At one end of the kitchen table sat Nick Saban, fresh off a failed cameo with the Miami Dolphins. At the other sat Flint Southwestern Academy senior running back Mark Ingram, his mother and his grandfather. It was 2007, less than a year into Saban's tenure at Alabama. His program, currently the greatest dynasty in sports, was in disarray. The Alabama of today, an overwhelming winning mechanism, was nothing more than an elaborate dream. The Alabama of ...

What's old is new again. After meeting in last season's College Football Playoff National Championship, Clemson and Alabama are set to clash in college football's first-ever national title rematch. Both teams waltzed through the College Football Playoff semifinals, definitively establishing themselves as the two best squads in the country. It was a similar case last year, and the Crimson Tide nabbed a thrilling 45-40 victory in that battle with the Tigers. Clemson's offense is largely built on ...

Fact: Sam Darnold had five touchdown passes in USC's 52-49 win over Penn State in the Rose Bowl on Monday, the most touchdowns a player has thrown for in a single game in Rose Bowl history.  Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Facts of the day, presented by Coors Light. Source: B/R Insights  Read more College Football news on BleacherReport.com

ATLANTA — Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts is on the verge of joining one of the most exclusive fraternities in all of American sports. A fraternity of two. If Hurts leads the Crimson Tide to the national title over Clemson on Monday in Tampa, Florida, he'll join Oklahoma's Jamelle Holieway (1985) as the only other full-time true freshman starting quarterback to lead his team to a national championship. Prior to this season, the youngest quarterback Nick Saban had trotted ...

Bring on the rematch. Clemson and Alabama will once again play for the national title after convincing wins over Ohio State and Washington, respectively. Below, we'll break down the three biggest keys to the game.                       Will Deshaun Watson Protect the Ball? Deshaun Watson got away with two interceptions against Ohio State, in part because of his 316 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns, and in part, because the ...

And then there were two. Next wee,k we'll have our national champion after Alabama and Clemson play in Tampa, Florida with everything at stake. Before we get there, though, we're giving you one last Bleacher Report Top 25 so tide you over. Rather than do another poll after the final—when seemingly the winner will be No. 1 and the runner-up shouldn't be any lower than second—we're recapping the 2016-17 season now. These rankings are based on the ...

PASADENA, Calif. — At some point, probably soon, USC will go back to being Hollywood again. That's OK. It can't help it, not in its L.A. surroundings, not with its fans in a place that idolizes its stars. For years, USC had been stuck in a phony place. And now, instead of a coach with flowing silver hair (Pete Carroll) and movie-star looks, the Trojans have a bald guy with a belly named Clay Helton, who ...

The No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners started the season with losses in two of their first three games, but they made amends and put the finishing touches on a 10-game winning streak when they dispatched the No. 14 Auburn Tigers 35-19 in the Sugar Bowl on Monday night. The triumph at the Superdome in New Orleans represented the Sooners' first in a bowl game since their 45-31 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl ...

The biggest and most obvious winners of the 2016 college football bowl season were Alabama and Clemson, but even the less meaningful bowl games were loaded with winners and losers. It may seem silly to publish this list with the national championship still a week away, but that thing is in its own category, independent of the other 41 games we've been soaking up for the vast majority of the last 16 days. If it makes you ...

Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon is one of the most controversial players in college football, which made ESPN broadcaster Brent Musburger's comments during the Sugar Bowl all the more surprising. During the Sooners' game against Auburn on Monday, the veteran announcer provided his thoughts on Mixon (via Mark Heim of AL.com): It was very troubling to see. We have talked to the coaches. They all swear the young man is doing fine. Like I said, Oklahoma thought ...