Jumbo Package: Might we see an Alabama vs Ohio State national title game?

Happy Monday, everyone. A few links for you today.

To start, 247sports has Alabama knocking off Clemson in the semis and facing Ohio State in the title game.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: OHIO STATE VS. ALABAMA (MIAMI, JAN. 11, 2021)

These two teams met in the inaugural CFP, with Ohio State giving Bama the business. Nick Saban sure hasn’t forgotten that one. Should freshman Bryce Young be the starter for Alabama in this one, we’d see a matchup of two of the top-10 highest-rated quarterbacks ever by the 247Sports Composite. This would be Ohio State’s first national title game appearance since its victory over Oregon in 2015. If the Buckeyes get to this point as the top seed, they’ll likely be unbeaten, which would put Ryan Day at 27-1 over his first two seasons entering the national title game.

In the other semifinal, they have Justin Fields and the Buckeyes taking out Georgia, which would be quite the storyline. This all sounds fine to me.

Nick Saban explains again that he’s going nowhere after Alabama other than Lake Burton.

Saban was asked if there was an “ultimate job” for the 68-year-old coach, or if that is what he currently has at Alabama?

“I think I’m in it now because I have no circumstance that would interest me in leaving in any way, shape or form, which it’s been that way for a long time,” Saban said on The Sean Pittman Show. “This will be my 14th season, so we enjoy it here. The people are very committed to having the best program in the country and doing everything they can to help the players be successful, and that’s the ultimate goal that we have. We enjoy the success and the quality of people and players that we’ve been able to attract here. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Indeed it has, coach, but let’s ixnay the past tense talk.

LSU and Alabama are in a race for most first rounders this draft.

Admittedly, a number of the LSU players have been pegged in the bottom 15 of the first round while Alabama has four players expected to land in the top-15 of this month’s draft. Jefferson, Chaisson and Queen have fallen anywhere from the 15 to 27 number mainly while Tagovailoa, Jeudy, Ruggs and Willis all fall in that three to 16 range.

As of now, the two players that are on the first round bubble for the Crimson Tide will be Diggs and McKinney.

According to BetOnline, LSU is favored to have more first round selections with a bet line of -175 while Alabama is at +135 to land more players in the opening round. Because so many of LSU’s projected first round talents are valued on the lower end, there is some risk with betting on the Tigers, something that won’t faze fans of the purple and gold in the slightest.

It may well come down to which of McKinney or Delpit goes first.

Last, Jalen Hurts was asked about going through the process during the COVID-19 mess.

“Kind of like my entire journey, this is another unprecedented aspect,” Hurts said. “It’s unprecedented to see what the world is going through right now. But in terms of me staying in communication with teams, I’ve been doing Facetime calls with GMs and coaches and doing Zoom calls with coaches as well, talking ball and doing different things like that, so keeping me very busy with those things, so that’s definitely a good thing, so I’m just controlling what I can, as I always have, and moving forward every day.

That’s about it for today.

Have a great week.

Roll Tide.