NCAA Football News – January 6

After an exciting semifinal round on New Year’s Eve, the National Championship is set. In a rematch of the SEC Championship game, the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide will take on the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs.
For the Crimson Tide, they were able to take down the No. 4 Cincinnati Bearcats with relative ease 27-6. In the win, Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young threw for 181 yards and three touchdowns while Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for 198 yards.
The Georgia Bulldogs got to the National Championship after defeating the No. 2 Michigan 34-11. Stetson Bennett threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
Surprisingly, the Bulldogs are the early favorites in this one. They are -145 to win, while the Crimson Tides’ Moneyline sits at +125. The spread features Alabama +3.
While we wait for the upcoming National Championship, let’s take a look at some of the other big stories from around college football this week.
Quarterback Carousel At Oklahoma
Recently, it has been a whirlwind for the quarterback position with the Oklahoma Sooners.
First, Spencer Rattler announced that he was leaving Oklahoma via the transfer portal and heading to the University of South Carolina in December. Rattler lost his starting job to Caleb Williams this season after throwing for 1,483 yards, 11 touchdowns, and five interceptions.
On Monday, Caleb Williams announced that he was also entering the transfer portal, although returning to the Sooners was also an option.
Williams threw for 1,912 yards, 21 touchdowns, and four interceptions this season. He also rushed for 442 yards and another six scores.
It appears part of Williams’ decision to potentially leave stems from the departure of Lincoln Riley to USC.
While the Sooners lost both of their main quarterbacks, it appears that they already have options to replace them.
UCF’s Dillon Gabriel committed to Oklahoma as a transfer quarterback on Monday. After initially saying he would transfer to UCLA, Gabriel has now turned his attention to the Sooners.
Gabriel threw for 814 yards, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions in three games this season. Unfortunately, a broken collarbone in Week 3 prohibited Gabriel from finishing the season.
Crazily, Oklahoma might not be done. Mitch Sherman of The Athletic reports that Texas Longhorns’ Casey Thompson is also considering Oklahoma as a transfer destination.
While Nebraska is still seen as the most likely destination for Thompson, it is noteworthy that Oklahoma is still in the running. Thompson threw for 2,113 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions this season.
Sooners Also Losing Wide Receivers
If the quarterback carousel wasn’t enough, the Oklahoma Sooners also appear set to lose another wide receiver in freshman Mario Williams.
With head coach Lincoln Riley leaving for USC, this isn’t all that surprising that players are entertaining other schools.
For Williams, he had 35 catches for 380 yards and four scores this season for Oklahoma.
Williams joins Jadon Haselwood, another wide receiver, who transferred earlier to Arkansas after hauling in 399 yards receiving and six touchdowns this season.
Smith-Njigba Sets Multiple Records
To say that Ohio State Buckeyes’ wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a strong Rose Bowl might be a bit of an understatement. In fact, he set an FBS bowl game receiving record.
In the Buckeyes’ 48-45 win over Utah, Smith-Njigba had 15 receptions for 347 yards and three touchdowns. With his performance, he also set single-season records at Ohio State for receiving yards (1,606) and receptions (95).
To his credit, Smith-Njigba’s success was aided by an outstanding performance by quarterback C.J. Stroud in the Rose Bowl. In the victory, Stroud threw for 573 yards and six touchdowns. Marvin Harrison Jr. also had three touchdowns, but he had just 71 yards receiving.