Alabama quarterback Bryce Young has made lucrative deals before starting

 Alabama quarterback Bryce Young has made lucrative deals before starting his first college game, but he doesn’t think that or the preseason hype surrounding him will be a distraction. To Young, the “culture” that Nick Saban has created for the program won’t allow it. “I think really it says a lot about Alabama, and it’s honestly not too hard with the coaching that we have,” Young said Thursday. “Coach Saban from Day 1 when all the external stuff started to pop up — and it’s been going on for a while with there being whatever distractions there may be — that’s something we preach a lot about making sure we keep the main thing the main thing. “We’ve talked a lot about that in-house, and that’s something that we live by.” Young spoke via Zoom in his first interview with reporters since arriving in Tuscaloosa as the country’s top dual-threat quarterback prospect in the class of 2020. Saban said in July that Young already had received Alabama football live online  nearly seven figures’ worth of name, image and likeness deals. The sophomore from California is set to replace Heisman Trophy finalist Mac Jones at quarterback when the Crimson Tide open Sept. 4 against Miami in Atlanta. Other than mop-up duties, Young hadn’t been seen all that much by Alabama fans before the spring game. Then he showed off his athleticism and arm, passing for 333 yards and a 59-yard touchdown to tight end Cameron Latu. The next game he suits up for will be real. Even while replacing Jones — and despite the Tide losing four other first-round NFL draft picks from the offense — Young will lead a team picked preseason No. 1 and favored to repeat as national champions. He’s OK with those expectations after leading high school powerhouse Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California, where he took over for current Georgia starter JT Daniels. “There obviously are expectations, but regardless of what happened in high school or any past experiences I’ve had, coming to Bama is where you come for pressure and come for expectations,” Young said. “Everyone here when they signed on the dotted line and decided to come here, we knew it was going to come with expectations.

 “Saban sets that standard for us immediately during recruiting and when we step into the building, so it’s not something I was blindsided by.” Expectations for Georgia’s football team have been sky-high since it advanced to the College Football Playoff national championship game in 2017. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they've fallen short of all of them. In 2018, Georgia was ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 to start the year and then won 11 of its first 12 games before losing a 14-point lead to Alabama in the SEC championship and falling out of the College Football Playoff picture. The Bulldogs fell again in the conference title game in 2019 and were ousted by Florida for the SEC East championship in 2020. The story entering Alabama football live streaming  this season was similar. The Bulldogs showed great promise in winning their last four games of 2020 and junior quarterback JT Daniels was one of the top four preseason favorites for the Heisman Trophy, according to Vegas Insider. Ranked No. 5 in the AP preseason Top 25, Georgia had a big opportunity to prove itself against No. 3 Clemson, which had advanced to the College Football Playoff in each of the past six seasons. This year, the Bulldogs proved they are out to meet — and perhaps exceed — the expectations with a 10-3 win over the Tigers in the Duke’s Mayo Classic in front of 74,187 fans at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday night. Georgia’s defense dominated the entire game, limiting Clemson to 180 total yards — and just 2 net yards rushing — and sacking sophomore quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei seven times. Its lone touchdown was a 74-yard interception return by senior safety Christopher Smith with 2:58 remaining in the second quarter. The Bulldogs forced five three-and-outs and punts on five of Clemson’s 10 drives. It was the first time the Tigers, who did not score until a 22-yard field goal from senior kicker BT Potter with 9:08 left in the fourth quarter, failed to score in the first half after a run of 143 consecutive games, the longest streak in the FBS. Sporting News provided live updates and highlights from the Bulldogs’ win over the Tigers.

The South Alabama Jaguars are giving their home crowd exactly

The South Alabama Jaguars and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles will face off at 8 p.m. ET Sept. 4 at Hancock Whitney Stadium to kick off their 2021 seasons. Last year was nothing to brag about for South Alabama (4-7), so the team is looking forward to a new start. Southern Miss struggled last season, too, ending up 3-7. A couple last-season defensive stats to keep an eye on: The Jaguars were 16th worst when it came to rushing touchdowns allowed last year, with the squad giving up 22 overall (bottom 88%). Southern Miss experienced some struggles of their own as they ranked ninth worst in the nation with respect to passing touchdowns allowed last year, where the team gave up 24. It's possible one of these Achilles' heels will wind up tripping the losing team up. The point spread is more or less neutral, so fans should expect a close game. We'll see if the game is as close as the oddsmakers expect or if one of these teams  Alabama football live has a surprise blowout in them. The Jaguars are a slight 2-point favorite against the Golden Eagles, according to the latest college football odds. The line on this game has moved quite a bit since it opened, as it started out with the Golden Eagles as a 1.5-point favorite. Over/Under: -109 See college football picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine's advanced computer model. Get picks now. Series History South Alabama won the only game these two teams have played in the last seven years. Week 1 of the 2021 season proved why college football is unmatched. Not only did we see some of the top teams in the sport flex their muscles, but we saw two teams from the same conference emerge as the early favorites to win the national championship. No. 5 Georgia topped No. 3 Clemson in a battle of heavyweights and the fearsome Bulldogs' defensive front took center stage in a 10-3 victory. In the other marquee kickoff game, No. 1 Alabama had no problem dispatching No. 14 Miami in an easy 44-13 win. But the action didn't end there. Multiple FBS squads lost to FCS opponents, while a couple of playoff contenders were pushed to the limit by lesser squads. That's what makes college football so fun: the middle of the sport is complete and utter chaos. 

For the first time in a year, we have actual games to talk about. With that said, here are winners, losers and overreactions from a thrilling Week 1. Rumors of Alabama's demise have been greatly exaggerated. New quarterback Bryce Young was tremendous with 344 yards passing and four touchdowns in his first real action and the No. 1 Crimson Tide defense sat on D'Eriq King and the No. 14 Hurricanes offense all afternoon long. Without trying especially hard, the Tide outgained the Canes 501-266. There will be tougher games on the schedule for the Tide, but this was as definitive a season-opening performance as you'll find in college football. Alabama is still the team to beat. It's never too early to start the season as one of college football's most hyped players, but Texas sophomore running back Bijan Robinson lived up to it in Week 1. Robinson touched the ball 24 times in total, exploding for 176 total yards and Alabama football live stream  two touchdowns against No. 23 Louisiana. He ended up being a deadly weapon in the passing game for first-year quarterback Hudson Card. More than anything, Robinson was a mismatch and first-year coach Steve Sarkisian showed how to take full advantage of his immense gifts. If No. 21 Texas gets this Robinson every week, the Longhorns are going to be pretty good, and their fans are going to be damn happy. Since so few teams played nonconference games in 2020, there was a real lack of FCS upsets over FBS teams. The only one featured a horrid New Mexico State team losing to FCS transitioning member Tarleton State during the spring season. But over this first weekend of college football alone, there were six such upsets. Montana topped No. 20 Washington for just the fifth-ever ranked Watch All Blacks vs Australia Rugby live  win by an FCS opponent. ETSU crushed Vanderbilt 23-3 in Clark Lea's debut. UC Davis topped Tulsa, Eastern Washington beat UNLV, Holy Cross crushed UConn and national runner-ups South Dakota State demolished Colorado State. Not only were there major upsets, but programs like Northern Iowa and Missouri State also pushed power opponents to the brink. If anyone needs proof there is great football being played in the FCS ranks, this weekend is a stark reminder.