The video runs for 2 minutes and 42 seconds, which is roughly two seconds more than the recent eclipse. And for college football fans, the upcoming Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between Alabama and Florida State inside Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sept. 2 might actually be a bigger deal than the moon momentarily blocking out the sun.
Or as the Chick-fil-A hype video not so demurely labels this showdown: The GOAT (Greatest Opener of All Time).
Funny thing is, it just might be. With apologies to similar past events – including the long-ago Auburn-Miami 1984 opener in which the 14th-ranked Hurricanes shocked the No. 1 Tigers 20-18 in New Jersey – this one has the makings of an instant classic.
Certainly the preseason polls back up the GOAT label. The Sporting News, ESPN and Amway Coaches Poll (the Associated Press list) was released after our print deadline) all have Alabama on top and FSU either third or fourth.
Even the video is sure to send chills up the spine of every Crimson Tide and Seminoles fan who watches it. Like most everything else that Chick-fil-A attaches itself to, its Kickoff Game’s video is first-rate. Unlike too many such marketing tools, it doesn’t rely just on video clips of current Bama and FSU stars and audio snippets from Tide coach Nick Saban and Seminoles CEO Jimbo Fisher (a former Saban assistant at LSU). It also features the unmistakable voices of the schools’ all-time coaching legends: Bama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant and FSU’s Bobby Bowden, who won 680 major college games between the two of them (Bowden won 357).