STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Surprise, surprise the Alabama football dynasty added more hardware to their trophy case Monday night, claiming college football's top prize in dramatic fashion and did so behind a true freshman quarterback.
As it's seemingly always been for much of the past decade, Alabama -- the fourth and final team into the College Football Playoff -- naturally finished the season ranked atop the AP Poll while Georgia, Oklahoma, Clemson and Ohio State rounded out the top 5. Penn State's Fiesta Bowl victory had the Nittany Lions ranked No. 8 in the final AP Poll of the season, checking in behind undefeated UCF and 13-1 Wisconsin.
So what does this mean for next season? That's right while meaningful college football games won't be played for the next 233 days -- but who is counting -- several oddsmakers barely waited until the confetti was cleaned up to release next year's national title odds.
Odds to Win the 2019 College Football National Championship per Bovada:
• Alabama 11/4
• Clemson 6/1
• Georgia 15/2
• Ohio State 15/2
• Michigan 9/1
• Penn State 11/1
• Oklahoma 18/1
• Auburn 20/1
• Texas 20/1
• Miami Florida 22/1
• Wisconsin 22/1
• LSU 25/1
• Michigan State 25/1
• Washington 28/1
• Florida State 33/1
• Notre Dame 33/1
• Stanford 33/1
• Texas A&M 33/1
• USC 33/1
• Virginia Tech 33/1
• West Virginia 33/1
• Florida 50/1
• Oregon 50/1
• TCU 50/1
• UCLA 75/1
• Arizona 100/1
For those who were curious, Pitt was among 29 teams with odds at 500/1, with the likes of Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana, North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas Tech, among others.
The reason the Nittany Lions will continue to be among the early list of frontrunners next season largely hinges on rising senior quarterback Trace McSorley, a more experienced offensive line, a deep crop of cornerbacks and highly-touted recruiting classes where Penn State will continue relying on select players to be key contributors early in their college careers.
Penn State had back-to-back 11-win seasons and played in New Year's Six games each of the past two seasons, making sustained success the next hurdle to clear. It's far from an easy one. How can the Nittany Lions sustain their success to continue to be among those in the hunt like the odds indicate?
"I think staff consistency and recruiting are by far the two biggest issues (with sustaining success)," James Franklin said in the lead up to the bowl game. "The other thing is having the ability and being willing to change and adapt over time. The model that worked 30 years ago to think that’s going to be able to work in our current model, current environment, I don’t think that’s necessarily true. What we did at Vanderbilt and had success with doesn’t mean it’s going to always be the model that you’ll be successful with at Penn State."
Penn State likely will add their 10th assistant coach -- a running backs coach -- any day now since teams per NCAA rules are allowed to add the additional assistant coach starting Tuesday. Franklin is at the coaches convention in Charlotte where he was reportedly interviewing candidates potentially for this spot on Monday. The Lions will wrap up their 2018 recruiting class within the next month, capping a group that's ranked No. 4 in the nation.
Penn State has built depth that was non existent at several positions after Franklin arrived and while the key voids to fill this offseason come with replacing Saquon Barkley, tight end Mike Gesicki, wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton, both starting safeties and three defensive tackles, as both teams in the national title game proved impact freshmen can come in and shine right away if they're good enough and if they have enough talent around them.
Depth is what all of the top teams have, which was evident Monday night as Nick Saban switched quarterbacks with Tua Tagovailoa starting the second half, giving the former four-star recruit a chance to spark the offense shine on the biggest stage of the year. He had freshman Najee Harris, the running back and top player in last year's recruiting class, right there with him. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who caught the winning touchdown in overtime was just taking a recruiting visit to Alabama this time last year. Freshman wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was in on the action too, hauling in a touchdown and freshman receiver Jerry Jeudy hauled in a 20-yard reception during Alabama's tying touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
That's what big-time recruits can do for a program and that's why recruiting has become one of if not the most critical part of any program. With Penn State at least continuing to trend upward in that direction it's huge when it comes to trying to narrow the gap that seemingly always exists between Alabama and everyone else and keep pace with elite teams that regularly haul in four and five-star prospects. That's how teams build depth and as a season wears on if a player is good enough, regardless of age, he can become a difference-maker.
"We’ve made strides but I still think you need to get to a point where you’ve had the type of recruiting classes that we’ve had the past couple years for the next 5 years," Franklin said last month. "That helps you handle some of these things because you’ve got the next guy constantly searching for opportunities and playing time and that wasn’t always necessarily the case early on for us."
With Big Ten East foes Ohio State and Michigan still expected to be in the thick of the National title race next season, and with the Lions playing Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium the week after Penn State plays at Michigan, the chase to get back to the Big Ten title game will again be an uphill climb full of new challenges and some different faces. Expected to at least be in the hunt again next season will give the Lions more to think about this offseason, trying to come up with ways to keep building off of what they have.