College football: 1 if-then conditional for every national championship contender

Texas A&M: If Haynes King is better than Kellen Mond, then Texas A&M can actually win the SEC

Jimbo Fisher almost got Texas A&M into the College Football Playoff last year as they finished No. 5 in the rankings. Now with the most talented roster that’s been in College Station since the much-ballyhooed head coaching hire, the Aggies are trying to crash the party in the SEC and get into the Playoff.

The big question mark is replacing Kellen Mond at quarterback. However, I maintain that might not be as hard as some might think. Mond was as toolsy as they come and flashed elite play but his consistency with accuracy, decision-making and explosive playmaking was lacking. Redshirt freshman Haynes King won the job this offseason and, if he is an upgrade, the rest of the pieces are in place for A&M to legitimately win the SEC and compete for a National Championship.

Georgia: If Georgia gets the same JT Daniels from last year, then the Dawgs can also take the SEC

I’m as guilty as anyone of buying wholly into what JT Daniels showed at the helm of the Georgia offense last year. Once he finally took over the starting job for the Bulldogs, the offense was more explosive than they’ve been in a legitimate decade. But it must be said that it was over a small four-game sample size against non-top-tier competition that Daniels thrived in.

With the exception of maybe the offensive line, a talented but unproven group, everything else is ready for Georgia to win the SEC, compete for a national title and get over the hump. For that to happen, though, Daniels has to be the player he was at last year. Maybe that’s more difficult with George Pickens sidelined but there is still plenty of other weapons to make up for that. In the end, it’s up to the quarterback to live up to his billing.

Ohio State: If the secondary shows marked improvement, then Ohio State should be able to waltz to the Big Ten title

New starting quarterback C.J. Stroud is going to get some spotlight as he tries to replace Justin Fields at Ohio State. The fact of the matter, though, is that behind one of the best offensive lines in the country with the best wide receiver corps in college football, you could put a jugs machine at quarterback for the Buckeyes and the offense would likely still hum.

The biggest concern is the secondary. That unit struggled a bit last year and now they’re losing pieces from that group. Ohio State will be relying on Sevyn Banks and freshmen such as Jakailin Johnson and Jordan Hancock to upgrade that unit. That’s a question mark and how that unit performs in the passing boom era of college football will determine whether or not the Buckeyes are a College Football Playoff team or a National Championship winner.