Ohio State was predicted by many experts to capture the national championship before the 2024 season began, and they lived up to those expectations with a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in the National Championship Game on Monday Night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. After the Fighting Irish scored a touchdown on their initial drive to go up 7-0, it was all Ohio State from then on. They captured their 9th claimed national championship in their history with their 12-team playoff title. They also won the initial 4-team playoff in 2014. A $20 million payroll didn’t hurt the cause. But they still got the job done, and will now enjoy the rewards for their labor.

 The 2025 season looks intriguing with the Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers looking for new quarterbacks. There are candidates for both teams. Ty Simpson, Austin Mack and 5-star freshman Keelon Russell are the candidates in Tuscaloosa, Simpson was a 5-star in the 2022 class and Mack is a 4-star out of Washington where Kalen DeBoar coached him. For Hugh and Auburn, he’ll be looking at former 5-star Jackson Arnold, the transfer from Oklahoma who was a 90, four-star transfer, 5-star freshman Deuce Knight (5 star by Rivals; 95, 4 star 247 Sports), and Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels.  Daniels was an 86, 3 star out of high school and is an 86 transfer.

 So, interesting stuff for both the Crimson Tide and the Tigers. Jam Miller, Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard will be back as skill players for the Tide along with some new faces, and the defense has several veterans returning in great middle linebacker Deontae Lawson, another excellent inside linebacker in Justin Jefferson, free safety Keon Saab, who along with Lawson will be healthy next season for the whole year, they’re hoping, strong safety Bray Hubbard and corner Domani Jackson. Center Parker Brailsford, left tackle Kadyn Proctor and right guard Jaden Roberts return on the O Line. And Tim Keenan II, LT Overton and the great Quaw Russaw return up front on defense. Russaw is an outside backer and edge rusher. So the material is there for the Tide if Kalen and the coaches can keep those guys healthy, which can be uncontrollable, and build depth at each position. Key games in 2025 include  @Florida State on Saturday, August 30th, Wisconsin at Bryant-Denny Saturday, 9/13/25, @ Georgia, Saturday, 9/27/25, home vs Vanderbilt, Saturday, 10/4— this has gotten more serious after the upset in Nashville in 2024— @ Missouri, Saturday, 10/11/25 (Bama Golf’s birthday), Tennessee at home, Saturday, 10/18/25,  my younger daughter’s birthday (a lot of good birthdays in October and April), @ South Carolina, Saturday, 10/25/25, Oklahoma at home, Saturday, 11/15/25, and the Auburn Tigers @ Jordan-Hare, Saturday, 11/29/25.  It doesn’t get any easier in the SEC as the years “matriculate.” Makes it tough to matriculate to the Playoff. The SEC is too busy beating each other up during the season to even think about making the playoff, though that is at the forefront of players and coaches mind. But there’s no rest for the weary in this conference. I still think this is the preeminent conference in college football even though it didn’t fare as well in the postseason. You just don’t go to Bryant-Denny, Jordan-Hare, Athens, Austin, Tiger Stadium, The Grove, Neyland Stadium, among others and expect to come away unscathed and not battered and hruised. And it’s that way every week in this conference. As James Franklin said when he got the Vanderbilt job, “There are three conferences in football: the AFC, the NFC and the SEC.” The Big Ten has almost caught up at least with its top level team. But the depth of the SEC is second to none. I’ve thought about the idea of eliminating the conference championship game, though it still is a big deal for players to win the SEC. It’s a huge deal. Want to put more thought into that before I form a final opinion..

For the Tigers, running backs Damari Alston and Jeremiah Cobb are back, along with some younger guys. Like both of those players. They can be excellent. The great Cam Coleman returns at wide receiver, along with Malcolm Simmons and the terrific transfer from Georgia Tech, Eric Singleton. The line looks big and strong; will have to delve more into that after the spring game. There will be a lot of new players on defense, but I expect the defense to be even better in 2025 under the great Defensive Coordinator D.J. Durken. The defense was very good in 2024. Payton Thorne just couldn’t master the quarterback position for Hugh and the Tigers. The Tigers open on Saturday, 8/30/25 @ Baylor; pretty challenging first game for the team. Other key games include @ Oklahoma, Saturday, 9/20/25, @ A&M, Saturday, 10/27/25, home versus Georgia, Saturday, 10/11/25, home versus Mizzou, Saturday, 10/18/25, @ Arkansas, Saturday, 10/25/25, home versus Kentucky, Saturday, 11/1/25, @ Vandy, Saturday, 11/8/25, and the Crimson Tide @ Jordan-Hare on Saturday, 11/29/25.

Interesting season coming up for the Tigers and the Crimson Tide. Both teams landed excellent recruiting classes in 2025 with the Crimson Tide finishing fourth nationally and the Tigers finishing sixth. Texas had the No.1 class according to 247 Sports. They were followed by No.2 Georgia, No.3 Ohio State, and No.5 Oregon. Texas will begin the Arch Manning era this fall. Should be interesting in Austin.

Could be a nice season for both the Crimson Tide and Tigers, but  the SEC gauntlet just keeps coming at you every football season.

Will have more coming up during the spring; particularly after the spring games.

 Final Record in College Football

Bowls: SU-17-9; ATS- 13-13.

For the 2024-25 season: SU-169-64, 73%, ATS-121-111, 52%.

Starting to look at experimenting with  the Over/Under for the 2025 season. I’ve been keeping up with it on my own for the NFL Playoffs, and it’s a learning curve as I’m 3-7, but I’m enhancing my knowledge of it, and may use it in 2025.

Meanwhile, in basketball, Auburn is No.1 and Alabama is No.4. In the country. The Crimson Tide is coming off a 103-87 victory over my Commodores last night at Coleman and plays at home Saturday vs. LSU at 7:30 PM CT on the SEC Network. The Tide is 5-1 in the SEC, one game back of the No.1 Tigers, which are 5-0, and 17-1 overall, with that one loss coming to No.2 Duke, 84-76, at Cameron Indoor back on December 4th. The Tide is 16-3 with losses to Purdue on the road on Nov. 15th, Oregon in Las Vegas on Nov.30th, and vs Ole Miss at Coleman Coliseum last Tuesday, 1/14. The Crimson Tide is No.1 in the league in scoring and played pretty good defense in the first half last night against the Commodores. The Tigers have it all too with Johni Broome expected back in three weeks or so, maybe for the home game at the Jungle versus the Crimson Tide. So, extremely exciting stuff going on in basketball for Auburn and Alabama.

The 113th Australian Open

The 113th Australian Open in Melbourne has been stellar so far and now the semifinals are set. Here are predictions for the semifinals and championship matches.

 TV: All times Central

Women’s Semifinals

Thursday, 2:30 -6:30 AM, ESPN, Encore (more reasonable) 1-4 PM

ESPN2

Men’s Semifinal 1

 Thursday, 9:30 PM-12 AM, ESPN

 Men’s Semifinal 2

 Friday, 2:30-6 AM CT, ESPN

 Encore, Friday, 1-4 PM, ESPN2.

Women’s Championship

 Saturday, 2:30-4:30 AM, ESPN; Encore, 8:30-11:30 AM, ESPN2

Men’s Championship

 Sunday, 2:30-5:30 AM ESPN; Encore, 7-11 AM ESPN2

 Predictions

Women’s Semis

No.1 Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) over No.11  Paula Badosa (Spain) 6-4, 6-2

No.2 Iga Swiatek (Poland) over No.19 Madison Keys (U.S.) 6-4, 6-3

Women’s Championship

Sabalenka versus Swiatek

Sabalenka , 24 years old, is going for her third straight Aussie title and fourth Slam as she won the U.S. Open in 2024 as well.  Iga has five majors on her resume with four French Opens (2020, 2022, 2023, 2024) and a US (2022). This is going to be an epic, extremely hard-fought championship match, and I like Iga, the 23 year old, to prevail and capture her 6th Grand Slam championship.

Swiatek over Sabalenka 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)

Men’s Semis

No.1 Jannik Sinner (Italy) over No. 21 Ben Shelton (U.S.), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3

No.7 Novak Djokovic (Serbia)  over No.2 Alexander Zverev (Germany) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4

Men’s Championship

Sinner versus Djokovic

The great champion, Novak, has captured 24 Grand Slam titles. That’s head spinning and the all time best. He’s joined forces with former three-time major champion Andy Murray, now his coach, to put together quite a run this fortnight as he’s coming off a highly impressive victory over No.3 seeded Carloz Alcaraz, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Carlos is already a four-time major champion at 21 years old. The Spaniard’s last Slam was Wimbledon in 2024. Novak has won 10 Austrailan’s and is on a roll right now. He’s found a Fountain of Youth at 37 years old.

 However, 23 year pld Jannik Sinner is also a phenom. He describes himself in his highly admirable, self-deprecating way as “boring.” He eats healthily, he sleeps 10 hours a day, he trains and he competes. He won two Slams in 2024; the Australian and the U.S. He’s a matador on the hard surface. He really is on any surface. Critics get on Scottie Scheffler for being boring, also. He’s boring to the tune of two Masters (2022, 2024), two Players (2023 and ’24) and an Arnie, among his 13 PGA Tourvictories; seven of which came in 2024. He also threw in a Fed Ex Cup last year to go along with that. Jannik is on the same track as Scottie. Scottie is 27, and less I forget, he also won the Gold Medal in the Paris Olympic Games last summer. So give me Scottie Scheffler and Jannik Sinner’s boring lives all day. They feature multiple major/legacy titles, which still matter, and life changing checks. I’d actually say they’re living their best lives. The great champion will give Jannik a heckuva battle, but I like the young stallion to prevail.

Sinner over Djokovic, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4