National Championship Rundown

The Clemson Tigers are the national champs!  Many people thought they could win the game, but I'm not sure how many thought they would win by a margin so large.  They destroyed Alabama to the tune of 44-16.  They only allowed 3 points after the first quarter.  Quite the performance.  But I guess Alabama wasn't motivated, so don't give Clemson too much credit.  That's what happens when an SEC team loses a bowl game.  It's clear they weren't happy to be there.  Beware the curse of the 1 seed.  A popular stat going around now is that no #1 seed has won the College Football Playoff yet.  Since that is a popular statement, it probably means that will be reversed next year.  Also beware the curse of the "best team of all time" talk.  So many times people try to start figuring out a team's placement in the greatest teams of all time before the championship is even played.  I supposed they need something to talk about with all the time between the end of the season and the bowls.  But it usually seems like that team ends up losing the game and all that talk is moot.

Get ready to pay a hefty price for Clemson next year.  They will no doubt be a heavy preseason #1 next season.  Trevor Lawrence just finished his true freshman season.  He was throwing the ball all over the field including to true freshman Justyn Ross who made ridiculous catch after ridiculous catch.  RB Travis Etienne is only a sophmore.  The 2nd leading receiver in the game for Clemson is a sophomore.  They are going to be loaded on offense.  They will lose some talent on the defensive side of the ball, but they have shown they just reload year after year.

Alabama isn't going away either.  Tua Tagovailoa will be back.  All the players that are projected NFL talents will still have NFL talent.  Just because they had this bad game, doesn't mean it's the end of the run for Alabama.  Just get ready for another year of Clemson-Alabama lording over the college football landscape.  And I guess Notre Dame too since they were able to keep the score closer in their semifinal game against Clemson than Alabama was able.  And don't forget about Georgia.  The self-proclaimed top 4 team and snubbed Playoff participant will be coming back off a 3 loss season.

There were quite a few close finishes in the Jacknife leagues this year.  But the championship game didn't change anything since everyone that was at the top of the standings had Alabama and Clemson.  Quite the strange year when such 2 heavy preseason favorites actually went wire-to-wire and were picked by most everyone.  You really had to be on your preseason research and picking game if you wanted to compete in the Premier League this year.  Out of all the entries across all the leagues, 9 out of the top 10 scores resided in the Premier League.

We now head into the longest offseason as college football packs up it bags and cleans out its locker.  But the talking and conference chest-puffing and projections and recruiting and spring practices never end.  Place your pre-orders for Phil Steele's magazine and it will hit your mailbox before you know it.

Thanks to everyone that played this year.  We really enjoy this league and love college football.  As always tell your family and friends what great fun it is and have them sign up next year.  We are always looking for more people and are constantly trying to make the website better and easier for everyone.  Check in to the website occasionally.  We will have some stats and recaps from the past season posted.  Until next season!