By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–It’s hard to believe, but the start of a new college football season is just a few short days away, and to further heighten the anticipation, Lindy’s Sports Annuals Marketing Director Lyn Scarbrough paid a visit to the Helena Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, Aug. 23, to give his predictions for the 2016 college football season.

Scarbrough has addressed the Helena Kiwanis Club annually since 2003 to give members a glimpse of what their favorite football team might look like each season.

Each table inside the Helena Senior Citizens Center was decorated with team memorabilia such as Auburn, Alabama, Jacksonville State, UAB, Troy, Tuskegee and Mississippi State the morning of Aug. 23, as Kiwanis members wore their favorite team colors while listening to Scarbrough’s predictions.

Alabama and Auburn both have tough tests to open the season on Sept. 3 by facing USC and Clemson, but Scarbrough thinks games like those are what the fans want and the 2016 opening season matchups across college football are outstanding.

“I think the first weekend of this season is the best regular season week in college football history,” said Scarbrough. “You can make a case it’s the best week in college football history ever.”

Scarbrough gave predictions for many of the in-state schools and how they’ll fare, as well as his predictions for how the SEC Eastern and Western Divisions would shake out.

Here are a few highlights of Scarbrough’s predictions for the 2016 college football season:

• Scarbrough said even though UAB will not field a team this year, “Justice has prevailed” referring to the reinstatement of the UAB football program.
• Scarbrough believes UAB will compete right away to be a contender for the Conference USA championship and bowl game in 2017. Scarbrough said the reinstatement of UAB football is “good for UAB, good for our city, good for our state, it’s good for Conference USA and it’s good for the economy of our city.”
• Scarbrough believes a key game this season for Troy will be against Southern Miss.
• After falling just short of a national championship in 2015, Scarbrough is high again on Jacksonville State to make another run at the title in 2016. With the return of dual-threat quarterback Eli Jenkins, Scarbrough thinks Jacksonville State will go far and warned LSU to not take the Gamecocks lightly when JSU travels to Baton Rouge.
• In the SEC, Scarbrough believes Tennessee and LSU will compete in the 2016 SEC Championship game with LSU having the best shot at winning the conference and possibly a national title.
• When it comes to Auburn, Scarbrough said starting running back Jovon Robinson being kicked off the team is not good, but would not have an impact on Auburn’s season as Auburn has plenty of depth at the running back position.
• Scarbrough believes it comes down to the elephant in the room of who will play the quarterback position for Auburn.
• Defensively, Scarbrough said Auburn would be a much-improved team and thinks the Tigers have one of, if not the best defensive line in college football on paper.
• Scarbrough said if Auburn can get consistent quarterback play, they have the ability to win 10 or 11 games and compete for a championship. If not, they can lose as many as five to seven games.
• Scarbrough is still not entirely certain on Alabama, as the Crimson Tide do not return an experienced running back or quarterback but said it is still hard to pick against Alabama’s success as of late.
• Scarbrough said the key games for Alabama are road games against Ole Miss, Tennessee and LSU, which will help determine the outcome of the season.
• Scarbrough said he wouldn’t be surprised if Alabama went undefeated and won the championship but also wouldn’t be surprised if the Crimson Tide lost as many as four games.
• In the SEC East, Scarbrough believes Tennessee is the clear favorite to win the division.

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