Alabama is the only unbeaten team left in the college football playoffs, standing here at 13-0. Nick Saban has his Crimson Tide ready to rock and roll, as they are once again the heavy favorite to come out of this game and play for the national title. This could be the best Bama team that Saban has coached, and he's already won four national titles with them. The Crimson Tide rank first in the nation in scoring defense, averaging 11.8 points per game. The Tide rolled on offense as well. They churned out a 10th-ranked 41.3 points per game during a regular-season campaign that saw them blitz SEC competition with remarkable ease. The only game that Alabama played this year in which they didn't score at least 30 points in a game was on November 5th, a 10-0 win over the 15th ranked LSU. Sure, the offense in Alabama is very good, but what is really the strength of this team, a lot like the Denver Broncos in last years Superbowl, is their defense. They will knock you around and not even feel the slightest bit of guilt about it.
Washington is no pushover. Washington is averaging 44.8 points per game, which is good enough to be ranked third in all of the country. They can score, there's no doubt about it. Washington's only loss of the season was on November 12th against USC. That was the only time this year that Washington failed to score 30 or more points in a game. One of the big reasons that Washington is where they are this year is because of quarterback Jake Browning, wide receiver John Ross and running back Myles Gaskin. To prove that Washington is rolling at the right time was the 41-10 thrashing of the Colorado Buffaloes' vaunted defense in the Pac-12 title game. Washington has been putting up big numbers all year, and based on the numbers, they do deserve to be playing in this football game.
A lot of what Washington was able to do this year is based off their running game. If Washington even wants to have a chance in this football game, they need to get the running game going, and get it going fast. But lets say, for the sake of argument, that Washington can't really get the running game going. That means that Browning, as good of a quarterback as he is, will be forced to drop back and sling the ball to try and get his team in it. And as we've seen all season, that's not a winning formula against a Crimson Tide defense that can turn a single mistake into seven points in a matter of seconds.
Prediction: Alabama 34, Washington 27
The only blemish on the record for the Buckeyes this year came against Penn State on October 22nd, it was a 24-21 loss, that's been it. They've had a few other games this year that have been nail bitters, like the overtime wins over Wisconsin back in October and a double overtime win over Michigan in late November. You can also add into that a one point win over Wisconsin in early November as well. Ohio State is no push over, they can score at will. Don't believe me? Look at these numbers. Ohio State led the Big Ten in scoring offense (42.7 points per game), total offense (479.5 yards per game) and rushing offense (258.3). Junior quarterback J.T. Barrett is 26–3 as a starter. But Ohio State has sputtered against stout defenses, yielding six sacks and 11 tackles for loss to Penn State and eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss to Michigan. Any hopes of a national title in Columbus center on fending off perhaps the country's two best defensive lines, Clemson's and Alabama's.
Meanwhile, for Clemson, the only loss the Tigers had was a one point loss to Pitt on November 12th. That loss may have been a bit of a wakeup call for Clemson, at least on defense, because they've been able to hold stead fast the rest of the way. Oh yeah, it also doesn't hurt the fact that you've got the Heisman Trophy winner in your lineup, in the form of Quarterback DeShaun Watson, who had a fantastic season for the Tigers. Clemson has been a top four school in the coaches polls in every week this year except four times, so they know what they're doing. if they weren't in the top four, they sat at 5th, so the Tigers are ready to rock and roll this year in the playoffs. And lets not take anything away from their defense. The Tigers enter the playoff with the #6 overall defense, thanks in large part to 112 tackles for loss, which is tied for third nationally. Their top three linemen, senior Carlos Watkins, sophomore Christian Wilkins and ACC defensive rookie of the year Dexter Lawrence, each weigh more than 300 pounds but have disruptive speed and agility. No shock that they combined for 32 tackles for loss and 15 quarterback pressures alone, because most offenses can't budge or elude all of them at once.
If your looking for drama in the College Football Playoffs, this game is going top be sure to provide plenty of it, especially with the battle of quarterbacks that's going to take place. Clemson quarterback and Heisman finalist Deshaun Watson will square off against Ohio State signal-caller J.T. Barrett in an epic clash, and the result may very well come down to how well Barrett handles pressure. I'm not too sure how well he's going to be able to, lets be honest here. The Buckeyes are armed with enough talent to push Clemson until the final horn, but Watson's experience on the big stage coupled with the physicality of the all-feared front should thrust the Tigers back into the championship game for the second year in a row.
Prediction: Clemson 33, Ohio State 30
No comments:
Post a Comment