No, I will not accept it.

I’m still in denial that college football is over. I keep telling myself that there’s some random bowl game I forgot about next week.

While I pretend that the 2018 season hasn’t ended, I thought it would give me and you some piece of mind knowing that there are some good 2019 openers that we can all get excited about.

Here are the SEC’s 4 best:

4. Alabama vs. Duke (at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta)

Do I expect this game to be close? That depends on your definition of “close.” Close by Alabama standards would be staying within 4 touchdowns.

So why is it on this list? Well, because seeing Alabama dominate after a long offseason is still entertaining. Getting to watch Tua Tagovailoa and the best group of receivers in America returning will be enjoyable at least.

And while Duke isn’t by any means a threat to beat Alabama, it’ll still be David Cutcliffe. He knows a thing or two about coaching up an offense, which is good news for a Blue Devils team that’ll replace QB Daniel Jones. On a related note, Alabama got super lucky that in consecutive openers against ACC teams, it was 1 year removed from facing top-flight NFL Draft prospects at quarterback.

Consider that my way of saying that this could easily turn into a repeat of Alabama’s 2018 opener against Louisville.

3. South Carolina vs. North Carolina (at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte)

RETURN OF THE MACK.

Mack Brown, that is. The former UNC and Texas coach is back in college football, and it’s the Gamecocks who get to give him his first taste of how the game has changed. Brown is back in Chapel Hill, taking over a 2-win program that was a disaster in 2018. Given South Carolina’s tendency to play down to its competition, this could be down-to-the-wire opener like 2015 was.

It’ll be interesting to see how the narrative around Will Muschamp develops leading up to this game. Obviously it’ll be different than last year, when the Outback Bowl victory spiraled into preseason hype that South Carolina could knock off Georgia and win the SEC East. There could be people picking the Gamecocks to finish as low as fifth in the division, depending on how high they are on Tennessee in Year 2 of the Jeremy Pruitt era.

This is a game that, with Jake Bentley back and that defense returning a lot of talent, South Carolina should win somewhat convincingly. Oh, and speaking of key returns, this Bentley hype video to announce his return was … something.

https://twitter.com/JakeBentley19/status/1081291956372885504

For all the storylines between the two Carolinas, this will be one of the SEC’s top games of opening weekend.

2. Florida vs. Miami (at Camping World Stadium in Orlando)

If we were talking about this 3 months ago, I would have had it as the top opening weekend game not only in the SEC, but all of college football. But a lot has happened since then. Mark Richt is gone after the Canes completely torpedoed in 2018.

The expectation will be that Florida will be a considerable favorite to take down Miami. The Gators will be a sneaky Playoff pick this offseason following a 10-win season in Year 1 of the Dan Mullen era. I’m not here to say that’s where the bar is for 2019, but I’d be stunned if Camping World Stadium wasn’t dominated by Gators fans.

There will be some good ole-fashioned trash talk from both sides because that’s just what these programs do. There will be some pent-up animosity between fan bases who haven’t watched their teams face off since 2013.

Yes, I fully expect Steve Spurrier to make headlines with some sort of dig against the Canes.

But think about this. The Miami game is really the first of 5 headliner regular-season contests for the Gators. Add in the annual FSU, LSU and Georgia games plus a rare crossover against Auburn and there are plenty of chances for marquee wins for Mullen.

That’s only going to add to what’s sure to be a hype-filled offseason ahead of the Miami opener.

1. Auburn vs. Oregon (at AT&T Stadium in Arlington)

This game got sooooooo much more interesting in the past month. Obviously a lot of that has to do with the return of Oregon’s Justin Herbert, who was expected to be the top quarterback in this year’s draft. Instead, he’ll try and accomplish that feat in 2020. He’ll do so with basically Oregon’s entire offense returning, with the exception of Dillon Mitchell.

Ah, but that’s only half of the story. We’re going to have an entire offseason of takes about what Gus Malzahn can do to save his job. We already know he got off to a good start in his first game as a play-caller in 3 years when Auburn bombarded Purdue in the Music City Bowl. Malzahn, with a new quarterback, will be as intriguing as anyone this offseason.

Besides, this is also likely going to be the only SEC opener that features a pair of preseason Top 25 teams. The fact that both won their respective bowl games certainly helps after neither had the second half they wanted.

I don’t know what to expect of Malzahn’s long-term future at Auburn, nor do I know if Herbert is going to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL.

But am I excited to spend the entire offseason talking about them? Definitely.