According to 65 college football coaches blessed with varying degrees of skill as a soothsayer, the University of Alabama - which just also happens to be the sport's defending national champion - deserves to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason Coaches Poll.
Proving these same coaches see little reward in risk, they've tabbed Clemson No. 2, Oklahoma third and Ohio State fourth in this same poll with Georgia fifth.
In other news, they boldly predicted the sun would set in the west on Tuesday evening.
The problem is there is no problem with such an analysis. Alabama, even with a new quarterback and new offensive coordinator, should be No. 1. Nick Saban's Crimson Tide should probably be no worse than a wildcard entry in the NFL playoffs.
For proof, merely consider this single stat: The four-team College Football Playoff has been in existence for seven years. Alabama's taken part in six of them and won three of those. Last year, the Tide not only won it all, it rolled, winning its two playoff games by a combined 45 points, including a 52-24 rout of Ohio State in the title game.
Clemson has also been in six, including the last six straight.
The real news would be if the coaches didn't vote the Crimson Tide No. 1 and the Tigers No. 2.
But just for fun, let's say the Tide's vulnerable, especially given the fact that new quarterback Bryce Young has never started a game and new offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien was fired by the Houston Texans after last season's 0-4 start.
This is also the same Bill O'Brien whose Texans blew a 24-0 lead to Kansas City in the playoffs on their way to a 51-31 loss. Not to mention the same Bill O'Brien who traded away one of the best receivers in the NFL, DeAndre Hopkins, for a fourth-round draft pick.
But, hey, college isn't the pros. Saban will still, if only behind the scenes, oversee a defense that returns nine starters. And Bama's, well, Bama. Maybe.
As for Clemson, the Tigers have to replace the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft in quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but unlike Bama's Young, their new starting QB - D.J. Uiagalelei - threw for 914 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions while starting twice last season when Lawrence was quarantined with COVID-19.
There's also less chance for Clemson's players to be jealous of Uigalelei than for Bama's bunch to be jealous of Young since there's no evidence, at least at the moment, that the Tigers QB has already inked close to $1 million in Name, Image and Likeness deals as has been reported for Young.
A single quote from SEC Media Days regarding that news: Said wideout John Metchie III: "I think on that subject is more personal. I think he would be somebody better to ask than me."
Maybe those words mean nothing. Maybe the media relations staff at Alabama told the players beforehand to say as little as possible. Maybe they really don't care.
As for Ohio State and Oklahoma, both appear to have better offenses than defenses, though that didn't seem to bother the Crimson Tide much a year ago.
Then there's Georgia, with its marquee quarterback J.T. Daniels - "He's really easy to look at it," says a female Bulldog backer I know - and its desperate desire to claim the Dawgs' first national championship since some freshman named Herschel Walker ran over UT's Bill Bates one September night in Neyland Stadium.
The Georgia defensive secondary would appear to be the only big question mark and even there there's talent, just not much experience.
If Kirby Smart's sixth UGA squad can avoid injuries at key spots - especially Daniels - after losing the gifted wideout George Pickens to a probable season-ending knee injury last spring, it should get a shot at the Tide in the SEC title game.
So who wins it all?
Alabama won titles a year ago and in 2015 when starting from the No. 3 spot. Because this team - which lost 10 players overall to the draft and six in the opening round - has so many new folks at key spots, as well as the coaching albatross O'Brien, we'll go with whoever wins the Georgia-Clemson game in Charlotte on the night of Sept. 4 to grab this season's national title. A remarkably similar case unfolded 40 years ago when the Tigers upset Herschel and the defending national champion Dawgs 13-3 in mid-September on the way to their first national crown.
'Tis said that history repeats. It might for Clemson, but it won't bring a repeat crown for Bama in 2021.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.