Culver City Observer -

Alabama is the national champion. USC loses Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones to the NFL next season. UCLA loses Josh Rosen.

It’s our first look at the 2018 college football season and my initial thought is that we usually have at least one of our teams in the national chase. But right now Washington is being considered the Pac-10’s best team.

Darnold has NFL talent but his interception early in the Trojans’ Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State put the Trojans in a hole and they didn’t emerge from it.

I can’t find anything negative to say about Jones except that the Trojans will miss his dazzling runs. Congratulations to a kid from Texas who fit in so well here.

Let’s not forget that USC was the conference champion. But considering the Trojans’ success over the years their fans expect more.

UCLA fired its coach and will begin the Chip Kelly era. He’s already hired four assistant coaches.

Bruin fans will hope Kelly can field teams like he did at Oregon when his Ducks dominated the conference, One chore, however is replacing Rosen, who deserved all the hype he received when he came to UCLA. However, neither he, nor any other football player can’t know if injuries will follow them.

A lot of NFL people I know respect Rosen’s ability. Another year in college may have been a wiser choice for him but I think several NFL teams will decide on ability and select him pretty high.

Let’s wait a few years before deciding if Rosen made the right decision.

I see that USC and Washington will play at UCLA next season but UCLA will have a non-conference game at nationally ranked Oklahoma.

A final mention about Alabama and Nick Saban. What a coach. Trailing Georgia in the second half and winning the national championship game with a substitute quarterback are new examples of why he’s a coach at the top of his profession.