Sportscene’s Steve Russell caught up with long-time ESPN College GameDay analyst Lee Corso on Thursday morning and some of his predictions will have Gator fans very excited for the 2016-2017 college football season.
College Football Playoff: Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma and Florida State headline the top four in the first college football AP Poll of the season, but Corso believes only two of those teams will make the college football playoffs. The king of college football headgear believes that FSU, LSU, Michigan and Oklahoma will headline the annual final four with FSU taking on Michigan in the national championship game. He does not include Alabama, saying the Crimson Tide don’t usually finish well when they’re ranked #1 overall in the preseason.
Florida Gators: Corso had high praise for the University of Florida calling them one of the “surprise teams in the country” because of their elite defense and wide receiver Antonio Callaway. He went on to call Callaway one of the best players in the SEC and discussed how the sophomore really complements quarterback Luke Del Rio. He believes he could be the difference between Florida being a “real good team or a regular team.”
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Tennessee Volunteers: The Vols come into the season ranked #10 after a 9-4 season last year. Of those losses, all four came in the fourth quarter. Corso thinks that if Tennessee can learn how to finish, they’ll be one of the surprise teams in the country. This season, UT returns 17 starters on the offensive and defensive side. Corso believes that that could be one of the factors in how well the Volunteers do this year.
Rest of the SEC: During the rest of the interview, Corso mentioned four different SEC teams, the LSU Tigers, the South Carolina Gamecocks, the Auburn Tigers and the Ole Miss Rebels. LSU is Corso’s SEC pick to make the college football playoff. He believes that the Tigers’ offense featuring stud running back Leonard Fournette could be the reason they go far this season. In regards to the Gamecocks, Corso said he was surprised they hired former Florida coach,Will Muschamp so soon after not doing well with UF. When asked about his alma mater Florida State, Corso said that he thinks Ole Miss can keep it close in the two teams’ season openers, but that the Seminoles would come out on top. And in the most surprising prediction of the interview, Corso said that he thinks Auburn actually has a shot to beat Clemson in the match up between the two Tigers.
It's time to leave work/school early to get ready for kickoff weekend.
Here's your excuse letter. pic.twitter.com/mFZQDvec9j
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