Everybody has an opinion about college football — whether it's about a team, player or coach. Sometimes, those opinions can be misconstrued as facts before the season even starts.
The 2019 college football season is no different. Fans have their opinions about Alabama-Clemson, hot-seat coaches ... even the potential return of Urban Meyer. Opinions are just that, and Sporting News has a few to share before the 2019 season.
MORE: College football 2019: All-Americans, rankings and more
Our list last year included opinions about Jalen Hurts, the College Football Playoff format and the Pac-12. How different — or similar — will this year's opinions be?
Five unpopular opinions for 2019 (we didn't do too bad last year).
Georgia has most to prove in 2019
You could say Alabama faces the most pressure considering last year's 44-16 loss to Clemson. Maybe it's Ohio State and first-year coach Ryan Day, or Texas, given the high expectations. Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley also has to prove it with another transfer quarterback.
The answer, still, is Georgia. Alabama, Ohio State, Texas and Oklahoma have won a national championship this century. Georgia hasn't won since 1980, and they've taken Alabama to the fourth quarter each of the last two seasons. The Bulldogs still haven't closed the door. Georgia remains the team best-equipped team to challenge Alabama and Clemson, but it has to prove it several times this season, in these spots:
— The biggest September home game, against Notre Dame. Georgia can't afford to lose to Notre Dame at home in Week 4.
— The biggest SEC regular-season game, against. Florida. This rivalry is inching closer to having a postseason impact again, and Dan Mullen hasn't been afraid to throw out some verbal jabs. We have been looking forward to this.
— The biggest conference championship. If the Bulldogs lead Alabama in the fourth quarter, who are you picking to win?
Kirby Smart has enough talent on this team — including an experienced quarterback in Jake Fromm — to clear all those hurdles. Then again, we said that almost every year about Mark Richt.
SN POSITION RANKINGS: QB | RB | WR | Coaches
Urban Meyer won't go to USC
Everyone's already trying to figure out the math. Meyer left a job at Ohio State because of health concerns and has retired to take a job with Fox (which he'll be good at, too). USC is a floundering blue-blood program with a coach on the hottest seat possible in Clay Helton. Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart are in that studio with Meyer, who continues to say things like, “I believe I'm done” when it comes to his coaching future. A return to coaching on the West Coast starts to make sense.
Unless it doesn't. Meyer is 54 years old now. The health concerns were real, and he doesn't have to coach another game to maintain his icon status in Columbus. He's even opening a new restaurant with a “7-0” room, a nod to his perfect record at Michigan while at Ohio State.
USC must be able to offer something other than money to pull Meyer out of retirement. The Trojans have burned through Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and perhaps Helton since Pete Carroll left. The administration is anything but steady right now. Maybe Meyer cures all that, but it's more likely he opts to stay out of a head-to-head battle with Chip Kelly in a conference that doesn't have as much weight as it used to. USC and Ohio State are historical rivals, too, even if that's a big outdated.
If you're looking for a Big Ten coach that fits USC, then maybe take a look at Penn State's James Franklin. He had to address those rumors last year. Maybe they swirl again in November if Helton is canned.
Does that mean we think Meyer is done for good? Get back to use when — if — Notre Dame opens up. Speaking of 7-0. …
MORE: Harbaugh tops among Big Ten coaches — for now
Jim Harbaugh's job isn't in question, even if OSU wins
We'll do this exercise one more time. Harbaugh is 0-4 against rival Ohio State, and the shell-shock of last year's 62-39 loss to the Buckeyes still reverberates in Columbus and Ann Arbor. Michigan is still looking for its first victory against Ohio State since 2011 and first Big Ten championship since 2004.
Harbaugh, as critics like to say, hasn't won anything.
But that's not entirely true. Michigan is a top-10 program. The Wolverines have the ninth-best record among Power 5 schools since Harbaugh arrived. Most programs would take 10 wins a year — which Michigan has, in three of the last four seasons — and run with it.
The Playoff landscape is one, however, where the top five teams matter. Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma are the best of the best. In order to make that very short list, Michigan has to break through in The Game.
The Wolverines still have to get to The Game with 10 wins to have a chance at the Big Ten championship. That means Michigan has to go 5-1 against Army, Wisconsin, Penn State, Notre Dame, Iowa and Michigan State while avoiding the big upset. To approach that with an "or-else" attitude would be foolish, and that's not what athletic director Warde Manuel will do.
That said, Harbaugh wasn't brought to Michigan just to win 10 games a season; he was brought there to play for national championships. The Wolverines have done that in men's basketball and baseball since he arrived, and the only thing that has prevented a Big Ten title shot in 2016 and 2018 was Ohio State.
If Michigan loses to Ohio State, then it will be a big thing heading into 2020. Harbaugh has to beat the Buckeyes, and that has become even more urgent now that Meyer is gone. It can't be more of the same against Day — not with the addition of new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and the promise of a wide-open offense.
A loss this year would not be the end of Harbaugh. Answer this question: Who would they hire next? Michigan already found out how wrong that can go after Lloyd Carr.
But a loss will take the angst in Ann Arbor to new level, especially when you consider former Ohio State coach John Cooper, who finished 2-10-1 against the Wolverines, didn't even start 0-5 in The Game. Cooper led the Buckeyes to a tie in the fifth matchup after starting 0-4 and finally got his first win in his seventh try in 1994.
Harbaugh doesn't have that option on Nov. 30. It's time to break through.
MORE: Lawrence's brilliance against Alabama is only beginning of legacy
Trevor Lawrence isn't a lock for the Heisman
Trevor Lawrence passed for 3,280 yards, 30 TDs and four interceptions, led the Tigers to a national championship as a freshman and is considered a generational prospect on the level of past No. 1 picks such as John Elway, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.
What do those three quarterbacks have in common? None of them won the Heisman Trophy.
Lawrence belongs among the best bets for sure. He's at the head of an offense capable of scoring 50 points per game. Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross are All-American candidates too, and Lawrence is only going to improve.
What quarterback can challenge him? Well, Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa nearly went wire to wire as the favorite after leading a national championship run the previous season; only to watch Oklahoma's Kyler Murray make a last-minute run after the conference championship games.
Tagovailoa is back. Jalen Hurts will put up numbers at Oklahoma. Texas' Sam Ehlinger, Ohio State's Justin Fields, Oregon's Justin Herbert and Michigan's Shea Patterson will have their chances. Baylor's Robert Griffin III, Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel and Louisville's Lamar Jackson were out-of-nowhere Heisman winners, too.
You can have the wins and the best team, but you also must have the stats to go with it. We're still taking Lawrence, but we think he's a better bet to be the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft than he is the winner of the 2019 Heisman Trophy. Doesn't make sense?
Ask Elway, Manning and Luck how that feels.
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Bama-Clemson V is good for college football
This has become a tired talking point, but it must be addressed knowing that Sporting New picked Alabama and Clemson to meet in the College Football Playoff championship game for the fourth time in six years.
USC played Michigan eight times and Ohio State seven times in the Rose Bowl. Nobody in Pasadena would complain if that were the matchup this year. The Orange Bowl used to be a four-team rotation of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Miami and Florida State.
This cycle coincided with a two-pronged dynasty that has dominated college football, and last year that was an easy target, knowing the game was on the West Coast.
Geography won't be a question this year, not with the championship game in New Orleans. Talent is not an issue. These teams have the two best quarterbacks in college football and rosters full of future NFL talent. Legacy won't be a question either, not with Nick Saban still trying to pass Bear Bryant or Dabo Swinney trying to win a third national championship in four years.
Clemson and Alabama have each won at least 90 percent of their games since 2014, but they aren't the only good teams in college football. Ohio State, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Georgia have won more than 75 percent of their games in the CFP era, too.
At some point, this isn't an Alabama and Clemson problem. It's on another program — or programs — to stop it.
In the meantime, enjoy the games. They've been great.
