What are the odds of the SEC having its 13th Heisman Trophy winner?
LSU junior tailback Leonard Fournette should be high of everyone’s Heisman list after he averaged a national-leading 162.8 yards per game last season. If the Tigers hadn’t suffered a three-game losing streak late in the season to Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss — including the Crimson Tide holding Fournette to 31 yards on 19 carries — he might have won the Heisman last year.
Ole Miss senior Chad Kelly, a dual-threat quarterback, should jump into contention if the Rebels win early-season showdowns against Florida State and Alabama.
Texas A&M sophomore Christian Kirk could become a candidate if he gets more touches this season as a receiver and kickoff and put returner. He averaged 137.6 all-purpose yards per game last season, but 14.3 yards per his 125 touches.
If Tennessee plays as well as projected in preseason polls, Vols senior quarterback Josh Dobbs might be a viable candidate.
Georgia junior tailback Nick Chubb is back from a season-ending knee injury he suffered against Tennessee last season. He was tackled in the Bulldogs’ first preseason scrimmage, and if he’s able to return to full speed this season, Chubb — who averaged 8.1 yards per carry last year — could work his way back into the Heisman race.
Texas A&M junior end Myles Garrett, who had 19.5 tackles for 101 yards in losses last season, could be a candidate to get behind if you’d like to see a defensive player in the conversation.
There may be other SEC players who will emerge as surprise candidates.
Who had Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, a junior college transfer, or Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, a redshirt freshman, on their lists before they won college football’s top award in 2010 and 2012?
Sophomore tailback Bo Scarbrough figures to take over as Alabama’s top rusher with the loss of Derrick Henry — last year’s Heisman winner — and could be a breakout star.
Who are some Heisman hopefuls from non-SEC teams?
Stanford junior tailback and kickoff and punt returner Christian McCaffrey and Clemson junior quarterback Deshaun Watson were Heisman finalists last year invited to New York along with Alabama tailback Derrick Henry, so they have to be on the short list of leading candidates.
Other candidates figure to be Oklahoma senior quarterback Baker Mayfield, a former walk-on who won the Brandon Burlsworth Trophy last year; Florida State junior tailback Dalvin Cook; Ohio State junior quarterback J.T. Barrett; and Oregon junior tailback Royce Freeman.
What teams have the best shot to be in the college football playoff?
Alabama is the only team to play in the four-team playoff in its first two seasons and the Crimson Tide is ranked No. 1 in numerous preseason polls, so they have to be at the top of the list.
LSU and Tennessee figure to be possibilities for the SEC considering both teams have so many returning starters from 9-victory teams.
Playoff contenders also figure to include Clemson and Florida State from the top-heavy Atlantic Coast Conference; Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State from the Big Ten; Stanford, Washington, UCLA and Oregon from the deep Pac-12; and Oklahoma from the Big 12.
Notre Dame could make it as an independent, but without a conference championship game, the Fighting Irish may need to go undefeated.
Among teams from the non-Power 5 conferences, Houston (American Athletic Conference) probably probably has the best shot.
Do we have to choose between partying on New Year’s Eve or watching the playoff semifinals games like last year?
Yes, for one more year. The semifinal games in the Fiesta and Peach Bowls will be on New Year’s Eve again.
But for the 2017 season, the semifinals will be on New Year’s Day — in the Rose and Sugar Bowls — and the games will be on Dec. 29 in 2018 and on Dec. 28 in 2019.
The idea of playing the semifinals on New Year’s Eve when they’re not in the Rose and Sugar Bowls — who refuse to move their games off that day — changed when television ratings for last year’s semifinals dropped 40 percent from 2014.
Is Jeff Long still on the playoff selection committee?
Yes, Arkansas’ athletic director will stay on the committee for a third consecutive year, but he won’t be the chairman as he was in the playoffs’ first two years.
Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt is replacing Long as chairman. That means you’ll see Hocutt, rather than Long, being interviewed on ESPN each week after the committee starts announcing its poll.
Who are some of the bigger-name coaching faces in new places this season?
Mark Richt, who coached Georgia the previous 15 seasons, is now at Miami, his alma mater.
Lovie Smith, an NFL head coach with Chicago and Tampa Bay, has taken over at Illinois.
Bronco Mendenhall left BYU to take the Virginia job.
Justin Fuente, perhaps the hottest coach in the country after leading Memphis to a 19-6 record the last two seasons, replaced retiring Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech.
Kirby Smart, Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator at Alabama the last seven years and long considered a head coaching candidate, is at his alma mater, Georgia, replacing Richt.
Matt Campbell (Toledo) and Dino Babers (Bowling Green) moved from the Mid-American Conference to take jobs at Iowa State and Syracuse.
How many of Bret Bielema’s former assistants are now head coaches?
By our count there are four head coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision ranks who were Bielema’s assistants at Wisconsin and Arkansas.
Chris Ash, who was Bielema’s defensive coordinator for the Badgers and Razorbacks before leaving for Ohio State, is the new coach at Rutgers.
Charlie Partridge, Bielema’s defensive line coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas, is going into his third year as Florida Atlantic’s coach.
Wisconsin Coach Paul Chryst was Bielema’s offensive coordinator with the Badgers and left to become Pittsburgh’s coach before returning to Madison, Wis., last year.
Dave Doeren, going into his fourth season as North Carolina State’s coach, was Bielema’s defensive coordinator at Wisconsin before taking the Northern Illinois job.
Which college coaches are on the hot seat?
Three on the hot seat according to Athlon’s preseason magazine have Arkansas ties.
Athlon’s list includes Texas’ Charlie Strong, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn and Kent State’s Paul Haynes.
Strong, 11-14 in two seasons at Texas after a good run at Louisville, is from Batesville and played at Central Arkansas.
Gus Malzahn, whose Tigers are 15-11 the previous two seasons after going 12-2 and losing to Florida State in the national title game in 2013, grew up in Fort Smith, was a walk-on at Arkansas and played at Henderson State. He became a high school coaching icon in Arkansas at Hughes, Shiloh Christian and Springdale High, and was the Razorbacks’ offensive coordinator in 2006 and Arkansas State’s coach in 2012.
Haynes was the Razorbacks’ defensive coordinator in 2012.
Other coaches on Athlon’s hot seat list include LSU’s Les Miles, Purdue’s Darrell Hazen, West Virginia’s Dana Holgorsen and Fresno State’s Tim Deruyter.
SEC coaches included in the “getting warm” seat were Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason.
Whatever happened to Greg Schiano and Brady Hoke?
They’re both back in coaching as assistants.
Schiano, the former Rutgers’ coach who was fired at Tampa Bay, is Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator, replacing former Razorbacks assistant Chris Ash.
Hoke, the former San Diego State and Michigan coach who was Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long’s football and baseball teammate at Fairmont East High School in Kettering, Ohio, is defensive coordinator at Oregon.