Top Storylines to Watch in College Football Playoff
The 2016-2017 College Football Playoff is set, and the four-team bracket to determine the sport's top program is dripping with storylines that will dominate the holiday season.
Defending champ Alabama takes its unblemished record into the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl as the top seed and will take on fourth-ranked Washington in the early matchup on New Year's Eve in Atlanta. In the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State will ring in the new year in Glendale, Arizona.
What should you keep an eye on during the third installment of the four-team event?
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Alabama Hurts So Good
For the first time ever, a true freshman quarterback will take the snaps for a playoff team. Alabama's Jalen Hurts has been rock solid this year for the SEC champs, completing 65.3 percent of his passes for 2,592 yards, 22 touchdowns and nine picks and gained 841 rushing yards for 12 touchdowns.
He's brought a new dimension to a Crimson Tide offense that, in Year 3 under coordinator Lane Kiffin, has evolved into a tempo-based, spread attack.
"He's done an unbelievable job," Kiffin said. "He's done it... For a true freshman to finish the regular season No. 1 in the country... There's a reason it hadn't been done before, because guys make a lot of mistakes now. He's got a great surrounding cast offensively, and that's helped him. He's done a great job against some really good defenses."
The confidence and comfort Hurts has developed through the course of 13 games isn't surprising to those who have seen him every day since he arrived on campus in January.
"You can't coach experience, and you can't coach maturity, but this guy has maturity beyond his years," head coach Nick Saban said prior to the SEC Championship Game. "Maybe it's because his dad was a coach or his coach or whatever, and the thing that I think has helped him persevere through the season and continue to improve through the season is he doesn't get down when things don't go well."
The native of Channelview, Texas, will have his work cut out for him in the national semifinal against this Washington defense.
With Sidney Jones, Budda Baker and Taylor Rapp, this secondary is on par with the best the SEC has offered up opposite Hurts in 2016.
Will he evolve?
He might have to.
The staff has given Hurts very simple throws during his freshman campaign, including an abundance of bubble screens and simple high-low reads on specific sides of the field. Baker (65) and Rapp (45) are tackling machines for the Huskies, which means some of those big gains on quick throws might not work.
Luckily for the Crimson Tide, Hurts will be the No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart in a camp-like setting for the first time during bowl practices, which should accelerate his progression and the evolution of the offense.
Weapons To Stress The Best
Alabama earned the No. 1 ranking, but it isn't unbeatable.
It's far from it.
The secondary isn't the biggest in the country, and Washington's dynamic wide receiver duo of John Ross and Dante Pettis combined with the ability of quarterback Jake Browning to hit them on stride on every route in the tree will present its toughest test of 2016.
"I have seen him play on TV a couple times and [am] really, really impressed with him athletically as well as a passer, and [he] does a really good job of executing their offense and taking what the defense gives," Saban said of Browning on Sunday's teleconference. "I think that's why his passing efficiency is one of the best in the nation."
The trick for Washington will be developing a game plan that can exploit that.
In each of the last two seasons, Ole Miss has had success through the air against Alabama with three-step drops and quarterback Chad Kelly's ability to put the ball where only his receivers can get it.
Washington needs to follow the same path.
Alabama's ability to force mistakes and impact the scoreboard directly as a result of those mistakes has been its calling card this year. Making sure Browning has a clean pocket when he drops back hinges on his ability to prevent the Tide defensive front from pinning its ears back. Short, quick passes early will get Browning and the receivers in rhythm and the defense on its heels and open everything up downfield when shots become available.
Buckeyes Flawed, But Dangerous
For the first time in the playoff era, a team without a conference championship will battle to become known as the nation's best.
Ohio State has navigated around offensive line issues that plagued the Buckeyes for the majority of the season, including in their lone loss to Big Ten champion Penn State and in the double overtime win over Michigan. On top of that, quarterback J.T. Barrett ranks sixth in the Big Ten in passing (202.3 yards per game) and eighth in passing plays of 20 or more yards (28), according to CFBStats.
"I think watching games oftentimes I would probably say myself, just helping the receivers out," Barrett said of the passing game Sunday. "When you get in these tight ballgames, going against great DBs, they're going to be open, but it's going to be not by much. I think I can do a better job of having ball placement to make it easier on them. They're getting open, but it's not—you know what I'm saying—breakaway. I have to do a great job of getting them the ball."
They are flawed but have a full month to fix those flaws, knowing that they're doing so with a little bit of extra motivation as the lone playoff participant without a conference title.
Head coach Urban Meyer is no stranger to the game's biggest stage, having won the title as the No. 4 seed following the 2014 season, and will use that experience to his advantage as he prepares for ACC champion Clemson.
What remains to be seen is how much the Buckeye offensive line can grow.
Clemson's defensive front led by Christian Wilkins has been ferocious all year and has masked some youth and inconsistency in the secondary. That secondary let Pitt throw up and down the field in the Tigers' lone loss and allowed Virginia Tech to hang around until the closing seconds of the ACC Championship Game.
"O-line is young," Barrett said. "We're going to be in big-time games. Knowing they're going to pressure us. I think being able to help our O-line slide into protections, blitzes, I can help out on that."
How much it grows up between now and kickoff will have the biggest impact on Ohio State winning or losing.
Clemson Finishing The Drill
Clemson gave Alabama all it wanted in last season's College Football Playoff National Championship Game in this same venue, falling 45-40 in a game that saw quarterback Deshaun Watson throw for 405 yards and a touchdown, rush for 73 and nearly lead the program to its first title since 1981.
To get a chance at revenge, though, the Tigers will have to get through an Ohio State team that's fourth nationally in total defense at 281.6 yards per game, third in yards per play (4.24) and third in scoring defense at 14.2 points per game.
"I recruited some of their players and seen them on TV a couple of times but haven't really studied them," head coach Dabo Swinney said, according to TigerNet.com (at one-minute mark). "Tough matchup. You don't make the playoffs unless you're a great football team."
On top of that, Ohio State's 19 interceptions are tied for fourth in the country, and Watson, while a superstar and a likely finalist for the Heisman Trophy, has tossed a whopping 15 interceptions this season—tied for third nationally among qualifying quarterbacks.
But with Mike Williams back after the star receiver missed nearly all of last season with a neck injury, Watson hoping to cap off his three-year career on top and familiarity with the facility and stage and a week to prepare for this Buckeye defense, "the other" repeat playoff participant could be best-suited to make a run.
"To sustain success is very difficult, because sometimes people can get complacent," Swinney said (6:40 mark). "To maintain the sense of urgency, standard, excellence and daily commitment and pay the price all over again, that speaks to the culture we have in place."
Nick Saban's Quest To Be The Best
With four national titles in seven years, three straight SEC championships and playoff berths and the ability to evolve with the offensive explosion rather than fight against it, Saban has solidified himself as the best coach in college football right now.
That might change, though, because a national title this year should entrench him as the best coach in college football history.
That might seem crazy considering the work of legends like Bobby Bowden at Florida State, Penn State's Joe Paterno and—closer to home—former Alabama head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.
In this day and age of scholarship restrictions, innovative offensive minds, recruiting battles involving multiple teams with plenty to offer and more chances to trip up thanks to the playoff, conference championship games and out-of-conference scheduling mandates, a fifth title in eight years will put Saban above all of them.
Saban wants nothing to do with the talk of his legacy, though.
"It's going to be about the players on this team," he said prior to the SEC Championship Game. "They've worked hard. They've done a lot. The coaches and players on this team have worked hard and contributed and deserve all the credit for all the success that this team has created for itself. Hopefully, we can just do enough to help them finish so that they can do something of significance that will define their legacy as a team. We're focused on that one day at a time."
Saban won't think about it prior to the game and certainly won't ever compare himself to Bryant.
But in the back of his mind, elevating himself above "The Bear" would be the final—and perhaps only—major accomplishment he has left to complete his stellar resume.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
