Looking Ahead To The 2018 College Football Season

It happens every year around this time.

With the past season well behind us, the die-hard football fanatic that dwells inside of us starts to come alive. We’ve been too long without the sport. Recruiting season does not fill the void nor does spring practice.

Within a few more weeks the preseason magazines will arrive on newsstands and the official countdown to the 2018 will begin.

The end of the 2017 season is still fresh on most people’s minds in these parts due to the way the national championship game ended so the new campaign can’t get here soon enough.

In forecasting who will be in contention in 2018 the first name on the list has to begin and end with Alabama. As long as Nick Saban is leading the Crimson Tide it would be foolish to bet against them. And while it took something of a miracle comeback for Alabama to win the title for 2017 one cannot assume the Tide will not be back in the title game again.

What Saban has done is nothing short of historic. There are many who believe (myself included) that he is now the greatest college football coach of all time. Prior to last season I was not sure I would have ever said that. However, the coaching job he did in the 2017 national championship game cemented him as the best of all time.

When it comes to Georgia, the team Alabama defeated for the title, it will be interesting to see if the Bulldogs can return to the national stage. The true test of a national program is getting there again, not just doing it once. That is what has made Alabama such a story. The Tide are always in contention year in and year out.

UGA will have to replace many weapons from the 2017 team and while the Bulldogs had the top recruiting class according to many experts many of those players will still be a year away from truly contributing. There will still be plenty of quality players in Athens for 2018 and Georgia will be the favorite to win the SEC East again.

Besides the two teams which played for it all a season ago, it looks at this point many of the other contenders will be familiar faces. Clemson should be in the thick of things once again as should Ohio State.

Mark Richt will have the Miami Hurricanes back in the Top 10 after a strong 2017. In reality, Miami was probably a year ahead of schedule last season. Many felt that 2018 was the year that Miami would make its move toward the playoffs.

Penn State has been knocking very loudly on the playoff door for several seasons and it is inevitable that James Franklin will have his team among the top four at some point. It’s very possible 2018 could very well be that year.

It should be noted that many do not want Penn State on the national stage due to the scandal that rocked the football program a few years ago. However, that had nothing to do with this coaching staff and certainly had nothing to do with any of the players on the team.

It will also be interesting to see which team emerges as the Central Florida of 2018. The Knights did not receive the respect they deserved after an undefeated regular season and conference title in 2017. Even a Peach Bowl win against SEC power Auburn did little to give Central Florida any type of respect.

That lack of respect caused Central Florida to lose its head coach as Scott Frost left after two seasons for Nebraska, his alma mater. I’m not sure he would have left (even for home) had Central Florida had a legitimate chance of being in the playoffs. Frost, meanwhile, has a chance of returning Nebraska to national prominence but it will probably take a couple of years.

The countdown clock is now under five months to the new season. While in the grand scheme of things that is not a long time, it will probably seem like an eternity.

Winder resident Chris Bridges is a former sports editor of the Barrow-News Journal. He welcomes feedback about this column at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.