College football preview: A look around the nation


FIVE STORYLINES FOR 2016 1. The College Football Playoff will come to Atlanta. The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host a national semifinal game for the first time Dec. 31. It will be “the most significant college football game ever played in Atlanta,” Peach Bowl CEO Gary Stokan said. The game in the Georgia Dome will match either the playoff selection committee’s Nos. 1 and 4 teams or its Nos. 2 and 3 teams. The other semifinal will be played in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., also Dec. 31. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the national championship game Jan. 9 in Tampa, Fla. 2. The coaching carousel keeps turning. Twenty-nine FBS teams will open the season with new head coaches, including Georgia with Kirby Smart. Four ACC teams have new coaches — Miami (Mark Richt, formerly at Georgia), Syracuse (Dino Babers, formerly at Bowling Green), Virginia (Bronco Mendenhall, formerly at BYU) and Virginia Tech (Justin Fuente, formerly at Memphis). Among other teams with new head coaches: Baylor (interim coach Jim Grobe), Georgia Southern (Tyson Summers), Illinois (Lovie Smith), Maryland (D.J. Durkin), Missouri (Barry Odom) and South Carolina (Will Muschamp). Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson enters the 2016 season…

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