CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Earlier this week, Alabama coach Nick Saban said Clemson should be the national title favorites heading into 2016, not his Crimson Tide.
Tigers coach Dabo Swinney thinks Saban might just have been being nice.
“I think Coach Saban’s just trying to kiss up for that onside kick,” Swinney said, referring to the game-changing special-teams play in the national championship between the teams in January.
Regardless of where it falls in the pecking order, though, Clemson certainly is among the very top echelon of teams in contention for the title this season. With Heisman Trophy candidate Deshaun Watson at quarterback, the Tigers’ odds of winning it all this year are 15-2, according to Bovada, second behind only Alabama.
Swinney said he feels polls and rankings are meaningless at this point in the calendar year — he supported not having any polls until October — but also said his team is ready to play with a target on its back.
“They’re not worried about, ‘Oh boy, what are we going to do, this team really wants to beat us,’ ” Swinney said. “Well guess what? We really want to beat them, too. We just try to take every game as if, truly, our season depends on it.”
For his part, Watson said the experience of going to the title game last year, only to lose to the Crimson Tide, 45-40, in the championship was a plus.
“A lot of people don’t get to experience that in the course of their careers,” Watson said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime dream and it’s very hard to get there. Just motivation to get back and just be able to experience it again is probably the key.”
He knows the drill
In three head-coaching stops, Dino Babers has learned what to expect when he begins to install his up-tempo, fast-paced offense in the first spring practice. This spring at Syracuse was no different.
“A bunch of big guys over trash cans not saying much, shaking their heads,” Babers said.
“When they get done with that, so that I can speak to them, I look them dead in the eye, I tell them, ‘That’s the slowest practice we’re ever going to have and we’ll never be that slow again.’”
Babers is hoping to inject some life into a Syracuse offense that averaged just 27.3 points per game last year, ninth in the ACC. He admitted it might take some time, but by Year 2 or 3 he expects his Orange offense to be humming.
“The first year, it’s like I’m watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island,” Babers said. “It’s like I know what’s going to happen next. It’s kind of boring the first year. The second year is really cool. You get to the tempo and speed that you want.
“I’ve never gone to a third year before. I really hope I get an opportunity to go for a third year at Syracuse because that would be new water for me.”
New action for Jackson
If Louisville wants to challenge Clemson and Florida State in the Atlantic Division, it will have to rely largely on quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino said Friday the primary focus for dual-threat Jackson this offseason has been fine-tuning his passing game.
“We kind of took the running game away from him and worked hard at making him throw from the pocket, making him keep his vision downfield when there’s pass-rush around him,” Petrino said.
“If we can get him to throw the ball down the field and be accurate with his passes, that will open up his ability to run the ball even more.”
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG.
First Published: July 23, 2016, 4:23 a.m.