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SEC Sports
Gene Stallings talks College Football Playoff
Stallings spoke at Curry High in rural Walker County on Saturday as part of a fundraiser for the school’s football program and first-year head coach Jeff Foshee, who played for Stallings at Alabama in the 1990s.
Like death and taxes, it seems inevitable that Alabama and Clemson will meet in the College Football Playoff.
The sport’s superpowers have collided in the postseason for four straight seasons, splitting the four games but with Clemson winning two of the last three national championships.
Count iconic Alabama coach Gene Stallings among those who expect Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide and Dabo Swinney’s Tigers to play each other for the national title again in a few months.
“I think they’re the two best teams in the country when it’s all said and done,” the 84-year-old Stallings said Saturday night. “I think they’ll be in the championship game.”
Stallings spoke at Curry High in rural Walker County on Saturday as part of a fundraiser for the school’s football program and first-year head coach Jeff Foshee, who played for Stallings at Alabama in the 1990s.
Stallings’ speech in the Curry gym included references to legendary coaches Paul “Bear” Bryant and Tom Landry, the two coaches whom he served as an assistant. He also spoke poignantly about his late son, John Mark Stallings, and added anecdotes about playing golf with PGA legend Ben Hogan, his family and his coaching career.
Stallings also offered a little friendly advice to the several hundred fans. “You know what this world needs? A little bit of kindness, just a little bit of kindness,” said Stallings, who led Alabama to the 1992 national title. “It makes all the difference in the world.”
Stallings also met briefly with reporters and fielded questions about the upcoming college football season. He said he expects Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee and Auburn to be among the nation’s best teams.
“I think the best teams in the country are going to come from the Southeastern Conference, other than Clemson,” he said.
He also noted Texas A&M “can have a better team than they had last year and still lose more games. They’ve got to play Alabama, they’ve to play Clemson, they’ve to play Georgia, they’ve got to play LSU. They’ve got a tough schedule.”
Stallings also voiced support for tweaking the College Football Playoff, including expanding to eight teams, giving major conference champions an automatic bid and scaling back the regular season to accommodate an expanded field.
Most notably, he said first-round playoff games should be played at home sites.
“Somewhere along the line, we’ve got to give some kind of consideration to the fans,” Stallings said. “The fans that follow Alabama, they can’t go to the West Coast this week and the East Coast next week. They just can’t do that.”
Stallings said high ticket costs are also why he supports Nick Saban’s call for a ninth conference game to replace a game against lower-level team that often offers little resistance.
“As expensive as a ticket is and you’re going to go to a game,” he said, “you don’t want to see somebody beat somebody by 60 points.”
