The biggest question stemming from the NCAA’s recent announcement that Missouri would be banned from the 2019 postseason is: Will Kelly Bryant stay with the Tigers?

The bylaws allow him to transfer without penalty, so he could take off and start at one of Missouri’s SEC rivals immediately.

Although Missouri is in a powerhouse division with Georgia and a revamped Florida, the arrival of Bryant signalled to Missouri programs that the team was on the up-and-up – maybe towards a New Year’s Six Bowl Game.

However, with the rules of a postseason ban, the only non-regular season game the transfer from Clemson will see will be on his TV.

Sources are saying that Bryant will stay, but unless Bryant makes an announcement, the question marks are going to get asked.

Of course, you can guarantee that the likes of Auburn and others who were chasing his signature will be telling him what a bunch of crooks Barry Odom and his team are (when in actual fact tutors doing academic work for football players has been going on for time and memorial), and Odom will have to battle to keep his player.

Missouri has been hit with a postseason ban for 2019 by the NCAA over academic infractions.

According to the NCAA, an academic tutor at the Columbia-based school completed academic work for “12 student athletes”, including completing online coursework that “included assignments, quizzes or exams”. The organisation added: “She completed an entire course for one student-athlete and completed portions of a placement exam for two student-athletes.”

The NCAA also hit Mizzou with three years of probation, a vacation of records in which football, baseball and softball student-athletes competed while ineligible, a 5% reduction in the amount of scholarships in each of the football, baseball and softball programs during the 2019-20 academic year, recruiting restrictions which included a seven-week ban on unofficial visits, a 12.5% reduction in unofficial visits, a seven-week ban on recruiting communications, a seven-week ban on all off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations, and a 12.5% reduction in recruiting in-person or valuation days.

The NCAA also fined the football, baseball and softball programs $5,000 plus 1% of the budgets of the football, softball and baseball budgets.

Missouri will appeal the ruling.

Missouri head coach Barry Odom said about the fines: “The committee’s decision was completely unjust and unfair – to our team, to our staff and to our alumni. I’m very grateful for the clear, decisive and unified leadership we have here at Mizzou, and I’m looking forward to doing whatever I can to assist with the appeals process. Together, we will fight for this institution and I will damn sure fight.”

The Kansas City Star said of what happened: “Mizzou is taking a harsh penalty here for a misdeed it did not and could not be reasonably expected to know about in real time. The school, by all accounts, cooperated and followed protocols once the misdeeds were known. Mizzou would’ve been better off lying. Or, taking UNC’s example, better off creating, controlling and expanding the misdeeds throughout campus and over many years.” It added: “There is no evidence that Mizzou’s athletic department knew about or would have condoned the tutor — unnamed in the report but known to be Yolanda Kumar — completing course work for athletes.”

The University of Georgia will come out as a winner of a national championship in 2019. Sadly, it’s not THE National Championship, but it’s the National Championship for Pros- the Super Bowl.

On one side is one of the most destructive running backs Georgia football ever saw – despite injuries – in Todd Gurley (St Louis Rams), and the other is the ankle-breaking speedster Sony Michael (New England Patriots).

In their times between the hedges, Gurley had 3,900 total yards and 46 TDs (in just 30 games because of injury and suspension), while Michel had 4,234 yards and 39 TDs.

This season, both posted excellent years.

Gurley posted his second-straight 1,000-yard season this year and his third in four seasons. This time it was 1,251 yards and 17 TDs. He also had 59 receptions for a tidy 580 yards and 4 TDs on top of that.

Bearing in mind New England’s pass-first offense (it helps when Tom Brady’s playing), Michel – in his rookie season – had 931 yards and 6 TDs, but has exploded in the postseason, scoring 5 touchdowns total against Los Angeles and Kansas City, and has gone for 129 and 113 yards respectively. Talk about a player on form. Gurley was dreadful in the game against New Orleans, which included four carries, one fumble and a drop (he still scored a touchdown), but put up 100 yards and a TD against Dallas.

Gurley said about Michel on Tuesday: “I remember when he first came in, he couldn’t run and catch,” Gurley said of Michel’s freshman season at Georgia. “I had to teach him how to do all that stuff….Hopefully everything I taught him, he doesn’t do it and he just plays like he used to play before I taught him everything.” He added – not surprisingly – that he wanted to ‘beat Michel’ in the Super Bowl.

Michel was more deferential, calling Gurley a “big brother”.

If you’re going on form, you’d take Michel to have the bigger game in Atlanta on Sunday – particularly with the fear factor that New England holds under centre.

Jalen Hurts didn’t last a long time in College Football’s infamous transfer window: He’s going to Oklahoma.

In a piece in the Player’s Tribune, he thanked Alabama for his career, and then said that he was “taking his talents” to Norman.

“For that I have so many people to thank. People who’ve made a deep and lasting impact on my life, just from their paths crossing with mine. People who have helped me, trained me, or flat-out raised me. Or even just believed in me. Thank you, truly.”

Hurts found himself behind Tua Tagovailoa for the whole season, although still bagged the headlines in the SEC Championship Game when he took over from his replacement – who was having a horrible game – to help the Tide come back and beat Georgia and take them to the College Football Play-Off.

It was a mirror from Hurts’ National Championship Game effort in 2018, when Hurts’ poor performance found him replaced by Tua, who threw the game-winning touchdown to beat the Bulldogs.

Hurts will automatically be the favourite to replace Heisman winner Kyler Murray, who decided to leave Norman to go the NFL.

If we’re cynical, Hurts will be a step-down from Murray. He’s spent all last season as a replacement, he’s got great out-of-pocket speed but hardly the elite arm that Murray and his predecessor Baker Mayfield owned. And while we see him profit in the regular season schedule, he might have more of a problem in the College Football Play-Off, for which the Sooners are a favourite.

Right, so the National Championship game had some heroes on both sides – and it had some G.O.A.T.S. and it had some goats. Don’t despair Alabama fans – not all your players were terrible, and don’t get too hot Clemson fans – some of your players were pretty ordinary.

So here we go:

EXCEPTIONAL

Trevor Lawrence (Clemson): As repeated ad nauseum on our Twitter page, Lawrence may look like a giraffe throwing a javelin, but boy, does he do it well. He wasn’t wonderful in the first quarter, but he warmed up and took Alabama apart. This was helped by some circus catches from his secondary, but heck, this was a Future Heisman Of 2019 performance.

Travis Etienne (Clemson): Etienne is one of those great Clemson running backs that can score a hat-trick but still look a little under-the-radar. His line? 86 yards, 3 TDs (2 running, 1 throwing). While Alabama kept him somewhat bottled up, they couldn’t cope with him in the last 20-30 yards in the field.

Justyn Ross (Clemson): Circus catch after circus catch, Ross was exceptional. 153 yards, 1 TDs off 6 catches, it was frightening what he did to Alabama’s secondary.

Jerry Jeudy (Alabama): Alabama’s danger man throughout the night, Jeudy had 139 yards and a 1 TD, and if Tua had thrown properly, he could probably have had more than one touchdown. He , we’ll be shocked if Jeudy doesn’t end up as one of the Tide’s all-time wide receivers.

Anfernee Jennings (Alabama): Despite the Crimson Tide’s woeful performance, Jennings caused a lot of trouble for Clemson’s offense, creating 3 solo tackles including a tackle for loss and a pass defended. His long arms will be used in the NFL for a long, long time.

Isaiah Simmons (Clemson): A destructive force wherever he went, Simmons ended the game as the game’s top tackler (9 tackles, 7 solo with 1 TFL).

Quinnen Williams (Alabama): Williams was doubled up almost all night long so we didn’t see the numbers from the Bar of Soap as we expected, but unlike his colleagues, Williams kept going until the end. If he goes to the Draft, he should be a Top 3 pick.

Brent Venables (DC, Clemson): This was an astonishing display by Venables’ defense, who was in Tagovailoa almost all night long. Every look seemed different and Alabama couldn’t seem to deal with it. They also bottled up Alabama’s running backs, too, limiting them to an average of 4.0 yards/carry. Everyone talks about how defense wins championships….and that held firm in this one. Venables is already the second-best DC in college football behind Dave Aranda (he earns $2.2 million), but make him the first, Dabo.

Dabo Swinney (Clemson): Venables may take a lot of the credit, but Swinney’s the CEO, and the CEO won a National Championship.

ORDINARY

Hunter Renfrow (Clemson): A guy who got the headlines as Clemson’s version of Rudy (and continues to do so), Renfrow did very little (2 receptions, 10 yards), apart from piss me off because Dabo didn’t go for 51 with a throw to him in the end-zone to give him my vaunted Jeudy/Renfrow TD double.

Jaylen Harris, Damien Harris, Josh Jacobs (Alabama): Alabama had 37 touches to Clemson’s 31, but the Tide couldn’t punch any of them into the end-zone. Maybe it was bad play-calling or may it was bad rushing, but this was very ordinary. Still, Josh Jacobs can grin this week – he’s become a new father.

The kickers (Clemson/Alabama): Both Greg Heugel (Clemson) and Joseph Bulovas (Alabama) missed extra points, but nailed field goals.

The refs: Missed a couple of pass interference calls (on either side) as well as most of the holding calls and a targeting call, but – especially in the case of the PIs – they seemed to let the game play.

QUITE MISERABLE

Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama): We expected more, honestly. The accuracy wasn’t there, and he missed some wide open attempts. Blame the ankle. Blame the hand. Blame anything you want, but head-wise, he just didn’t seem there.

ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE

Nick Saban (Alabama): This was a terrible game for Saban, and he admitted himself. The Tide didn’t execute anything very well, and he was outcoached by Dabo Swinney. He’ll replace Mike Locksley, and it’ll be interesting to see who he gets in. We hope it’s going to be Kliff Kingsbury, who has already had 3 jobs this offseason (fired from Texas Tech, hired by USC as OC, leaves USC to be hired by Arizona Cardinals as head coach)!!

It wasn’t his father who gave Tua the belt on Monday night – it was the Clemson defense.

Tua’s first interception – a pick-six – was awful enough, and his second quarter interception was even worse than that.

In the end, he finished 22-34 with 296 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs, and was pulled before the game ended. His replacement Jalen Hurts (0-2, 0 yards and -4 yards rushing) wasn’t good either, as he – like the man he replaced- struggled to deal with an on-fire Brent Venables defense, starring Christian Wilkins.

And like the horror show 4th-and-6 trick play, it didn’t come off.

This was supposed to be the crowning of Tua Tagovailoa. But it wasn’t. 

Tua had the beautiful throwing action and the support of 400 Hawaiians as well as Chris Fowler and a drooling Kirk Herbstreit, while they were playing a guy who looked something between ‘Sunshine’ from ‘Remember The Titans’ and one of them stoner types from ‘Dazed And Confused’, and threw like a giraffe throwing a javelin. Alabama was a 5-1/2 point favourite, and it seemed all the talking heads – apart from Lee Corso – were saying that this was generous.

In the end, the 44-16 could have been worse if Dabo had elected to do what he’d done all year long on teams and run the score up a little more. But still, 44-16 is in any books a beating of beatings. 

Next year, the ‘Cult of Tua’ will be a bit quieter as the Kool-Aid drinkers all jump to the ‘Cult of Trevor’. And that won’t be such a bad thing. For two out of the last three games, Tua has shown that he’s not Joe Montana. Yet.

The good thing for Tua is that the receiving talent is all coming back, and the running back talent will be as strong as usual. He’ll be fine.

And with less expectation, that’s no bad thing.

This Monday is the College Football finale between two teams that EVERYBODY thought would get there: Alabama and Clemson.

It’s no secret that both teams are amazing. Both teams are stacked with first round draft picks. Both teams have five-star quarterbacks who been revelations. Both teams have insanely good wide receivers and running backs. And their defenses? Whoa.

The only bad thing about the National Championship is that it’s going to be played in Santa Clara, California. My brother – who lives there – said to me: “Why in the hell are they having a massive college football game during rush-hour on a weekday? The place is hard to get to and isn’t a great stadium experience? The 49ers can’t even fill the place.”

But onto the game itself….Even if it’s played in front of a few thousand people. 

Thinking about the game in the shower today, all I could think about it the reasons why both teams will win. Alabama will win if their offensive line can stop Christian Wilkins and his gang from getting to Tua – something they weren’t amazing at against Georgia and only a little better for three quarters against Oklahoma (although they smashed it in the first quarter!). Give Tua the time, and Tua will rip apart a Clemson secondary that gave up 510 yards (FIVE HUNDRED AND TEN) passing to South Carolina, who then was shut out by mighty Virginia. True, they were excellent against Notre Dame….but Notre Dame’s passing offense was 37th during the season. Ian Book was a manageable QB, but he’s no Tua – and the weapons he has with Isaiah Buggs III and the freakshow known as Jerry Jeudy.

On the other side, Alabama’s passing defense has just given up  300 yards to Georgia, and 308 to Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners. If Trevor Lawrence – who’s a great quarterback in himself despite looking like a giraffe throwing a javelin – can get the ball out quickly and to his wide receivers Tee Higgins and Hunter Renfrow without getting murdered by Quinnen Williams, Alabama might have problems. We don’t think Travis Etienne’s going to have a big game on the ground because running through that Alabama defensive corps will be murder for him.

But let’s be honest. Both sides are incredibly equal to each other. Both sides give up around 530 yards a game. Both sides have scored around 45 points per game – helped by the amount of crappy teams on their schedule and their up-tempo offenses. Clemson is better against the rush (predictably), helped by the sort of wall that Donald Trump’s pleading to be put up against Mexico. And coaching-wise, both Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney are doing incredible jobs.

This is going to the wire.

PREDICTION: Alabama 30, Clemson 27.