Sunday, January 6, 2013

2012-13 College Football National Championship Preview

It's truly amazing that a whole season comes down to just one game. Four quarters of football to decide who gets to hoist the championship trophy and call themselves the best.  This year is truly a game for the ages, featuring the Alabama Crimson Tide versus the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Alabama is searching for their third title in four years, while Notre Dame is searching for their first in the last 24 years.  Regardless of who you are cheering for, grab some popcorn, because this is going to be a good one! Here is my game preview for the 2013 BCS National Championship Game:

The Essentials: 
What: Alabama (12-1) vs Notre Dame (12-0) 
When: Monday, January 7th, 8:00pm EST
Where: Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Florida
Line: Alabama -9.5
TV: ESPN

ALABAMA: 

The Resume: Alabama boasts a 12-1 record, with their lone loss coming to Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M.  Even with that loss, The Crimson Tide still boast 5 wins against ranked teams.  They started the year off strong, drubbing #8 Michigan 41-14 in Dallas.  They followed that game with two consecutive shutouts: the first a 35-0 win over Western Kentucky, and the second a 52-0 road clobbering of Arkansas.  They proceeded to handily beat their next five opponents, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi State.  This set up a matchup at #5 LSU, who would take Alabama to the wire, forcing the Crimson Tide to mount a comeback drive in the final minutes of the game.  But right after the LSU game, Alabama returned home and lost to Texas A&M. They followed their loss with consecutive 49-0 wins over Western Carolina and Auburn.  They made it to the SEC Championship Game against #3 Georgia  and won 32-28 in a back and forth affair, in what was a pseudo semifinal game, with the winner moving on to face Notre Dame.   

The Offense: This year's Alabama offense is exactly what we have come to expect from them: power running football, and accurate passing.  Alabama has two 1,000 yard rushers with Eddie Lacy (1,182 yds) and T.J. Yeldon (1,000 yds).  These two backs are both about 6'2" and 210-220 lbs.  They are both extremely good runners between the tackles, and look for contact.  Lacy has been especially known to act like a hard hitting line backer, except he has a ball in his hands.  The offensive line is massive, and is led by All American center Barrett Jones.  Their wide receivers have improved throughout the game, and are led by 6'1" freshman Amari Cooper.  Alabama's whole receiving corps is very fast, and excels in getting yards after the catch.  Who has rein over all of these weapons? That would be a AJ McCarron (above), a 6'4" junior out of Mobile, Alabama.  Because of the power running game, McCarron doesn't have to be the star of the offense, he merely has to be a role player, and make the throws expected of him.  He has done this to perfection this season, running the offense and cutting down on mistakes.  He has only 3 interceptions this year to go along with 26 touchdowns and 2,669 yards through the air.  This is a very polished offense which will try to pound the ball against Notre Dame's defense.

The Defense: This defense is really really really good.  I'm tempted to leave this category at just that, but I'll give you some more to solidify that statement.  Alabama has the number 2 ranked scoring defense, allowing just 10.7 points per game.  They play with a typical "SEC style": bid linemen, headhunting linebackers, great corners, and safeties who are good in both the run and passing game. Needless to say, Notre Dame will have their hands full trying to move the ball against this unit.

NOTRE DAME: 

The Resume: Notre Dame is the only remaining undefeated team in college football.  They started the year off with a 50-10 drubbing of Navy in Dublin, Ireland.  They narrowly snuck by Purdue 20-17 (narrowly sneaking by would become the theme for Notre Dame), and then won 20-3 at Michigan State.  Rival Michigan came to town (the only mutual opponent between Alabama and Notre Dame), and they got turned away 13-6.  They beat Miami 41-3, and then edged out Stanford 20-13 in overtime with a dramatic goal line stand.  A three point win against BYU followed, before the Fighting Irish went on the road and took down Oklahoma 30-13.  After that huge win came a let down at home as Notre Dame struggled mightily against Pittsburgh, managing to pull out a win 29-26 in triple overtime.  They followed that up with two easy wins against Boston College and Wake Forest.  Their final game of the season was a thriller in California, as USC took them to the wire, but Notre Dame prevailed, 22-13.  Notre Dame seems to have the ability to make teams play down to their own level; but can they do that in the National Championship Game?

The Offense: Notre Dame always has just enough offense to win, and not much more.  They have the number 29 rushing attack, but over they only have the number 75 scoring offense.  This is a team that is more than happy to put a few points on the board and ride their defense the rest of the way in.  Their top running backs are seniors Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick.  They are mainly possession backs, chipping away with a few yards per carry, but always with the ability to break a long run.  Their offensive line is good, but susceptible to errors with faced with stunts and delayed blitzes.  The receivers are led by huge 6'6" tight end Tyler Eifert and 5'11" TJ Jones.  Notre Dame's starting quarterback is Everett Golson a mobile 6'1" QB out of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  While he's not a running quarterback, Golson is extremely quick, and is always a threat on draw plays or to escape the pocket and run with the football.  This has been his first season as the primary starter, but backup veteran Tommy Rees is often called on in tough situations.  He finished games or led game winning drives against Purdue, Michigan, Stanford, BYU, and Pittsburgh.  So it is very likely that we might see Rees at some point during the game. 

The Defense: Do you remember how I said that Alabama's defense was really really really good? What I didn't say was that they were the best, because statistically, Notre Dame's is the best.  They are the number 1 ranked scoring defense in the nation averaging 10.3 points per game.  The old saying "Offense wins games, defense wins championships." rings true here, because the #1 and #2 teams have the numbers 1 and 2 defenses. Notre Dame solid through the middle, led in the trenches by huge defensive tackles Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix II. Their secondary is exploitable: usually solid, but with the right routes can be beat over the top.  But their defense is led by senior linebacker Manti Te'o (at right).  Te'o year has been so good, that he was one of three players considered for the Heisman trophy.  Notre Dame's defense starts and ends with the battle up front.  They have a tough task against Alabama's offense, and might have to rely on their offense once again to score just enough to win. 

STRAIGHT UP PICK: 

This section is usually just me stating who I think will win, but for the national championship it will have two parts:

The Straight Up Fan Poll: I let you, the fans and readers of this blog, decide who they thought would win this game. The final results were: Notre Dame with 28% of the vote, and Alabama was the winner with 72% of the vote. 

Straight Up Pick: Alabama. Roll Tide!!!

Well, sadly this post means two things: the college football season is all but over, and this is my last bowl preview post (at least until next year).  This has been a season for the ages, but don't worry: I will be doing a 2012-13 College Football Season Recap soon after the national championship is over.  Til' Next Time.

No comments:

Post a Comment