ND/Alabama was the closest playoff game this year.
Florida gave Bama the best game.
Not to mention Saban is probably the best college football coach of the BCS/Playoff era. He not only recruits well, but he develops his plays extremely well. As much as I hate Bama fans, I respect what Saban has done there.
Except that, as I type this, the Jets have 53 NFL caliber players on their roster. Alabama has about 15.
I'm curious: Which non-"Cartel" teams can actually vie for the title?
That is an inaccurate statement. Yes Alabama has amazing talent...more than any other college team. But they aren’t all NFL level.
I'd put Dabo ahead of Urban. He made Clemson into a national champ contender every year. Something other schools have failed miserably at over the last couple decades cough Miami cough FSU
They don't need to be. Alabama has more guys that have star potential. You could take their roster - keep the 25+ guys with round 1-3 potential (they had 9, including 4 #1's, in the 2020 draft) and cut the rest to fill in with free agents and other marginal NFL players (where most of the Jets bottom 40 or so reside anyway). The biggest problem you'd face is that the younger Alabama guys would need a few years to develop but they'd be doing it on NFL time, not being brought up through a stacked 85 man roster in Tuscaloosa. Some of those guys would mysteriously find themselves on IR when they got their first training camp hangnail. You'd take a pounding in the first year or two but you'd be getting the equivalent of 3 or 4 potential stars each year as the younger guys matured plus some very high draft picks in years 2 and 3 (good for finding a QB if Jones isn't the guy). By year 4 you'd be in great shape.
How do you suppose it gets that far when Saban quits on the team halfway through season #2, because he can't handle the losing, can't recruiting over last year's 5* players with this years crop of 5* players, and doesn't know how to put a 53 player team together with a salary cap and draft slot?
You are changing what he said...he said he would rather have Alabama's roster versus the Jets roster. Not your four year plan.
I see where you're coming from. I put Dabo higher only because Urban would have "health" issues when recruiting was down or NCAA turned their eyes towards his program.
Taking either roster is a multi-year plan because neither would be ready to be competitive. Since that's the case, I'd rather start with Alabama's roster. Alabama literally has a few dozen potential day one and day two draft picks. If you put the Jets roster into this year's draft pool only the top ten or so would be drafted in the early rounds. I know that's not entirely a fair comparison because the Jets players have had time to be exposed in NFL play as not worthy of high picks (including some that were high picks). In both cases, however, you'd pick and choose the best players and cut the rest while you search for better talent as free agents, on the waiver wire and via the draft.
