’d have to take. The newly elevated Alabama offensive coordinator had all of a week after his earlier-than-expected promotion to prepare and implement the game plan for Monday night’s national championship game with No. 3 Clemson. Not to mention getting better acquainted with players, most notably quarterback Jalen Hurts, and adapting to a very different job description. “I’m embracing this more than anything,” Sarkisian said Saturday. “I would…
Every defensive meeting at Clemson this week might as well have started with coordinator Brent Venables passing around a photo of Alabama‘s O.J. Howard with the caption “Know where 88 is at all times.” For the second straight season, the Tigers and Crimson Tide will meet for the College Football Playoff championship. Howard is the talented tight end who came into last season’s title game with 33 catches for 394 yards and no touchdowns. He then went off for 208…
Alabama is very familiar with this role. Washington? It’s been a while. The Peach Bowl features one of college football’s greatest dynasties against the definite outsider in this season’s College Football Playoff. The top-ranked Crimson Tide (13-0) is going for its second straight national title and fifth in the last nine seasons under coach Nick Saban. At this point, it’s national championship or bust for Alabama. A loss in Saturday’s semifinal game would make this season a failure. “It’s the…
Joe Mixon and DeAndre Johnson are two very talented football players. They also have something else in common. Both have punched women with their fists and both have suffered consequences. The severity of those consequences is where the two players traveled different paths. Mixon is preparing to play in a major bowl game with the Oklahoma Sooners. Johnson, a former prized recruit at Florida State, just finished the season at an obscure community college. Seventh-ranked Oklahoma and Mixon are preparing…
