A.J. McCarron's experience in last year's National Championship Game will be the deciding factor in this year's big game. |
It's hard to say this, as a defender of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, but they are the Dallas Cowboys of college football. They're full of history, tradition, great coaches, players and leaders alike, but over the recent years they've been full of empty hype. Since Lou Holtz stopped coaching in 1996 the Irish have only finished the season once in the AP top 10 and are 0-3 in BCS bowls in that time frame. But here they are, 12-0, atop the BCS rankings about to play in their biggest bowl game since they won the Fiesta Bowl (and the National Championship) in 1988.
On the other hand, the Crimson Tide are in the middle of potentially one of the greatest runs in college football. Nick Saban, who took over the team from Mike Shula in 2007, has truly re-energized one of the most storied football programs and is on putting his name up in lights with the great Bear Bryant. Bryant may have won back-to-back National Championships twice in his reign as head coach for the Tide, but he never won three out of four like Saban has the chance to do. Especially in this era of dominant SEC teams, Saban's Crimson Tide are close to doing something so spectacular, so mind-blowing that I can't fathom Nick Saban ever ceding the chance to be the greatest college football coach ever to graze the brutal NFL pastures. Now, these two teams collide, one on a magical run and one trying to put a monster stamp in the record books, for a chance to be named the best team in the land.
Quite fitting that these two teams rich with some much history and tradition, find themselves in a matchup of old school smashmouth, defense-oriented football. 'Bama is led by a two-headed monster of Eddie Lacy and T.J Yeldon, who both ran for a thousand yards this season. Notre Dame has a beastly combo of Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood themselves, yet it will be hard for both of these teams to establish a consistent running game because they're facing the two best defenses in the nation.
I'm not exactly sure we'll ever see two defenses in a National Championship game with more individual NFL talent then this matchup. C.J Mosley, Dee Milliner, Manti Te'o, Stephon Tuitt all have the skills that make NFL scouts salivate and all will certainly have their time on the first round podium sometime in the future. Yet, just because the individual talent is amazing, doesn't mean that the team defenses haven't completely gelled. These are well oiled machines and each have no plan on backing down to the other.
With the defenses basically cancelling each other out, this big game will come down to the quarterback play. Everett Golson has had his struggles this season, but Brian Kelly has entrusted him with the keys to the offense and Golson's responded nicely. Being a sophomore is certainly a disadvantage for Golson in this big game spotlight, however his ability to make plays with his feet could help ease the chaos that the strong Alabama often creates. Despite Golson's athleticism being somewhat of a unique factor, the Tide have the advantage at quarterback. A.J. McCarron isn't going to wow anybody with his arm strength or make any kind of game-changing throws, but he has valuable experience in the big game and is a high quality decision maker. The junior QB only threw three INTs as opposed to 26 TDs for a sensational QB rating of 173.1. Most importantly though, is the fact he already won a BCS National Championship last season against an equally intimidating defense. Voted player of the game, McCarron managed his offense going 23-34 for 234 yards and no turnovers, setting up five field goals and a final touchdown run by Trent Richardson. If McCarron wins this National Championship, he'll be the first QB in the BCS era to win two BCS Championships as a starter and he's only a junior (Tebow won only one as a starter).
Don't get your hopes about this game being some kind of a surprising shootout, these defenses are too well-prepared and simply too dominant to let that happen. But that doesn't mean this game will be a blowout in anyway. I think the pressure on Notre Dame will finally bust their pipes, unlike games against Stanford, Pittsburgh and USC in which they never crumbled. Alabama is just too well coached and too determined to allow the Irish to capture its first National Championship since 1988. Manti Te'o and the ND defense will play their hearts out, but it will be the lack of talent on offense that ultimately fails them.
Alabama 23, Notre Dame 17
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