Tim Tebow on College Football Playoff, Kyler Murray and Notre Dame

Tim Tebow assesses the first two College Football Playoff games, Kyler Murray’s professional sports future and Notre Dame’s blowout loss to Clemson.

For the fourth season in a row, the Alabama Crimson Tide will face the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff. This is the third time in those four years these two Southeastern blue-bloods will play for a national title. Helping us make sense of the weekend that was, as well as the national title bout coming on Monday night is ESPN college football analyst and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback with the Florida Gators Tim Tebow.

Tebow spoke with FanSided on behalf of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. He made the high-character all-star squad during his undergraduate years at Florida. Tebow and this year’s team completed a service project in New Orleans ahead of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, which was to revitalize the Audubon Gentilly Charter School for underprivileged kids.

“We’ve got a service project and Florida/Georgia Line is coming to join us,” said Tebow. “It’s all the members from the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. We’re going to be refurbishing a charter school here for underprivileged kids, which is going to be really exciting.”

Giving back to the community is always important to Tebow and he sees this team as a way to give thanks to college football players who make bigger plays away from the gridiron. “There’s a lot of awards we give to people for what they have done on the field. But we also got to remember that what people do off the field is more important than what they’ve ever done on the field. And that is what this is all about.”

While this year’s Sugar Bowl was between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Texas Longhorns, only a year ago it was a national semifinal game. Ironically, that Playoff game was between then-No. 1 Clemson and No. 4 Alabama, the same two programs we’ll see play for yet another national title.

“I think Trevor [Lawrence] is the starting quarterback because Alabama won last year in the Sugar Bowl. If Clemson won that game, I think Kelly Bryant is still the quarterback at Clemson.”

When asked about his initial thoughts of another Alabama versus Clemson meeting in the Playoff, Tebow sees it as “a whole lot of greatness.” He is very impressed with the coaching jobs that Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney have done in the last decade at their respective programs. However, he does seem to get that another Southeastern regional matchup in the title bout may not have the national appeal a game like this should.

“I know that there are some people who think that this is getting old with these teams. I understand where they are coming from, but I think we need to appreciate how special it is to see programs this good.”

Tebow is right. This is the best that Alabama has ever been, even better than when the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant roamed the sidelines in Tuscaloosa. Frankly, it’s not even particularly close in the eyes of Clemson. This is the golden age of Tigers football and Swinney is the biggest reason for that.

Though the Sugar Bowl meeting was only a year ago, this latest game between Alabama and Clemson will interestingly feature two different starting quarterbacks from the year prior.

We all saw Tua Tagovailoa come in at halftime of last year’s national championship versus the Georgia Bulldogs to propel the Crimson Tide to victory in overtime. Last year’s starter Jalen Hurts remained with the program, but is expected to transfer after his junior season. All Tagovailoa did was finish as the runner-up for the 2018 Heisman Trophy as a true sophomore, having never lost a game as a starter for the Crimson Tide.

Clemson’s change at quarterback might have been equally as strange. Though Kelly Bryant led the Tigers to another ACC Championship and a Playoff berth in his first year as a starter, true freshman five-star Trevor Lawrence usurped him on the Clemson depth chart mid-season. Bryant left school and has since transferred to Missouri. Like Tagovailoa, Lawrence has never lost a game as a college starting quarterback.

The quarterback switches made by both Saban and Swinney were bold. It has clearly worked out well for Alabama. The same can be said for Clemson. Tebow hinted that Swinney’s decision to go with Lawrence over Bryant might have been necessary to hopefully beat Alabama come Playoff time.

“I think Trevor [Lawrence] is the starting quarterback because Alabama won last year in the Sugar Bowl. If Clemson won that game, I think Kelly Bryant is still the quarterback at Clemson.” Tebow believes this was the deciding factor for Swinney’s mid-season quarterback move: Who has a better chance of beating Alabama?

“He took that chance because he was thinking about Alabama, knowing everybody else on their schedule Kelly Bryant could have beaten,” commented Tebow. “But could he have beaten Alabama? The answer to Dabo Swinney, he probably wouldn’t ever answer that, but in my opinion, it was, ‘no’. So he had to find someone that could do that.”

Lawrence will be the third true freshman quarterback to start in a national championship in as many seasons. Hurts fell to Deshaun Watson and Clemson on the final play in 2016 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Jake Fromm of Georgia lost to Tagovailoa and Alabama in overtime at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in 2017. Swinney hopes Lawrence doesn’t make it 0-3 for true freshman signal-callers starting in national championship games in the last three years.

“I think the most dominant defensive lineman I’ve seen this year is Quinnen Williams from Alabama. He’s just straight unblockable.”

Sure, Tagovailoa was a Heisman finalist, but Lawrence is 6-foot-6 with an accurate gun for a right arm. He’s the furthest thing from a slouch, as Lawrence will undoubtedly be the No. 1 player selected in the 2021 NFL Draft after his true junior season at Clemson.

As Tebow pointed out, there is a ton of greatness in this matchup. However, while Alabama might be as close to flawless as a team could get, Clemson does have one blemish that could prove fatal: Pass defense.

“I feel people shouldn’t look too much into the Notre Dame,” said Tebow. “Notre Dame doesn’t necessarily compare to Alabama…The biggest question mark for me early on is the secondary for Clemson. They gave up over 500 yards passing versus South Carolina.”

With wide receivers like Jerry Jeudy, DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle, Clemson will have more than its hands full to try to contain the vaunted Alabama aerial attack. That being said, Tebow does believe that the Oklahoma Sooners possibly revealed a chink in the armor of the Alabama secondary in the Capital One Orange Bowl down in Miami Gardens on Saturday night.

“The other matchup that I think is going to be really important is Clemson trying to matchup a Tee Higgins on a Patrick Surtain, who Oklahoma tried to go after a bunch…two nights ago.”

Surtain was a highly coveted recruit in the 2018 cycle and has an NFL pedigree, as his namesake father played in the NFL for years. However, the Oklahoma offense saw no issue in isolating the true freshman defensive back in space in the Sooners’ attempt to mount a failed comeback.

Lawrence obviously has Higgins to sling the ball to, but had a great rapport with fellow true freshman Justyn Ross in Clemson’s blowout win over the Notre Dame Fighting in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. Frankly, Clemson must exploit any slight advantage it’ll have in the passing game, as its secondary will give up yards in bunches, especially with a star like Tagovailoa leading the Crimson Tide offense.

While quarterbacks always end up on the marquee to promote a football game, this national championship will feature by far and away the two best defensive lines in college football. This is great on great, and Tebow sees the war in the trenches between Alabama and Clemson as a push.

“I think the most dominant defensive lineman I’ve seen this year is Quinnen Williams from Alabama. He’s just straight unblockable. I think Clemson has such great depth, too. Even without Dexter Lawrence, they’ve still got so many guys as far as defensive line, I would give it a push.”

Lawrence’s suspension doesn’t help Clemson. That being said, Clelin Ferrell and Christian Wilkins are undeniable first-round talents. If you’re favorite NFL team needs a defensive lineman in the 2019 NFL Draft, watch this game, plain and simple.

“I think he should do whatever he loves. If that’s baseball, do baseball. If it’s football, do football. If there’s an urge to do both, shoot, break the mold and try to do it.”

While Alabama and Clemson have found overwhelming success in the College Football Playoff era, one program that has not is Oklahoma. The Sooners fell to 0-3 in their three trips to the Playoff to date, despite having 2018 Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray at quarterback. Murray, who is 5-foot-10, could play in the NFL, but was a first-round selection by the Oakland Athletics in the 2018 MLB Draft.

Tebow, who was a first-round selection by the Denver Broncos in the 2010 NFL Draft, has spent the last few years as an outfielder in the New York Mets organization. He offers an interesting perspective as a two-sport athlete, but he definitely wants Murray to follow his heart for what he wants to do professionally.

“I think he should do whatever he loves. If that’s baseball, do baseball. If it’s football, do football. If there’s an urge to do both, shoot, break the mold and try to do it.” Though baseball is probably the safer route for Murray, Tebow did point out that “very few people could be able to do what he did against Alabama.” Murray’s quick-twitch muscles will serve him in whatever sport he chooses.

Though Murray played outstanding in the final three quarters of the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma fell in 28-0 hole and couldn’t climb out of it versus Alabama. When asked if Oklahoma needs to revitalize its recruiting approach to get tougher, Tebow doesn’t think the Sooners need a complete overhaul.

“I don’t think they need to change a lot, I really don’t. They have the best offensive attack in football right now…What I think they should is try to be more stout and physical from the defensive side. You don’t change the offense at all, but you got to be able to cover and tackle in space and not get hit in the mouth.”

Tebow was quick to mention that this has been a theme for Oklahoma for much of the 21st century. The Sooners have had several incredible offenses, but continue to get physically dominated on the defensive side of the ball in these big games. However, Tebow finds Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley to be very smart and will likely figure it out defensively.

Sure, Oklahoma will continue to put up gaudy numbers in Riley’s Air Raid offense. It will absolutely make them an elite team in the Big 12. That being said, losing on a national stage to more physical teams has to be getting old. Perhaps the threat of arch rival Texas on the come-up will amplify Oklahoma’s defensive efforts in the near future?

While Oklahoma put together a respectable effort in its Playoff loss to Alabama, Notre Dame was humiliated by Clemson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in the Cotton Bowl. The Fighting Irish mustered only three points in its first Playoff appearance to date. Though Notre Dame might have been “deserving” for Playoff inclusion with a 12-0 regular season, Tebow was adamant that the Fighting Irish weren’t one of the four best teams to begin with.

“I think that if you said ‘deserving’ of being in the Playoff, I think there is an argument to that. ‘Deserving’, from what I understand, is not in the criteria for being a Playoff team. From everything I’ve heard, it’s the four ‘best’ teams.”

Tebow would add, “I just don’t think you can look at what Georgia did to Alabama and not put Georgia into the Playoff as a top-four. You can totally make the argument that they are not deserving because they got blown out at LSU and lost to Alabama, but I get it….As far as right now on a neutral field, Georgia beats Notre Dame badly and that most coaches/analysts would agree. I talked to a bunch of them and said, ‘who do you want to play?’ Every one of them said, ‘Notre Dame'”.

“As far as right now on a neutral field, Georgia beats Notre Dame badly and that most coaches/analysts would agree. I talked to a bunch of them and said, ‘who do you want to play?’ Every one of them said, ‘Notre Dame'”.

Keep in mind that Tebow is a Gator, whose biggest SEC rival is Georgia. If he feels this strongly about Georgia being a considerably better team than Notre Dame, then that means something.

Though it might have been lost in the shuffle with the two Playoff games later in the day on Saturday, Tebow’s alma mater Florida absolutely annihilated Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. When asked about the remarkable 10-win season and certain top-10 finish for the Gators, Tebow spoke glowingly about the Florida program and the job Dan Mullen did in year one in Gainesville.

“Everything he’s preaching, they’re buying in to…[Mullen is] getting them to reach new levels of intensity, focus, strength and determination…They’ve always had the talent. Now, they are matching the talent with everything else and then you get something special.”

Mullen has proven at his former job with Mississippi State that he can get the most out of his talent. Though not the best recruiter, there is no doubt that he will maximize his players’ abilities while at Florida. The Gators could challenge Georgia for the SEC East crown as early as next year.

But for now, the king of the SEC remains Alabama. The Crimson Tide are on top in the college football world entering Monday night. However, potentially dropping two national titles in three years to Clemson might cause a shift in power structure. We should expect nothing less than another outstanding game between Alabama and Clemson when these two rivals meet again for all the marbles.