5 college football coaches in line to win their first national title this year

Ed Orgeron won his first national title as the head coach of the LSU Tigers last year. Here are five college football coaches who could do the same in 2020.

Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban are two of the best college football coaches but these five coaches are in line to win their first national title this season just as Ed Orgeron did last year with LSU.

It hasn’t happened all that often in the College Football Playoff era, given the two concurrent dynasties’ emergence in the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers, but it did happen a season ago. With arguably the greatest single-season team the sport has ever seen, the LSU Tigers helped coach Orgeron win his first national title.

We will tell our children and grandchildren about the unbelievable 2019 season out of the Bayou Bengals of how two former cast-offs, Orgeron and his graduate transfer quarterback Joe Burrow, became legends on the college football gridiron. Though a season like that happening again anytime soon is unlikely, we might see another college head coach win it all for the first time.

Though Saban’s Crimson Tide and Swinney’s Tigers are among the teams seriously vying for a national championship this fall like they do every season, there are a few quality coaches out there who are closing the gap. It may not be in 2020, but there are a handful of excellent coaches out there who will taste national championship glory in the coming years.

Here are the five faces of a program that stand the best chance of being this year’s Orgeron.

One college coach who has been to College Football Playoff before is Lincoln Riley. In fact, his Oklahoma Sooners have made the playoff each of the last three seasons as Big 12 champions. Oklahoma has made four of the last five playoffs dating back to the tail-end of the Bob Stoops era in Norman. Yet, Oklahoma has never won a single playoff game in four chances. Will that change?

Simply put, Oklahoma is strong enough to win the Big 12 consistently but doesn’t have the physicality to hang with top-tier SEC teams, Clemson or the Ohio State Buckeyes. Presumably, the Sooners need to beat two teams from that group to win its first national title in nearly 20 years. However, the Sooners’ have a decent shot at it in 2020 because of their pathway to the playoff.

In the non-conference, Oklahoma has a great home game vs. an on-the-rise Tennessee Volunteers team, as well as a commendable road day with the Army Black Knights over in West Point. As for Big 12 play, it’s incredibly front-loaded, though the Sooners have a schedule they could get to Arlington for the conference title bout with only one loss.

They should beat the Baylor Bears at home but will be challenged by the rival Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. A road date with the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames could be a loss, but the rest of their schedule sets up nicely to go on quite the run. If new starting quarterback Spencer Rattler does become the next great Sooners quarterback, perhaps Riley can win it all this January?