Report: Alabama, FSU in talks for 2017 season opener
Two of the teams at the top of the college football world are in talks to face off a few years down the road. Alabama and Florida State are discussing opening the 2017 season against each other in Atlanta, according to a report from the Palm Beach Post on Tuesday.
Should they work something out with Alabama, Florida State would open two straight seasons against SEC competition. The reigning national champions will tangle with Ole Miss at a neutral site in Orlando to open the 2016 season. According to the report, Alabama has also approached Miami, Southern Cal and Penn State regarding the 2017 opener.
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Florida State and Alabama could be on track to meet each other this season as well, as both teams are currently among the College Football Playoff committee’s top four teams. Alabama is ranked No. 1 and Florida State is No. 3 heading into Tuesday night’s new set of rankings. If those rankings hold over the next few weeks and both teams win their semifinal games, the Crimson Tide and Seminoles would meet for the national championship in Arlington, Texas.
A matchup between FSU and Alabama would get the 2017 season off to a good start, if current trends hold. Alabama has been a huge part of the SEC’s recent dominance, winning three of the SEC’s seven straight BCS championships. Florida State snapped that streak last season, beating Auburn 34-31 on a late kickoff return touchdown to take home the final championship of the BCS era.
While the SEC has been the cream of the crop for the last decade, Florida State’s fans are unimpressed, pointing to coach Jimbo Fisher’s 5-1 record against SEC teams. To make things more interesting, Fisher was an assistant to Alabama head coach Nick Saban while Saban was at LSU in the early 2000s.