Alabama preview

‘Best overall team we’ve ever played’

Frank Beamer has been the Virginia Tech coach for 27 seasons, has played many top teams and has placed his team in a national championship game.

He was asked earlier this week — several times — about comparing this Alabama team, a two-time defending national champ, to some of the teams in the early part of the 2000s.

“I think this is the best team we’ve ever played here at Virginia Tech all the way around — offense, defense, special teams, just up and down the roster. They’ve got good players, and they’re well, well coached.

“On their punt-protection team, I mean, they’ve got their best guys. (C.J.) Mosley lines up on that team. … They emphasize the special teams part of it.

“They’re just — you know, we played a lot of good teams around here, and we’ve played a lot of national — several national championship teams — but in my opinion, this is the best overall team we’ve ever played. …

“And that counts all those Miami teams, Florida State teams and (the) USC team when they won the (national) championship.”

INSIDE SCOOP

AJC.com's College Football Insider Andy Johnston interviewed Kirk Herbstreit, one of the hosts of ESPN "College GameDay", and asked him about the best QB in the SEC (Johnny Manziel, A.J. McCarron or preseason coaches favorite Aaron Murray): That's a good question. Those are three QBs any program in the nation would love to have. I'll go with A.J. McCarron because of the two championships. He has a calming influence on his team and makes good decisions. He checks into good plays and out of bad plays at the line. There's a lot to like about A.J. McCarron. I'll go with Manziel at No. 2. As for longevity, McCarron has been there for three years and has a better body of work. I'm a huge fan of Manziel, as far as what he can do on a football field. If all this noise and distraction goes away, I don't think it'll be a factor. Manziel works hard and knows what he needs to do to make it to the next level and have a great year.