Alabama-Miami, Georgia-Clemson highlight SEC opening week

By PETE IACOBELLI
AP Sports Writer

It doesn’t get much bigger than this for No. 1 Alabama and No. 5 Georgia who face difficult openers to start their seasons. The defending national champion Crimson Tide will play No. 14 Miami in Atlanta on Sept. 4. The Bulldogs will play six-time defending ACC champion Clemson in Charlotte, North Carolina. These are high-stakes openers for the four teams, all which have aspirations of playing in the College Football Playoffs. The losers, though, will walk a fine line the rest of the season in avoiding a second defeat that would likely eliminate them from the national title chase.