Georgia captured its only National Championship in 1981 against, coincidentally, Notre Dame. |
The deal was signed on Saturday night, after Lane Kiffin coached himself out of the potential of a monumental upset, after Max Wittek failed to live up to his talk, after Manti Te'o added to his impressive senior campiagn; Notre Dame is headed to its first BCS National Championship game ever. The opportunity for the storied program to win its first National Championship since 1988 is now officially upon us. The opponent, though, is still to be determined. Enter the SEC.
Georgia and Alabama will do battle for what could be quite appropriately deemed the first FBS National Semi-Final game a year before the actual inaugural National Semi-Finals take place. Alabama is looking to defend its National Championship title from last year and is also looking for its third such crystal ball in the last four years. Georgia, on the other hand, is searching for its first National Championship since 1980 ('81 Sugar Bowl). It should serve as some coincidence that the Herschel Walker-led Bulldogs beat the Fighting Irish that year. And, on cue, many Bulldogs fans are salivating over the idea of a repeat of those proceedings. Either way, we're going to be blessed with two exciting scenarios in a Tide-Irish or Dawgs-Dammies National Championship game.
Alabama and Notre Dame. You could describe pre-1980s college football by just naming those two programs. The Tide had its first set of glory years under Bear Bryant and they're one more National Championship away from experiencing another set of glory years under current head coach Nick Saban (threes the number). Notre Dame was built up by Knute Rockne in its early years, was re-established prestige under Ara Parseghian and later by Lou Holtz. But since Holtz, it's been a lot of empty promises including nine straight bowl losses from 1995 to 2007. Notre Dame might be the Dallas Cowboys of college football, living off of only past accomplishments, but an Irish-Tide matchup is just teeming with tradition. It should get the old folks lively again, and the young guns jumping. But as much as the clash of traditions is a great thing, I'm not sure it'll be the game we want. Notre Dame's defensive front seven is right there with Alabama, but other than they are quite overmatched. The Tide's offensive line is far superior, and as a whole the Alabama defense moves at such a quicker pace than any of the teams Brian Kelly's offense has faced. Simply put, Everett Golson, Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick haven't seen this type of overwhelming defense this season. Alabama might not destroy the Irish on the scoreboard, but they will on the field. That's where Georgia comes into play.
There are plenty of reasons to why having Georgia in the National Championship game would be a good thing. The main reason? A break from the norm. I understand they still play in the SEC and have been apart of the upper echelon of teams in the conference for a few years now, but we haven't seen them in a BCS game since they trounced Colt Brennan's Hawaii squad in the 2007 Sugar Bowl. I'd like to see Georgia play Notre Dame for the sheer fact it wouldn't be LSU, Alabama, Florida or Auburn who have made up seven of the last nine BCS Champions (eight, if you include the USC-Auburn split National Championship in 2004 that USC eventually vacated). I'd also like to see Georgia play Notre Dame because it would be a better quality contest. Georgia is a much more balanced team than Alabama, and while I don't think they're as good, they possess a far superior offense to the Tide (while slightly suffering on the defensive end). The Dawgs are 35th in passing, 39th in rushing, 17th in scoring, and 16th in scoring defense. All around, Mark Richt coaches a quality football team. Now, they haven't been truly tested yet, suffering an ugly 35-7 defeat against South Carolina in Columbia, though rebounding against Florida in the classic rivalry game. Georgia QB Aaron Murray hasn't gotten any Heisman hype, but his 66% completion rate and 30-7 TD-to-INT ratio is quite impressive. Aside from the fact he's a nutcase I could see him putting on a stellar performance vs. the Irish. While Georgia's defense is solid (as solid as any classic SEC defense) it shouldn't put fear into the heart of the Irish offense. I could go as far as saying this could end up being one of those unexpected high scoring games, and that is honestly what we all want.
I may have lost my passion for the Fighting Irish, but I am enjoying the fact they are in the National Championship and either matchup will be special to watch. Let's just not get lost in all the tradition and prestige that comes with the an Alabama-ND National Championship Game because it could get ugly for the Irish, fast.
I'm fully endorsing a Notre Dame-Georgia final. Tradition doesn't take the field.
0 comments:
Post a Comment