📡 Who does Gene Stallings expect to play for national title? - AL.com

[SEC Sports]

Who does Gene Stallings expect to play for national title?

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.

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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.”

 

[TerryP]

“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.”

Personally, I have no issue with watching a game where the Tide beats another team by 60. It's a bit hyperbolic by Beebes, but I get his point (as Bama is beating conference opponents by an average of 30+ per game.)

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Well..its obvious that he didnt like games like that....
His offense was up the middle ..up the middle...up the middle....
Til they surrendered

 

[TUSKtimes]

Coach is getting older but he's as logical as always. When the playoffs adjust to 8 teams, the home field will be back in play. That alone is going to generate a ton of excitement with the locals. I like it enough to make it 2 home rounds but these greedy bowls will want their money when it comes to the semis.

And the 9 conference games coach speaks of is another nice shout out to what the fans deserve. You know, the reason for the season.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Coach is getting older but he's as logical as always. When the playoffs adjust to 8 teams, the home field will be back in play. That alone is going to generate a ton of excitement with the locals. I like it enough to make it 2 home rounds but these greedy bowls will want their money when it comes to the semis.

And the 9 conference games coach speaks of is another nice shout out to what the fans deserve. You know, the reason for the season.

All true....but for some reason these bowls aren’t going to give up their golden goose ......$$$$$$$$$$$$....
And don’t expect programs to cut back on regular season games either....for same reason.... especially the money games of directional schools...
Back and forth on 4-6-8 teams...all arguments are solid....

 

[OldPlayer]

Expanding to eight teams shouldn't impact the bowl system. The CFP has always said they wanted to maintain the bowls. However, by having an eight-team field with a home advantage, that means four of those teams won't be going to a bowl even though they're one of the top eight teams. The teams that get a home advantage will need to be good at game production. We all know that the majority of programs aren't profitable. By making them hold another home game, with a percentage of ticket sales going to the CFP, these teams will go further in the hole.

 

[TUSKtimes]

Expanding to eight teams shouldn't impact the bowl system. The CFP has always said they wanted to maintain the bowls. However, by having an eight-team field with a home advantage, that means four of those teams won't be going to a bowl even though they're one of the top eight teams. The teams that get a home advantage will need to be good at game production. We all know that the majority of programs aren't profitable. By making them hold another home game, with a percentage of ticket sales going to the CFP, these teams will go further in the hole.

What about all the local fans that actually get to come out and watch their team play? Stallings wasn't discussing helping the University keep their lights on.

 

[TerryP]

Expanding to eight teams shouldn't impact the bowl system. The CFP has always said they wanted to maintain the bowls. However, by having an eight-team field with a home advantage, that means four of those teams won't be going to a bowl even though they're one of the top eight teams. The teams that get a home advantage will need to be good at game production. We all know that the majority of programs aren't profitable. By making them hold another home game, with a percentage of ticket sales going to the CFP, these teams will go further in the hole.

Just to add a thought to a great post here, OP.

Last season we'd have been looking at Michigan traveling to Clemson and Ohio State traveling to Notre Dame IF this notion of applying home field reaches the playoffs.

Knowing what we do about the B1G and their conference administrators I can't some up with any reason to believe they'd be willing to do that. Just like crying for conference champions to get an automatic berth I can easily them them crying about road disadvantages and pushing for neutral site venues.

On the same note, I can easily see a program like Georgia doing the same thing if they felt any disadvantage.

 

[TerryP]

The home field advantage scenario and the notion local fans will benefit.

Here's where I think a lot of people have the wrong impression.

If they do go to the suggested six or eight teams and included in the change is home field advantage how is it going to benefit local fans?

The University is not going to be selling tickets for a home game even though it's being played on a teams home field. A playoff home team won't have control of the ticket sales or the number of tickets allocated for each team. In the case of Bryant Denny we're easily looking at around 20K tickets for Bama, 20K for the opponent, and the other 60 going through the CFP ticket sales route.

Sure, we won't as many situations where we're seeing top team travel across the country away from their local fans but we also aren't going to see an increase in the number of tickets available.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Expanding to eight teams shouldn't impact the bowl system. The CFP has always said they wanted to maintain the bowls. However, by having an eight-team field with a home advantage, that means four of those teams won't be going to a bowl even though they're one of the top eight teams. The teams that get a home advantage will need to be good at game production. We all know that the majority of programs aren't profitable. By making them hold another home game, with a percentage of ticket sales going to the CFP, these teams will go further in the hole.

Welll.....it would impact bowls...there are already bowls having a hard time filling teams...some cant get teams with winning records...take 4 more away...and it gets harder...and quality team also...take 4 more away...big bowls...sugar,rose, etc will be down to having really hard time...
And right now there are few really watchable games.....
And then throw in weather in December....( Michigan, Ohio, nebraska, etc).for hosting a playoff game...talk about making it hardto sell tickets considering travel........even great fans..
But i am not saying i disagree totally...
I like 8....4 works....but some thought in physical conception of playoffs

 

[OldPlayer]

Welll.....it would impact bowls...there are already bowls having a hard time filling teams...some cant get teams with winning records...take 4 more away...and it gets harder...and quality team also...take 4 more away...big bowls...sugar,rose, etc will be down to having really hard time...
And right now there are few really watchable games.....
And then throw in weather in December....( Michigan, Ohio, nebraska, etc).for hosting a playoff game...talk about making it hardto sell tickets considering travel........even great fans..
But i am not saying i disagree totally...
I like 8....4 works....but some thought in physical conception of playoffs

There are too many bowls. My comment is that the "real" bowls (Sugar, Cotton, Rose, Orange, Peach, etc) would continue. The Weedeater bowls that never sell out or get small stadiums 50% filled would need to examine their worth. Bowls for the "best" teams at the end of the season would continue.

 

[OldPlayer]

What about all the local fans that actually get to come out and watch their team play? Stallings wasn't discussing helping the University keep their lights on.

What do you think the cost of a playoff ticket would be? The local fans can come and tailgate, but many won't be able to afford or acquire a ticket.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

What do you think the cost of a playoff ticket would be? The local fans can come and tailgate, but many won't be able to afford or acquire a ticket.

Tickets for regular season games are already $100+ Or approaching ...for some games...but none of this is a problem for bama ( and others) fans....
But....for some fan bases....

 

[OldPlayer]

Just to add a thought to a great post here, OP.

Last season we'd have been looking at Michigan traveling to Clemson and Ohio State traveling to Notre Dame IF this notion of applying home field reaches the playoffs.

Knowing what we do about the B1G and their conference administrators I can't some up with any reason to believe they'd be willing to do that. Just like crying for conference champions to get an automatic berth I can easily them them crying about road disadvantages and pushing for neutral site venues.

On the same note, I can easily see a program like Georgia doing the same thing if they felt any disadvantage.

Nobody wants to go to a cold city for a "bowl" or playoff game. How has the Pinstripe Bowl done in ticket sales? Having a home field advantage would certainly be good for the cold-weather schools. Can you imagine Miami or Alabama going to Columbus, OH?

 

[50+yeartidefan]

There are too many bowls. My comment is that the "real" bowls (Sugar, Cotton, Rose, Orange, Peach, etc) would continue. The Weedeater bowls that never sell out or get small stadiums 50% filled would need to examine their worth. Bowls for the "best" teams at the end of the season would continue.

I dont know.....a lot of those games....big bowls .....with big name teams....still arent killing it...take 4 big top ranked away....may be down to 9-3 teams..3rd-4th place finishers in conference...and a 3-4 thousand dollar travel to see them play?
Still not totally disagreeing....OP...
Using "big"bowls for playoffs has it disadvantages also...
And i have talked to friends from northern cities,....saying playing in southern venues outside in heat n humidity is big disadvantage ...
Maybe ALL playoffs musst be in dome stadiums.....neutralize weather advantage

 

[TerryP]

@OldPlayer, I remember an article about two or three years ago about Iowa fans not buying up tickets to the Pinstripe Bowl. Weather come into play there? I don't know.

The thought also crosses my mind about logistics. We see teams practice on these neutral site fields before bowl games and playoff games. Assuming Bama is hosting, are we going to see a team practicing in Bryant Denny with the Tide a few blocks away? I suppose we'd be looking at opposing teams staying in Birmingham and using the facilities at UAB.

Let's take that a step further. Would we see a team travel to Clemson and practice at one of their local high schools? There's a case where they'd likely be in Greenville. UNCG?

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Nobody wants to go to a cold city for a "bowl" or playoff game. How has the Pinstripe Bowl done in ticket sales? Having a home field advantage would certainly be good for the cold-weather schools. Can you imagine Miami or Alabama going to Columbus, OH?

@OldPlayer, I remember an article about two or three years ago about Iowa fans not buying up tickets to the Pinstripe Bowl. Weather come into play there? I don't know.

Maybe.....
1......it was Pinstripe Bowl
2......in New York
3......was Iowa fans
4......nobody really gave a shit....
5......all above
LOL

 

[TerryP]

I dont know.....a lot of those games....big bowls .....with big name teams....still arent killing it

The big bowls did not do badly last year. The worst of the NY6 was Outback (Miss State vs Iowa) and there were about 20K left unsold. While the other big ones (Citrus, Fiesta, et. al.) weren't sell outs there were only a few thousand seats left. IE: Citrus sat 65, had close to 60K in attendance.

Using "big"bowls for playoffs has it disadvantages also...

Exampled by?

 

[TUSKtimes]

What do you think the cost of a playoff ticket would be? The local fans can come and tailgate, but many won't be able to afford or acquire a ticket.

What is it costing now, plus airline tickets? Who do you think is coming to Tuscaloosa besides Bama fans and some fans of the visiting team for quarterfinals? Especially knowing the semis and NC game are still going to places like The Rose Bowl and Santa Clara, unfortunately. How many Bama fans would correctly surmise that a home game is the best chance to see their team?

 

[TUSKtimes]

Nobody wants to go to a cold city for a "bowl" or playoff game. How has the Pinstripe Bowl done in ticket sales? Having a home field advantage would certainly be good for the cold-weather schools. Can you imagine Miami or Alabama going to Columbus, OH?

Unless the NY Yankees make the college football playoffs we probably won't be making that trip. The NFL has been doing this playoff, cold-weather teams, Homefield, forever. So much so it's seldom mentioned beyond the score of who won. The theme in the NFL is that if you don't like going to New England in January, finish with a better AFC record. Otherwise, it's just whining.