The 2020 college football season doesn't begin until Aug. 29, when Notre Dame and Navy play the first game of the season in Dublin, Ireland.

That's a long time from now, and we still have a ways to go to get through the abyss that is the offseason. That doesn't mean we can't think about all the great games, coaches and players who will dominate college football headlines in 2020. We looked at 20 questions about the schedule last week.

MORE: College football 2020: 20 questions for schedule

Sporting News is willing to talk about those storylines any time. Today, we answer 20 questions about college football coaches:

Will Nick Saban break Bear Bryant's title record?

We can almost guarantee Alabama will be in the College Football Playoff mix in November: Saban's Crimson Tide teams have been unbeaten heading into November in nine of his 13 seasons in Tuscaloosa. The 2020 team will be playing with a chip created by November losses to LSU and Auburn in 2019. Alabama will still be the prohibitive favorite to win the SEC and return to the Playoff.

Will Dabo Swinney win No. 3 instead?

Clemson has the best record in the Playoff era at 79-8: a half-game better than Alabama. Think of the Playoff success in Super Bowl terms — they have played for the championship in four of the last five seasons. Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne will lead a ridiculous offense that should burn through the ACC again, too. We think the Tigers have a better chance to win the national championship than the Tide, based simply on the easier path of resistance.

Which coach is the best bet to join the national title club?

Saban, Swinney, LSU's Ed Orgeron, Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher, Kansas' Les Miles and North Carolina's Mack Brown make up that exclusive club, and half of those coaches aren't at the school where they won it all. Pressed for a guess on who is next, we would go with Ohio State's Ryan Day over Georgia's Kirby Smart. Bulldogs fans might hate that, especially knowing Justin Fields started at Georgia, but the Buckeyes are the better bet to win their conference and make a run this year.

Which coach faces most pressure to win a championship?

Smart, without a doubt. Georgia was close in 2017 and '18, and the Bulldogs are 44-12 since he arrived in Athens. The program is still looking for that first national championship since 1980, the longest drought among true blue-blood programs. With each miss, the psychological pressure mounts. Ask Mark Richt.

Which coach will be next to hit 200 wins?

It's a race between TCU's Gary Patterson (172) and Ohio's Frank Solich (171), unless Urban Meyer (187) comes out of retirement. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz (162) is the only other active FBS coach with more than 150.

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If not Michigan State, what team is Luke Fickell waiting on?

We would say Notre Dame, but we used to say the same thing about Meyer. Plus, Brian Kelly has won 33 games the last three seasons with the Irish — he's not going anywhere. Fickell is in a good spot for the foreseeable future at UC, and continued success there will give him a shot at a bigger program, one that falls between Michigan State and Notre Dame.

Who wins more games: Mike Leach or Lane Kiffin?

Leach averaged 7.7 wins per season at Texas Tech and Washington State. He can hit that number consistently in Starkville. Kiffin averaged 7.8 wins per season through stops at USC, Tennessee and FAU, and he can hit that number in Oxford. It's close, but you can expect 7-5 and 8-4 seasons. We'll give the slight edge to Leach because we've seen him do it at tougher places.

Which coaching hire did you already forget about?

Willie Taggart is coaching at FAU, and it won't be a surprise if the Owls win more games in 2020 than Florida State under Mike Norvell.

Which Power 5 coaching hire did you like the most?

Boston College hasn't had a double-digit wins season since Jeff Jagodzinski led an 11-win team with Matt Ryan at quarterback in 2007. New coach Jeff Hafley, 40, helped flip Ohio State's defense a co-defensive coordinator last season, and he has the East Coast roots to help get the Eagles going again. His hiring didn't get the same headlines as Leach and Kiffin in Mississippi, but his will turn out to be a better investment.

Which Group of 5 coaching hire did you like the most?

Ricky Rahne was an excellent offensive coordinator at Penn State, and he should thrive in his first head coaching job at Old Dominion. Rahne is personable, and the former Cornell quarterback should help get the Monarchs back on track. Keep in mind Old Dominion won 10 games in 2016. It can be done.

MORE: Mel Tucker a solid hire for Michigan State, despite school's messy search

Will Mel Tucker work out at Michigan State?

Tucker must recruit better than Dantonio did while maintaining that chip-on-the-shoulder-attitude that helped the previous regime to a 17-17 combined record against Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. That record is better than it looks, but Tucker's job will be more challenging because the Wolverines and Nittany Lions aren't on a downward spiral. If Tucker can push through the first two or three seasons (which won't be easy), then he will have a chance.

Better chance to break out: Jeremy Pruitt or Manny Diaz?

Define "breaking out." Miami was 75-53 in the last decade, which ranked 46th among FBS schools. Tennessee had the 67th-best record at 63-62.

Pruitt and Diaz both brought in top-15 recruiting classes in 2020, which shows progress. Now they must win with those classes. There's a distinct possibility that neither program rises to the level of national championship contender again. Pressed for an answer, Miami remains the better bet: The ACC Coastal is more negotiable and the Hurricanes could win that division with incoming transfer quarterback D'Eriq King.

Which coaches will still be on the sideline at 70?

Solich, who turns 76 in September, is the elder statesman among FBS coaches. That group of age-70 coaches likely won't expand until the 2021 season, however. That group includes Mack Brown (69 in August), Saban (69 in October) and Butch Davis (69 in November). After that, the next-oldest coaches are Les Miles (67 in November), David Cutcliffe (66 in September), Herm Edwards (66 in April) and Ferentz (65 in August).

Brown and Saban will make it to 70 at their current schools, and we like Edwards' chances at Arizona State.

Which coach has the most to prove?

You can stay in Arizona and look at Kevin Sumlin, who is 9-15 with a 6-12 record in Pac-12 play the past two seasons. That said, his job status won't be the most talked-about the most this offseason.

Can Clay Helton survive another season?

Clay Helton kept the USC job despite a 13-12 record the last two seasons. The Meyer rumors swirled all season, and they will bubble up again under new athletic director Mike Bohn. The schedule is brutal again, with Alabama, Stanford, Arizona State and Utah all featured in the first five weeks. The Trojans close the season with a November slate against Oregon, Washington, UCLA and Notre Dame.

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When is Jim Harbaugh going to win a Big Ten title?

Harbaugh has a winning record against Michigan State (3-2) and Penn State (3-2) and has split against Wisconsin (2-2) and Notre Dame (1-1).

None of that really matters. The Wolverines are still on the same one-game referendum for Harbaugh: It's that 0-5 eyesore against Ohio State and the talent gap that is holding the Wolverines back. Michigan has lost the last three meetings by an average of 21 points per game since “The Spot” in 2016.

It's on Harbaugh to infuse life back into “The Game,” and the Wolverines have not won at Ohio State since 2000. Michigan can't win the Big Ten until it beats the Buckeyes. It's as simple as that.

Is it too hard to coach at your alma mater?

You can win — it's just that national championship standard that gets in the way. Look at the current Power 5 coaches at their alma mater: Harbaugh at Michigan, Smart at Georgia, Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern, Scott Frost at Nebraska, David Shaw at Stanford and Paul Chryst at Wisconsin.

Those seven coaches have a combined record of 485-238 at their respective alma maters: a winning percentage of .670. None has broken through and won that elusive national title.

Who faces more pressure: Lincoln Riley or Tom Herman?

There is less pressure on Riley, who is 36-6 with three consecutive Playoff appearances. But that 63-28 loss to LSU put a serious dent in Oklahoma's blue-blood credentials, and it's fair to wonder if it can win a Playoff game after four losses in six years.

Still, the pressure is on Texas and Herman, who has elevated the recruiting but still has a 25-15 record in the same three-year stretch. In other words, the Longhorns average three more losses than Oklahoma per season. Sam Ehlinger is back, but the same early-season tests against LSU and Oklahoma will determine whether Texas can stay in the Playoff hunt.

What will Ed Orgeron do for an encore?

It's going to be impossible to live up to the standard LSU set last season, especially with the departures of Joe Burrow to the NFL Draft, Joe Brady to the Carolina Panthers and Dave Aranda to Baylor. Scott Linehan and Bo Pelini filled the coordinator vacancies, but the program now faces the same issue Auburn did after the 2010 season: How do you repeat the perfect season?

That leads to our last coach:

How unpredictable will Auburn be with Gus Malzahn?

We started with Saban and end with Malzahn, who was the offensive coordinator on that 2010 Auburn team.

The Tigers won nine games last season and have averaged nine wins the last three seasons. So, the question becomes, Which three games do they lose? Last year it was against top-10 teams in Florida, LSU and Georgia before a fourth loss in the bowl game to Minnesota.

This year, the Tigers play North Carolina at a neutral site on Sept. 12, travel to Georgia on Oct. 10 and play LSU and Alabama in the final two weeks of the season.

Anything is possible with Auburn, and by that we mean anything from seven to 12 wins.