Jumbo Package: DeVonta Smith leads Heisman odds, Auburn search is a disaster

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Alabama basketball will try and rebound tonight against East Tennessee St. at 6:30 pm on ESPN+. Hopefully they can also win the game.

In football news, DeVonta Smith may actually win that Heisman thing.

The word: The new frontrunner heading into the final vote, Smith is trying to become the first wide receiver to win the Heisman since Desmond Howard in 1991. Smith was incredible against Florida, recording a game-high 15 catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns, including the clincher in the fourth quarter.

Notable: Smith continued his torrid pace to end the season, tallying 184 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Bama’s SEC championship game win over Florida. He also had a fumble recovery.

Quotable: ”In a normal year, where he’d have gotten to pad some stats against nonconference opponents, he might have had a shot at the FBS record for receiving yards. But that’s just the thing: Smith didn’t pad his stats anywhere. Some of his biggest games — 167 yards vs. Georgia, 203 vs. Mississippi State, 144 vs. Kentucky, 171 against Auburn — were against the best competition.” — David Hale

Come on, nobody can possibly have three of the top 4 Heisman contenders.

It looks like it will be Chris Owens starting at center for the playoffs.

“Landon is a hard guy to replace because of his leadership, his personality,” Saban said Sunday. “He’s very inspirational in a lot of ways to all of his teammates. So I don’t know that you replace a guy like that, but we have a lot of confidence in Chris Owens.”

Landon Dickerson leaves some huge shoes to fill, but Owens is a senior who has played quite a bit over his career. His teammates seem to have plenty of confidence in him. Hope for the best.

You can imagine where Alabama landed in ESPN’s final power rankings.

And remember, this was an Alabama team that entered the season having lost Tua Tagovailoa, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III on that side of the ball.

Somehow, Alabama didn’t miss a beat. In fact, this offense is more complete than any Tagovailoa helmed. The offensive line is a favorite to take home the Joe Moore Award, and the trio of quarterback Mac Jones, running back Najee Harris and wideout DeVonta Smith all deserve Heisman Trophy consideration.

The defense might not be great, but it might be good enough to bring another national championship back to Tuscaloosa. Only time will tell whether Alabama is able to navigate the playoff; but for now, there’s no doubt it was the class of the SEC in 2020. — Alex Scarborough

Last, will the last person to turn down the Auburn job please turn out the lights?

Clark, who has rebuilt the Blazers program and has won two of the last three Conference USA titles, was a hot candidate for the past two days after Billy Napier and Steve Sarkisian both dropped out of the race.

Maybe they should just take Gus back. Hard to look much more pathetic.

Wait, why would Gus come back when he’s making the same money to sit on his couch?

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.