Okay, boys and girls, I’ll admit, although Alabama didn’t win the national championship game last year, we did put an end to the Georgia Bulldogs’ misguided hopes for a three-peat in the SEC Championship Game (umm, just as I predicted)! And, if I haven’t said it recently: #RollTide!!!)

Additionally, we were the ONLY team to give the eventual (cheaters, I mean,) National Champions (Michigan Wolverines) a decent game…taking them all the way to overtime!

So, with that behind us, the 2024-2025 NCAA football season begins tomorrow!!! This begins a new era of college football…one with new conference affiliations and a new 12-team playoff format.
Some of you are mistakenly thinking this new era will be a positive thing for your team. You are, however, woefully wrong! You’ve longed for a day in which my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide would not have Coach Saban at the helm, but as the old saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for!”

We’ve gone from de “Bear” to de GOAT to DeBoer.

Coach Bryant won six (6) National Championships at Alabama.

Coach Saban also won six (6) Natty’s at the Capstone [and one (1) more at that Bayou school: LS-who??? I mean, LSU.]

How many will Coach DeBoer win at Bama???

Well, he already has 104 wins and only 12 losses, with three (3) NC’s in the NAIA Division, and took the Washington Huskies to the National Championship Game this past season.

Again (as it just needs to be said): Roll Tide!

Okay, enough of the history lesson.

The new ACC will kick us off tomorrow at 11:00 AM with an old rivalry match as the Florida State Seminoles take on the Yellow Jackets and the Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

When it’s all said and done, will your wretchedly miserable team (whoever that may be) make the playoffs? Or, will you continue to be disappointed…yet, again? Your team’s chances to make the playoffs have increased three-fold, but their chances to win the championship hasn’t: they’re STILL a big fat ZERO!

Okay, enough humiliation of you and your pitiful team.

This year, I’m predicting (in alphabetical order) the following 12 teams to make the playoffs:
My Alabama Crimson Tide (of course!), the Clemson Tigers, the Georgia Bulldogs, the Memphis Tigers, the Miami Hurricanes, the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Ole Miss Rebels, the Oregon Ducks, the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Texas Longhorns, and the Utah Utes. [You’ll note there are four (4) SEC teams – which should scare the bejeebers outta ya – three (3) from the B1G, two (2) from the the ACC, two (2) Big XII, and one (1) from the AAC.]

If I were a betting man, I’d probably look at Georgia and Ohio State, but unfortunately for YOU, I’m not. I am, however, a college football prognosticator extraordinaire and, as such, ultimately, the season will end with a repeat of the 2020-2021 National Championship Game: Alabama vs. Ohio State. (It will also end with the same result: Bama coming out on top to claim their unprecedented 19th Championship).

So, you can start your crying now, or you can save it for later, but you will be boohooing when it’s all said and done.

Since that’s the case, the ONLY way your team will see the NCG, is if they buy a ticket or watch it on ESPN.

My team, the Alabama Crimson Tide (just in case you forgot), will be in our home-away-from-home, the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Atlanta, GA, on Monday, January 20th!

With that having been said, and since there’s absolutely no chance your loser, no-talent team can win, take on the challenge of trying to beat me in the 2024-2025 Yahoo! College Football Pick'em.

No reason to be scared; just get'r done!

Sign up at http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college and join one (or preferably both) of the challenge groups.

I’ve established two groups to evidence your ineptitude!

PB I [Group ID #6604; password: atlanta (all lower case)] is for the novice (in other words...you're at the bottom rung of the ladder).

For this group, you need only pick winners “straight up,” but to give you some added incentive, you will also assign confidence points to each pick to support your convictions about how strongly you feel your prediction will come to pass. Bottom line, the more confident you are, the more points you should use.

PB II [Group ID #6605; password: atlanta (all lower case)] is for the Brave and the Bold* and those who have no fear. In this group, you’ll not only use confidence points, but you’ll have to make your decisions based on the spread. The spread (or “the line”) is determined by the Vegas odds-makers; so, you’re not necessarily picking the game winner; rather, you’re trying to predict whether or not you believe the favorite team will win by MORE than the points established by the odds-makers or if the underdog will be closer than what was forecasted. Here, you choose your confidence points based on how firmly you believe a team will (or will not) cover the spread.

NOTE: If there is no spread or the line is “Off,” it becomes just like PB I…just pick the winner & choose how many points to assign. And, if the “favorite” team wins over the “underdog” by the precise number set by Vegas, it’s called a “push,” and no one gets any points. (Sorry, that’s the “house” playing the odds.)

This is so simple, even an Auburn fan should be able to figure it out!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at: dallastide at g mail dot com (without any spaces or underscores)…and, invite others to join us, too! (The more the merrier!)

-Mike

And, as always, Roll Tide!

* Michael Keaton IS Batman!

honestly, with the transfer portal and NIL money very few players likely to play 4 years at the same school, i'll probably watch as little as i do NFL...maybe on as background noise, but just can't get excited about it. it's why your beloved Saban left. teams will now be buying championships. there is no loyalty except to the highest bidder.

I have to appreciate someone passionate about their team. However, my alma mater is located in Storrs, Connecticut, the Basketball Capital of World. The seasons of importance do not start yet, but in anticipation - GO HUSKIES!

I still dread the spiteful bickering over that 13th team that didn't make the playoff, but all the clear front runners will now make it in. I look forward to a full month of college playoff action, bracket competitions, and spirit days at work. It has the potential to be like march madness.

Congrats to Ohio St. This year's playoffs really proved the need for an actual playoff. 7 seed vs 8 seed, with an 8 seed winner.

Yes, now if we can just get a handle on open transfer. NIL is definitely a challenge, but i find open free agency every season (multiple times) the bigger issue. Even the NFL doesn't have 100% of its players reach free agency every single season. Yet, for some reason we still have a preseason AP poll, which is hilarious.

100% agree. The transfer portal has to have to some kinds of safeguards and restrictions. These programs are just revolving doors of athletes. I don't know - maybe a 2 time limit. The first transfer works as it does today (no waiting period). If you transfer again, you must sit out a year. Transfer a 3rd time or more, you lose eligibility??? I don't know - SOMETHING!

it is solely about dollars, not about anything else. coaches are incented to win so they will take whatever they can to get that win bonus payout, players will go wherever they will get paid the most to play, schools want the titles so they'll get alumni to pony up the dollars to keep getting big names...

graduation rates will plummet and no one will care, you will see plenty of 5, 6, and 7 year players, not good enough to make a NFL roster but good enough to make $100k-$250k a year in college, they'll ride that as long as they can. and you'll see a revolving door of coaches as well, and when they come they will bring players with them as well as coaching staff. just became a farm team to the NFL without the NFL having to put up a penny.

Happy - I hate just how right you are.

i hear this same thing from my wife daily...it's tough always being right, but i do my best to withstand the challenges it brings

..... Roll up the pant legs, it's getting deep in here! lol

It's a catch-22 for me. Really hard for me to come down on the side of no pay when coaches and universities are making out like bandits on the backs of college football programs. I don't really mind the players getting paid, just not sure the current system is working.....maybe they're going to have to start signing contracts. One of the big things to me is--guys who sign big NIL deals at name schools are partially getting that because of the brand of that name school. You aren't going to sign a $3 million deal at San Jose State.....so since it's the school's brand that is partially responsible for the number being big, i think there has to be some sort of strings attached......maybe at least a 2 year contractual obligation to remain at that school. With colleges being involved, it really gets sketchy in the courts, i know.